Job summary
This is an exciting opportunity to join the Croydon Crisis Plus pilot, as an Assistant Psychologist within Croydon Adult Mental Health Services. The team works across services in the Croydon directorate whilst being based within the secondary care community mental health teams.

Under the supervision of qualified psychologists, the successful applicant will lead on the co-creation of effective multi-agency crisis plans with the highest-use service users and their care teams. The service users present with complex, sometimes challenging behaviours and acute risk in crisis. The successful applicant will develop and use a range of psychological skills including assessment and formulation, and working in a systemically-focused approach.

Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will support the delivery of time-limited interventions to service users, carers, and a range of mental health professionals to develop Anticipatory Management Plans. This will require comprehensive assessment of service users' developmental histories, patterns of presentation and use of crisis services from clinical documentation and consultation. This information will be used to develop guidance for service users, their carers, mental health and external agencies on how best future crises can be more effectively managed and to support the service user's recovery.

A core part of the role is liaison with services in order to refine and further develop plans, and support services to action plans. The postholder will attend MDT meetings, ward rounds, etc and needs to be confident following and, at times contributing to, multi-disciplinary clinical discussion.

There is a strong data collection, analysis and interpretation aspect to the role. Amongst other activities, this includes the collection of qualitative and quantitative outcome data from service users and the network of professionals, and developing and maintaining a number of databases linked to the identification of HIUs.

In light of the need to develop close working relationships with services and service users, this is a face to face, onsite role.

About us
You will be based across a number of sites in Croydon, including Bethlem Royal Hospital, Croydon University Hospital and Croydon Community teams.

Some of the benefits of working for SLaM are highlighted here:

• Generous pay, pensions and leave, we offer a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on the role and length of service.
• Work life balance, flexible working and support a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working and job sharing.
• Career development, we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes
• Car lease, our staff benefits from competitive deals to lease cars
• Accommodation, our staff benefits fromkeyworker housing available which is available on selected sites
• NHS discounts, with discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands though Health Service Discounts website.

Other benefits include:

• Counselling services
• Long service awards
• Cycle to work scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Staff restaurants

Job description

• Working with repeat service users across Croydon Adult Mental Health Services
• Contribute to the co-creation of effective multi-agency crisis plans with the highest-use service users and their care teams.
• Use a range of psychological skills including assessment and formulation, and working in a systemically-focused approach.
• Offering guidance to service users, their carers, mental health and external agencies on how best future crises can be more effectively managed and to support the SU's recovery.
• Attend MDT meetings, ward rounds, etc; follow and contribute to multi-disciplinary clinical discussion.
• Developing the function of Crisis Plus, including supporting the development of new interventions that proactively engage service users.
• Collection of qualitative and quantitative outcome data from SUs and their network of professionals, and developing and maintaining a number of databases linked to the identification of HIUs.
• Support the wider work in Croydon and the trust in relation to HIUs.
• Key responsibilities are detailed in the Job description and person specification.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• A First-class or Upper-second-class Bachelors degree with Honours in Psychology (or related behavioural science) that is accredited by the British Psychological Society and confers the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership of the British Psychological Society
• Masters level qualification in applied psychology

Desirable

• Relevant specialist training in relation to working with Complex Emotional needs / Personality disorder

Experience
Essential

• Experience of working within an NHS setting as an assistant psychologist.
• Sufficient post-graduate experience of psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs who present in crisis with acute risks.
• To be able to work clinically without direct supervision.
• Post-graduate experience of conducting research projects or audits.
• Experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities. This may have been gained through work, research, volunteering and/or lived experience.

Desirable

• Experience of working with service users with risk of harm to self or others.
• Working with SUs who have frequent use of acute and crisis services.

Knowledge
Essential

• Graduate level knowledge of psychological research methodology and statistical analysis.
• Good theoretical knowledge of the problems experienced by and needs of service users presenting in crisis.
• Methods of psychological assessment and treatment for those with complex mental health needs.
• Awareness of racial and diversity issues through attendance of relevant training.

Desirable

• Knowledge of interventions such as CBT, distress tolerance and emotional regulation.
• Knowledge of around risk of harm to self or others.
• Understanding of principles of treatment in relation to personality disorder.

Skills
Essential

• Skills in relevant psychological assessment and interventions that enable working independently as a pre-qualified practitioner with clinical supervision.
• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills including communicating complex, sensitive or contentious information to clients, families and colleagues.
• Skills in completing literature reviews and summarising research findings to inform clinical practice or for the purpose of publication.
• Skills in supporting the development of training materials.
• Well-developed IT skills including using excel and SPSS in the analysis of research data.

Desirable

• Experience of data collection, analysis and interpretation using large service wide datasets.

Abilities
Essential

• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles.
• Highly organised, able to manage workload, work to deadlines with competing tasks.
• Ability to identify and follow relevant clinical governance procedures.
• Ability to manage emotionally stressful situations such as working with victims of abuse or trauma, or with people who engage in severe self-harming or aggressive behaviour.
• Ability to manage verbal aggression and hostility directed at self.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab). From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).