Assistant Psychologist Community Sentence Treatment Requirement

Job summary
Are you ready for a new and exciting challenge?

We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated Assistant Psychologist to join the Community Sentence Treatment Requirements Service (CSTR) within Gloucestershire. It sits alongside our Liaison & Diversion Service to provide the best possible outcome for those individuals who are undergoing proceedings within the Criminal Justice System. This Service is funded by NHS England, Gloucestershire CCG and the Office of the Police Crime Commissioner Gloucestershire as part of the long term reducing reoffending strategy.

CSTRs are a sentencing option for the courts and will offer therapies to address the health vulnerabilities of our client group which will include primary mental health problems as well as working in conjunction with our local drug and alcohol misuse services.

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a dynamic, passionate and creative team providing high quality evidence based psychological interventions to clients.

Main duties of the job

• Promote the psychological health and well-being of service users made subject to CSTR's by the criminal courts.
• Under the supervision of a Clinical Psychologist or Psychological Therapist, deliver low level psychological intervention to individuals, or groups of service users who may present with a range of mental health issues including depression, anxiety, trauma, personality disorders, and neurodiversity. Clients may also have a dual diagnosis.
• Carry out audit, service evaluation or research as indicated.
• Prepare test materials, visual aids and undertake specific administrative duties as required.
• Assist in teaching, and project work.

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

About us
We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Job responsibilities

• To undertake psychological assessments of clients applying psychological tests, including self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, and others involved in the clients care, under the supervision of a qualified psychologist
• To assist in developing client formulations, treatment planning and the delivering of evidence based psychological interventions.
• To assist in the co-ordination and running of therapeutic groups.
• To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings
• To assist in the design and implementation of service development projects within the service as required.
• To attend meetings in which service developments are planned and discussed.
• Undertake data collection, analysis, the production of reports and summaries, using IT and statistical programmes.
• Undertake searches of evidence-based literature and research to inform best practice within the service.
• To collate and report audit data in order to meet the audit requirements of the service.
• To assist with the analysis, development, evaluation and monitoring of the teams operational policies and services, through service evaluation and audit.

The Trust is required to work in line with the Governments UK Visa and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information about sponsorship for certain roles, please visit -

Qualifications
Essential

• An upper second-class honours degree or higher in psychology.
• Evidence of training / CPD to develop knowledge and theory relevant to work in the specialism.
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society (BPS).

Desirable

• Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis. Experience of working with offenders.

Experience
Essential

• Experience of working with people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities as an assistant psychologist or equivalent.
• Experience of using psychological assessments, formulations, risk assessments and care planning. Practical working knowledge of at least one relevant psychological approach (e.g. CBT)

Desirable

• Prior experience with the service user group and experience in a clinical setting Some experience of using /manipulating Psychological test equipment for use in formal testing situations

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
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).

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).