Assistant Psychologist

The NCL ICB and Provider NHS Trusts have committed to redeveloping and improving service for children and young people with Neuro-diverse conditions, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To support this, we are establishing a Team led by a senior clinician and supported by experienced A-DOS and A-DI trained clinicians and Assistant Psychologist
The Job Holder will be part of Neurodevelopmental team within the Trust, providing neurodevelopmental service to clients referred to the autism and ADHD pathway. The Job Holder will be expected to undertake specialist neurodevelopmental assessments to contribute to the diagnostic process and to formulate areas of strengths and needs based on good practice and evidence in neurodevelopmental assessment and intervention. Delivery of neuropsychological assessment and psychological therapy may also be required., + To support formal and informal assessment of the social communication, learning and attention needs of children and young people presenting with neurodevelopmental difficulties, including applying psychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client's care.
+ To help identify and develop resources to enable more functional communication and to develop skills and understanding in children and young people, e.g. visual aids and communication strategies and social stories.
+ To work with multidisciplinary and multiagency colleagues as appropriate to offer support and guidance around social communication needs and behavioural needs of children and young people with neurodevelopmental difficulties, under supervision, including supporting the development of multi-agency support plans for behaviour and risk management.
+ To co-deliver workshops and trainings to parents/carers, colleagues, and other professionals.
+ To attend clinical meetings and in-service training as required.
+ To keep up to date with new techniques and research for the maintenance and promotion of good practice.
+ Record all clinical information in line with trust policies.
+ To be responsible for the planning and prioritization of own workload and activities following the direction and guidelines given by the supervising clinical psychologist., + In both CAMHS learning disability and CAMHS generic teams to support formal and informal assessment of the social communication, learning and attention needs of children and young people presenting with neurodevelopmental difficulties, including applying psychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client's care.
+ Under supervision to contribute to functional assessments of behavior that challenges using the principles of positive behavior support, including undertaking observations, history taking and semi-structured questionnaires and interviews with key informants. Contributing to writing assessment reports and behavior and care plans. To help identify and develop resources to enable more functional communication and to develop skills and understanding in children and young people, e.g. visual aids and communication strategies and social stories.
+ To work with multidisciplinary and multiagency colleagues as appropriate to offer support and guidance around social communication needs and behavioral needs of children and young people with neurodevelopmental difficulties, under supervision, including supporting the development of multi-agency support plans for behavior and risk management.
+ To co-deliver workshops and trainings to parents/carers, colleagues, and other professionals.
+ To attend clinical meetings and in-service training as required.
+ To keep up to date with new techniques and research for the maintenance and promotion of good practice.
+ Record all clinical information in line with trust policies.
+ Support service development and quality improvement projects.
+ To be responsible for the planning and prioritization of own workload and activities following the direction and guidelines given by the supervising clinical psychologist.
Clinical Skills
+ To undertake protocol based psychological assessment of clients through direct and indirect observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client's care under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist. Knowledge of neurodevelopmental disorders, their classification and assessment is vital for this post.
+ To deliver post diagnostic groups for parents of children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorder, this includes planning these group with support from clinical psychologist.
+ To be a member of the appropriate multi-disciplinary team providing services to the client group, under the guidance of the supervising clinical psychologist.
+ The post holder will have a personal duty of care for Trust equipment and facilities.
+ To be responsible for the planning and prioritization of own workload and activities following the direction and guidelines given by the clinical psychologist.
+ To be capable of working in clinical situations which require concentration, and which may involve distressing or emotionally demanding circumstances or where there is risk of verbal or physical aggression.
+ To maintain and update client records in accordance with Trust and professional guidelines.
+ To support the team in management of the waiting lists, this includes telephone call reviews, sending out school reports and chasing school reports, preparing clients for MDT discussion and for assessment.
+ The post holder may be required to demonstrate their own duties to others.
+ To receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines and Trust policy.
+ To prepare test materials and visual aids as required. To undertake specific administrative duties as required.
+ To support specialist psychological assessments of children and young people, support the development of formulations, including the use of self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client's care, when and where appropriate.
+ To support psychological interventions and/or management of a client's mental health problems, based upon evidence-based practice.
+ To evaluate and be involved in decisions about treatment options considering theoretical and therapeutic models and at times highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family, or group.
+ To use supervision appropriately to consider the assessment, treatment, and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
+ To offer support and guidance to other professionals contributing directly to clients' formulation, diagnosis, and treatment plan, as appropriate.
+ To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and where appropriate to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management, with supervision and support.
Communication
+ To communicate across language and cultural barriers, through appropriate interpreters where necessary, to ensure that highly complex treatments are carried out in a language easily understandable to the service user.
+ Dealing with sensitive and challenging information
+ Communication can be routine and complex, particularly related to service users with complex needs, multidisciplinary and multi-agency input.
+ Communicate effectively with service users and carers, recognizing the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural background, and preferred ways of communicating.
+ Anticipate barriers to communication and take action to improve communication.
+ Maintain effective communication both within CAMHS and with external stakeholders.
+ To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation, and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during care.
+ To contribute to discussions relating to caseload management by discussing own and others input around client's needs contributing to a well-coordinated care plan.
+ To recognize potential breakdown and conflict when it occurs and seek advice and support to resolve.
+ To attend relevant meetings including staff meetings.

Thank you for your interest for the North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT), it is an exciting time to join us and being part of our journey to improve mental health care across North London and deliver excellent services to our local people. We will achieve this through the North London Way, as we:
+ Collaborate at every level by living our Values to create the right conditions for us all to work together.
+ Develop our new Trust culture, to help make our new Trust a great place to work and to receive great care.
+ Empower our teams to lead the planned improvements in our services, by skilling them and giving them the tools to make the changes.
+ Focus on delivering excellence at every level to improve our performance and ensure consistently high-quality care across all our services.
+ Ensure that research, Quality Improvement, and technology lead the way and are embedded in our services.
+ Take a trauma informed approach to everything we do
We proactively welcome diversity in our workforce and pride ourselves on being an inclusive employer. We aim to recruit from our local communities and provide opportunities to all including apprenticeships, veterans, care leavers and more.
The North London Way to deliver, Better Mental Health, Better Lives, Better Communities.
Our trust website is: https://www.northlondonmentalhealth.nhs.uk, North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) is committed to improving mental health care across North London to deliver excellent services to our local people.
Our Five-Year Strategy:
1. We will provide consistently high-quality care closer to home.
2. With our partners in North London and each borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all
3. We will offer great places to work, providing staff with supportive environment to deliver outstanding care.
4. We will be more effective as an organisation by pioneering research, quality improvement and technology.
Why NLFT?
+ We develop and retain our staff through leadership behaviours and managers programme and many more opportunities.
+ We promote flexible working and support staff with a range of health and wellbeing initiatives.
+ NHS Discounts, generous annual leave and NHS pension scheme
The post holder will be aligned with our Values:
+ We Are Kind
+ We Are Respectful
+ We Work Together
+ We Keep Things Simple
+ We Empower
+ We Are Proudly Diverse
In order to meet the needs of the Trust you may be required from time to time to work at different locations to your normal place of work. This may mean that you are required to work at any location that fall under Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey or Islington. The Trust reserves the right to require staff to work at such other places or locations as it considers reasonable and necessary on a temporary or permanent basis.
This vacancy may close early!