Employer Cardiff and Vale University Health Board Employer type NHS Site Llandough Hospital Town Llandough Salary £31,516 - £38,364 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing Today at 23:59
Assistant Psychologist - Band 5 -MHSOP
Band 5
WHO WE ARE:
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is one of the largest Integrated Health Board in the UK, employing over 16,000 staff and providing over 100 specialist services. Serving a population of around 500,000 people living in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, we are focussed on the health and care needs of our local population whilst also working with our partners to develop regional services. Together we are committed to improving health outcomes for everyone and to delivering excellent care and support.
Our mission is “Living Well, Caring Well, Working Together”. We have recently refreshed our strategy, Shaping Our Future Wellbeing, which sets out the Health Board’s Vision for improving the health and wellbeing of the populations we serve by 2035 through the delivery of our strategic objectives; Putting People First, Providing Outstanding Quality, Delivering in the Right Places, and Acting for the Future. We have challenging times ahead, but we are confident that by tackling these challenges together, we can support people to live healthier lives and reduce the unfair differences in the prevalence of illness and health outcomes we see in our communities today. We aspire to deliver outstanding care and treatment for people when they need it, where they need it; care that compares well with the best in the world, but to do so, we need to transform how we deliver services over the next decade and beyond.
We are a values-driven organisation and out goals will only be realised if our values are at the heart of everything we do. Created by colleagues, patients and their families and carers, our values are:
· We are kind and caring
· We are respectful
· We have trust and integrity
· We take personal responsibility
OUR REGION:
Wales has much to offer with miles of stunning coastline, UNESCO world heritage sites and beautiful countryside. Cardiff, the thriving Welsh capital, has something for everyone. It is a fantastic city to live and work in with an abundance of sports, arts and cultural attractions. Situated to the west of Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan offers a combination of beautiful Welsh countryside and a dramatic natural coastline, as well as charming towns including Penarth and Cowbridge. Those seeking more culture may find themselves drawn to the National Museum, St Fagan’s Museum of Welsh Life or the Millennium Centre, home of the Welsh National Opera. Whether city life or rural living, Cardiff and the Vale offers the best of both worlds.
The salary scale above has been agreed as part of the NHS Agenda for Change pay award for 2025/2026 and will be implemented in August 2025 with arrears backdated to 1st April 2025 where applicable.
Job overview
We are delighted to offer an exciting opportunity to work as an Assistant Psychologist across our inpatient mental health wards within mental health services for older people in Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. The Assistant Psychologist will work alongside a Specialist Practitioner, a Clinical Associate in Applied Psychology and a Consultant Clinical Psychologist. In addition, there are opportunities to link in with a range of other professionals, including Dementia Care Mappers, Clinical Nurse Specialists, and Mental health/Dementia Care Advisors.
The mental health inpatient service works within a person-centred care ethos, where staff utilise person-centred dementia care (e.g. Enriched model of dementia (Kitwood)/Newcastle model (James). We are interested in recruiting an assistant psychologist with a clear passion for working with older adults who are living with dementia, or who have a range of mental health difficulties. The wards provide acute mental health care to individuals with both mental health difficulties and dementia who experience psychological and behavioural distress, as well as their families/support networks.
This post is fixed term for 2 years due to funding.
Main duties of the job
Key responsibilities are to assist with psychological assessment, bio-psycho-social formulation, psychological and psychosocial interventions and evaluation of outcomes. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team. The Assistant Psychologist will have a key role in assisting the development of psychologically informed care plans, which aim to enhance empathy and understanding of the psychological needs of each patient and will work both directly and indirectly to promote the psychological well-being of inpatients, and their families/support networks. Working closely under the supervision and support of the Clinical Psychologist, the Assistant Psychologist will also assist with providing a psychological perspective within risk assessments and safety plans for individuals who have been admitted to hospital with a high risk of harm to themselves or others.
Th e role will provide you with wide-ranging experiences, support and supervision to enable your professional development. We offer excellent opportunities to help you engage in self-reflection and develop your professional knowledge and skills to improve service delivery and patient experience.
MHSOP provides services into a number of physical and mental health settings, including Young Onset Dementia Services, Dementia services and a Memory Team, Liaison Services and Medical Rehab. The Speciality is part of a large and progressive Health Board Wide Directorate of Psychology and Psychological Therapies
Working for our organisation
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is one of the largest Integrated Health Boards in the UK, employing over 17,000 staff, providing over 100 specialist services. Working across 6 hospital sites, we have a diverse range of career opportunities to offer. Serving over 500,000 people living in Cardiff and the Vale, we are focussed on the health and care needs of our local population whilst working with our partners to develop regional services. Together we are committed to improving health outcomes for everyone, delivering excellent care and support.
Our mission is “Living Well, Caring Well, Working Together”, and our vision is that every person’s chance of leading a healthy life should be equal. Our 10-year transformation and improvement strategy, Shaping Our Future Wellbeing, is our chance to work collaboratively with the public and our workforce to make our health board more sustainable for the future.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
You will be able to find a full Job Description and Person Specification within the supporting documents or please click apply now to view in Trac.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy if a large number of suitable candidates apply.
Person specification
Qualifications
* An upper second-class honours degree or higher in Psychology
* Eligibility for graduate basis for chartership with the British Psychological Society.
* Additional training in relevant areas e.g., mental health practice, research design, psychological therapy.
Experience
* Relevant clinical experience.
* Experience of applying clinical/counselling psychology in the NHS (counselling or psychological interventions under supervision).
* Experience working within a multi-disciplinary team
* Previous experience of audit and/or service evaluation
* Experience of working in caring roles within mental or physical healthcare
Skills
* Ability to use high level communication skills in both spoken and written communication, including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive.
* An ability to communicate complex, sensitive or contentious information to patients, carers and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance.
* Ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health context and an understanding of Psychology as applied to health care
* An ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines and be involved in training members of staff.
* Ability to plan and prioritise own workload
* High standard of clinical and audit/research report writing.
Knowledge
* An understanding of the needs and difficulties of older people with mental health problems.
* Ability to carry out standardised psychological assessments.
* Specialist knowledge related to the area of work.
Personal Qualities
* Interest and enthusiasm for working with people in later life to increase their psychological skills.
* An ability to manage emotional issues arising from working with clients in significant distress.
* Empathic interpersonal style.
* Ability to be flexible towards service requirements.
* Ability to accept and use clinical supervision appropriately and effectively.
MANAGING YOUR APPLICATION:
We are committed to promoting inclusion, where all staff have a sense of belonging. We welcome applications from everyone and recognise the need for our workforce to represent the diversity of the population we serve. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment where staff treat one another with dignity and respect and where diversity is celebrated. We aim to create a working environment where every individual can fulfil their potential no matter their disability, sex, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, age, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity or marriage and civil partnership status.We are keen to break down barriers in the UHB, and encourage applications from under-represented groups.
Applicants are invited to apply in Welsh. Any application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application made in English.
The UHB reserves the right to close this vacancy after 24 hours if a large number of suitable applications are received. Therefore, we encourage early applications to ensure consideration for this post.
Please check your email account regularly. Successful applicants will receive all recruitment related correspondence via the email account registered on the application form.
To work in the UK, all candidates who are not UK or Republic of Ireland (RoI) nationals require sponsorship to obtain either a Health and Care visa or Skilled Worker visa, unless you have permission to work via another route. Non UK / RoI candidates wishing to apply should self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship by visiting Work in the UK. If you are eligible for the Health and Care visa, application costs are lower and you do not need to pay the annual Immigration Health Surcharge.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
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