Job overview
These CAP roles aim to offer assessment, formulation and brief psychological interventions to people with significant mental health difficulties, working within the scope of the employing teams which will vary depending on team requirements.
During your training phase of around 18 months you will be undertaking the Masters Programme in Clinical Associate in Psychology (MCAP) at Bath University whilst also working as part of multidisciplinary mental health teams in to develop the clinical skills and competencies essential to the role. The combination of clinical skills development with the academic knowledge and evidence base that underpins them is enabling us to develop a new, dynamic workforce delivering psychologically-informed care and interventions to an increasing range of client group.
The Bath CAP Masters course is delivered mostly online other than 1 or 2 days each month when you will be having training face to face at Bath University, Claverton, Bath. These in person training days are compulsory and completion of the course will rely on you attending these dates. There will also be an in person day for your End Point Assessments which are always in person at the end of the course (1 or 2 days only). Please note that these in person EPA assessments are a necessity for passing the course.
As one of our new CAP apprentices you will be employed on a permanent NHS contract
Main duties of the job
This is a new occupation, developed for implementation in England, introduced as part of a programme of work to provide greater access to psychologically informed mental health services. Clinical Associates in Psychology fill an identified skills gap between assistant psychologist and qualified clinical psychologists. They are able to practice autonomously with appropriate support, working within their scope of practice, under the supervision of a registered clinical psychologist.
The broad purpose of the occupation is to provide high quality, evidence based psychological interventions to inform practice, with formulations derived from specialist psychological measurement and assessment tools to work with populations across the lifespan from different backgrounds, cultures and beliefs.
They work with specific populations and therefore provide a more proscribed range of activities than Clinical Psychologists.
Working for our organisation
We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust): a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care.
We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.
Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.
AWP is committed to support and create a positive research and evidence-based environment and culture, which can have a beneficial impact on everyone who works for the organisation and the care we provide to those who use our services.
At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Clinical Associates in Psychology:
* are accountable professionals delivering psychological assessments, formulations, interventions and research within their scope of practice.
* use applied service research and evaluation to inform interventions.
* may work with and communicate with patients in their own home, in the community or hospital, or in any settings where their needs are supported and managed.
* may work with individuals and groups with complex and long-term needs.
* act as a psychological resource providing support, guidance and supervision using psychological models to the wider health or social care teams
* provide training to others to inform psychological interventions
* use psychological measurement tools to evaluate psychological treatments and improve the quality of clinical practice
* complement the work of Clinical Psychologists
* often deliver treatment interventions developed with a Clinical Psychologist who will review their practice through supervision.
* provide a range of psychological treatments working within their scope of practice, whilst the supervising Clinical Psychologist retains overall clinical responsibility for their work.
* undertake research
* report to a Clinical Psychologist in terms of psychological assessment, formulation and intervention
In their daily work, an employee in this occupation may interact with:
* a range of healthcare professionals in a variety of services
* nurses, social workers, allied health professionals (AHPs) and medical colleagues as part of a multidisciplinary team
* the psychology team, alongside assistant psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists, while reporting to a Clinical Psychologist regarding psychological assessment, formulation and intervention
* professionals in schools, probation services, the police and the courts, depending upon the appropriate training and supervised clinical practice delivered as part of their apprenticeship.
Clinical Associates in Psychology may work outside of normal hours depending on the service requirements.
An employee in this occupation will be responsible for providing psychological assessment and interventions within their scope of practice across Older Adults of service settings, in the community or in hospital, and including individual or group settings. Scope of practice is determined by a range of factors and defines the procedures, actions and processes that a CAP is qualified to deliver.
Person specification
Essential
Essential criteria
* 1. Must have 2:1 or 2:2 psychology degree or equivalent (i.e. psychology conversion course)
* 2. Must have eligibility for registration with BPS (their psych degree or conversion course must have been registered as BPS accredited - most of the core University single psychology degrees in UK are BPS accredited, degree courses in other countries not always and some combined psychology subject courses (ie psychology and philosophy) are sometimes not registered). Check link here if you are unsure BPS > Accredited Courses
* 3. Must have Level 2 Maths and English (equivalent to GCSE grade 9-4 (A*-C))
* 4. Must have experience of working with Older People with MH issues (65 + age group) in NHS or 3rd sector agencies for a few years at least
We are proud to be fostering a diverse workforce that reflects our communities. A key commitment to this is improving staff representation from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, those from the LGBTQ+ communities, people with 'lived-experience' of mental health conditions and people living with disabilities,- we are a 'Disability Confident Employer' offering a guaranteed interview to Disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. This includes people with a variety of disabilities and neurodivergent conditions (for example autism, ADHD, sensory, physical and learning disabilities).
We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service users.
Click here to view our applicant guidance
Please apply to join us, we would love to hear from you. Any personal details you supply to us are kept safe in line with the General Data Protection Regulations.
Adverts normally close for application a few minutes before midnight on the closing date and we will let you know if we are offering you an interview by email via our recruitment system 'TRAC'. We contact all applicants within 4 weeks after the closing date, so please check your emails regularly once you have submitted your application; you are welcome to contact us, via the TRAC system, if you have any queries about your application.
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Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
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.
Application numbers
This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. Please complete and submit your application in good time to avoid disappointment.
Documents to download
* CAP JD (PDF, 720.3KB)
* Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers List (PDF, 78.9KB)
* Financial Support & Discounts (PDF, 919.6KB)
* Value of the NHS Pension Scheme (PDF, 279.0KB)
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