Assistant Psychologist

Job Overview

We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated Assistant Psychologist to join our Adult Autism Service across Central North West London NHS Trust, as our previous assistant psychologist has left to start clinical training.

The successful candidate will support the clinical team in conducting diagnostic assessments of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). There will be opportunity to provide brief psychological intervention, to clients following diagnosis. All clinical work will be carried out under the supervision of a qualified psychologist. This is an excellent opportunity for a psychology graduate who is keen to develop direct clinical skills in assessment, formulation, and psychological intervention. The successful candidate will also be encouraged to contribute to service evaluation projects in line with service need.

The successful candidate will be part of a dynamic multidisciplinary team including psychologists, peer workers, administrators, a speech and language therapist, nurse and occupational therapist.

We are looking for applicants who either have experience working in neurodevelopmental settings or have a good foundation of transferable skills and an interest to develop in this area.

The advert may close early if the maximum number of applicants has been reached.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will work as part of a multidisciplinary team with adults with Autism. The successful candidate will support the clinical team with delivering high quality diagnostic assessments to adults. This role will involve pre and post diagnostic support, signposting and care navigation. A core part of the Assistant Psychologist role will be to support the development of psychological treatment options following diagnosis including group and 1:1 interventions.

The post-holder will attend psychology and wider MDT team meetings and case discussion forums on a regular basis. They will contribute to the ongoing development of neuroaffirmative practice across the service. They will also play an active role in initiatives to ensure optimal use of psychological therapy resources.

Our ideal candidate has experience of working with or supporting individuals with neurodevelopmental difficulties and is enthusiastic about working to improve services for adults with or suspected Autism across North West London. Candidates who are passionate about developing their audit and service evaluation skills will be well suited to these roles.

Working for our organisation

You will join a friendly, highly experienced and supportive team of clinicians, with opportunities to work in innovative areas of the service. Our service websites offer more information about what we offer;

Adult Autism Diagnostic Service

What we offer:

We will support you to develop your skills, and invest in you, you will have an opportunity to access training, supervision and mentorship that will help you progress in your career. There are a number of occupational benefits working for CNWL including; flexible working, cycle to work scheme, Season ticket loan, Occupational Counselling and physiotherapy services.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

The successful candidates will support the clinical team by:

• Providing psychological assessments for adults with suspected autism under the close supervision of a practitioner psychologist including psychometric and neuropsychological assessments.
• Working directly with adults, offering guidance, and information throughout the assessment process.
• Liaising with other professionals to ensure effective communication and coordination of clients care.
• Providing brief psychological intervention following diagnostic outcomes, including providing psychoeducation, signposting and onward care navigation.
• Assisting the MDT in the development of individual or group clinical materials or training materials.
• Maintaining high standards of clinical documentation, confidentiality and information governance in accordance with Trust policies and local procedures.
• Working in line with professional, ethical and safeguarding standards at all times.
• Contributing to data collection, service evaluation and audit as outlined by service demands.
• Supporting administrative processes linked to clinical activity e.g. maintaining databases, outcome measures and waiting lists.
• Providing other administrative duties to ensure the effective running of the service (e.g. development of service literature, and patient resources, booking rooms, arranging meetings, taking minutes etc).
  
  

For a full list of responsibilities, please see attached job description and person specification.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• A First-class or Upper-second-class Bachelor’s degree with Honours in Psychology that is accredited by the British Psychological Society and confers the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership of BPS
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Further study or qualifications relevant to neurodevelopmental conditions
  
  

Experience

Essential criteria

• Sufficient post-graduate experience of psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs to be able to work clinically with close 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 criteria

• The Trust encourages and welcomes applications from people with lived experience of mental health challenges, and neurodevelopmental conditions. We see this as valuable and recognise the positive impact this experience can have on the work we do.
  
  

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Graduate level knowledge of psychological research methodology and statistical analysis.
• Good theoretical knowledge of the problems experienced by and needs of people with autism and of methods of assessment and intervention
• Awareness of racial and diversity issues through attendance of relevant training.
  
  

Skills

Essential criteria

• Skills in relevant psychological assessment and interventions that enable working as a pre-qualified practitioner with close clinical supervision.
• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills including communicating complex, information to clients, families and colleagues.
• Skills in providing supporting teaching and training provided by psychologists or others to other professional groups.
• Well-developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data.
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Skills in completing neuropsychological assessments
  
  

Abilities

Essential criteria

• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, participating in effective team functioning and holding team roles.
• Ability to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments and psychological interventions.
• Ability to identify and follow relevant clinical governance procedures.
• Ability to manage occasional 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 communicate complex, sensitive or contentious information to people who may have impediments to understanding.
• Ability to manage verbal abuse and hostility directed at self.