Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.
The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.
Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video
Job overview
We are recruiting qualified Clinical Associates in Psychology (CAPs) to our adult mental health services in North East London. The positions are full time and open to individuals who have completed the MSc Clinical Associate in Psychology course with an associated University.
You will be employed full time as a CAP, working within one of our mental health and wellbeing teams in North East London.
Successful applicants will undertake assessment, formulation and evidence based psychological interventions with people experiencing complex mental health issues from diverse backgrounds, as well as developing meaningful links between our service users and community-based resources which support social inclusion in our London Boroughs. You will have a key role within the development of greater integration of psychological professionals within MDTs and in developing more accessible and coherent pathways into psychological therapy.
You will work under the supervision of an experienced Clinical or Counselling Psychologist, and be a part of our supportive and skilled Community of Psychological Professions.
Applicants must have completed and passed the MSc CAP training and show a commitment to working within the NHS as a CAP to support improvement in access to psychological therapies
Main duties of the job
Provide psychological assessment, formulation and evidence-based interventions to people living with complex mental health issues, under the supervision of a qualified Practitioner Psychologist (clinical or counselling psychologist).
1. To communicate constructively with a range of healthcare professionals in a variety of services including nurses, social workers, allied health professionals (AHPs) and medical colleagues as part of a multidisciplinary team (MDT)
2. Work as part of a multidisciplinary community team and liaise with relevant external agencies to facilitate and enable psychological interventions
3. Communicate to others the core concepts of psychological theory, research and practice in order to enhance their delivery of psychological interventions.
4. Contribute to the training and development of the wider MDT regarding key psychological concepts and principles relevant to the clinical care of service users.
5. Carry out risk assessments in relation to psychological distress and to ensure that risk formulations are integrated with interventions understanding contingency management and the use of risk indicators in mitigating against crises.
6. To spend sustained amounts of time with service users whose behaviour may be aggressive and hostile, who may have poor verbal communication skills and self-care and special physical and/or mental needs.
Working for our organisation
Probationary Period
This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).
High-Cost Area Supplement
This post may attract a payment for High-Cost Area Supplement depending on your main base location.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application.
We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role, can be discussed at the interview stage.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
7. MCAP qualification from a recognised CAP provider
8. professional registration
Experience
Essential criteria
9. Experience of assessing and treating mental health presentations at secondary care level
10. Experience of formulating needs and identifying appropriate treatments
Desirable criteria
11. Work with behaviours that challenge services
12. Lived experience of mental health issues or psychological problems as a service user or carer
Knowledge
Essential criteria
13. Sound knowledge of theoretical underpinnings of at least one evidence based psychological therapy, and ability to apply this in practice
14. Awareness of the potential impact of discrimination & disadvantage on mental health
15. Coherent understanding of how adverse experiences and environment impact on mental health and well-being
Skills
Essential criteria
16. Demonstrate excellent interpersonal, communication and active listening skills with service users, carers, staff and community partners
17. Manage effectively exposure to distressing/highly emotional circumstances.
18. Respectful and collaborative approach to service users, families, carers, colleagues and other professionals
19. Awareness of diversity of cultural norms across the borough, and being able to respond to this appropriately.
Benefits
We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:
20. A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
21. A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.
22. Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
23. Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.