Assistant Psychologist - Perinatal Mental Health

NHFT has an established award-winning Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service which has expanded in line with the Long Term Plan for Mental Health.
We have an exciting opportunity for a Band 4 Assistant Psychologist to join the Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service to support and enhance the professional psychological care of clients within the service; providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions under the supervision of a qualified professional Psychologist. You will be working independently according to a plan agreed with a qualified Psychologist and within the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures. You will assist in clinically related administration, conduct audits, collect statistics, develop audit/and or research projects, teaching and project work. Psychological interventions are provided on both a group and 1.1 basis and include compassion focused therapy, CBT, EMDR and IPT. Both remote and face-to-face interventions are available.
We are looking for an Assistant Psychologist with an interest in working with women/birthing people experiencing perinatal mental health conditions including post-natal depression, post-partum psychosis and maternal OCD. This is a multi-disciplinary service with lots of opportunities for joint working and service development., Following a period of induction and training within the specialist perinatal mental health service, the main clinical work undertaken by the post-holder will be to support and enhance the professional psychological care of clients within the service; providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions under the supervision of a qualified professional Psychologist. You will be working independently according to a plan agreed with a qualified Psychologist and within the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures. You will assist in clinically related administration, conduct audits, collect statistics, develop audit/and or research projects, teaching and project work. Psychological interventions are provided on both a group and 1.1 basis and include compassion focused therapy, CBT, EMDR and IPT. Both remote and face-to-face interventions are available. The post holder will work within Multi-disciplinary team discussions throughout the service and will work
within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the teams' policies and procedures. They will utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by the service., We would encourage applications from groups who are currently underrepresented in the organisation. In particular, applications from disabled people (with both visible and non-visible disabilities), people from black and minority ethnic communities and lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT) people.
NHFT is committed to building a diverse workforce, ensuring staff are treated fairly at work and ensuring all staff have the learning and development they need on equality in order to undertake their job role.
We aim to use monitoring information provided by our staff and by job applicants to ensure that we do not discriminate in employment and to use this information to plan any Positive Action to address inequality.
NHFT supports three staff equality networks to help us to develop our equality practice, as well as providing peer support for staff. These are:
NHFT Staff Disability & Allies Network / NHFT BME Staff Development Network / NHFT LGBT & Allies Network
Please refer to the attached job description. Knowledge and experience of perinatal mental health condition and treatment approaches for working with people with personality difficulties is desirable but not essential. A keen interest and passion for working with women/birthing and their families is a must, as is the ability to work closely with a range of professionals. An awareness of perinatal mental health services and difficulties is required.
There will be opportunities for further training via local and regional delivered training programmes. We have strong links with the East Midlands Regional Perinatal Network. The post holder will also be expected to contribute to the development of a locally agreed programme that delivers training to health and social care professionals in Northamptonshire.
All our clinical psychology team have completed specialist Perinatal Clinical Psychology Training provided by NHSE
The Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service also offers pre-conception advice for woman with a known mental illness wishing to conceive and provide training and education to professionals alongside experts by experience.
If you want to work as part of our expanding specialised multi-professional team, we want to hear from you.
We have developed an exciting induction programme to meet the Perinatal Competency Framework and provide regular supervision and training for all our staff.
The service has quickly mobilised during Covid-19 to offer video assessment and consultation in addition to face to face and is now looking towards moving to a hybrid model of face to face and online working.
Please ensure you read the job description and person specification attached and that your supporting information reflects the relevant skills and experience you have, as your application will be shortlisted against these criteria.
The post holder will help with assisting with service improvement and developing pathways of care to meet the service needs in line with National and Local strategies and evidence-based best practice.
The post holder will work with people with different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and may be called upon to work in various community settings (including women's homes and other community venues).
Important Information
Applications will be transferred to the TRAC system, by completing an application you are giving authorisation for the transfer of your data. In submitting an application form, you authorise us to confirm any previous NHS service details via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process. Including factual reference, occupational health clearance and statutory and mandatory training records
Correspondence regarding your application will be sent to you via a TRAC system account.
Please submit your application as soon as possible; due to the high volumes of applications we receive we reserve the right to close any adverts before the closing date once we have received sufficient applications.
We are an equal opportunities employer, which aims to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons from all backgrounds.
At NHFT we support many of our colleagues to work flexibly and we will consider requests for flexible working from day one. For this role, we are open to discussing a range of options including flexible hours, agile/home working, compressed hours and part time hours. Please have a conversation with the recruiting manager about the flexibility you need and we will promise to explore what is possible with you.
Applicants who have a disability and meet the essential criteria for the job will be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme. If you require a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process please make the recruitment services team aware as soon as possible.
All posts that are engaged in a regulated activity will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and a DBS re-check on a three yearly basis whilst employed in such a role. Staff employed in these posts will therefore be asked to register with the DBS Automatic Update Service upon receipt of their DBS certificate and must update yearly , the annual fee will be reimbursed subject to Trust policy. For further information please visit: DBS Update Service: applicant guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Please note if a DBS is applicable for the position then a charge will be deducted from your first salary or upfront cost if a staff bank position.
Please note that all new starters to the trust are subject to a probationary period.

NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools. We also provide health services to various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.