Band 5 Assistant Psychologist - Swindon

This new role has been developed as part of a transformation programme across our acute services, designed to increase access to evidence based treatment.
You will work closely with the Practitioner Psychologists and other Psychological Practitioners working across the acute pathway.
The post-holder will support the delivery of individual and group evidence-based psychological interventions, to service users on Applewood ward and under the Swindon Intensive Service (SIS). They will also support the Practitioner Psychologists in the facilitation of team formulations for these two teams, for example reviewing and summarizing the clinical record in preparation for the team formulation session.
The post-holder will support the qualified Practitioner Psychologists in the evaluation of the service provided, and in undertaking relevant QI projects., The post-holder will support the Practitioner Psychologists working on Applewood and Swindon Intensive Service (SIS) to deliver assessment, formulation and evidence based psychological interventions for service users, and carers, on the acute pathway.
There will also be opportunities to support the delivery of team formulation and reflective practice for the wider MDTs working across Applewood and SIS. The post-holder will support the delivery of training to the wider MDT around psychologically informed, brief interventions.
Applewood ward: Applewood ward is a 16 bedded unit, providing input for male service users of working age experiencing acute mental health difficulties. The ward is located at Sandalwood Court.
Swindon Intensive Service (SIS): Swindon Intensive Services offer rapid assessment and treatment for people who are experiencing a mental health emergency. The team provides proactive and intensive support to avoid the symptoms of a mental health emergency getting worse. The aim of the service is to offer treatment and care in an individual's own home as an alternative to hospital admission and the team are based at Sandalwood Court., Swindon Psychological Therapies Service (PTS) comprises a supportive team of Clinical Psychologists, Counselling Psychologists, CBT Therapists, Arts Psychotherapists and a Family Therapist. We have established links with local training providers in Clinical and Counselling Psychology, and also take undergraduate placement students from the Bath psychology course. As a team we are supporting several QI projects.
The team has a strong emphasis on promoting staff wellbeing, including a monthly wellbeing newsletter, and bi-monthly reflective practice. We actively support staff in their ongoing professional development and have a bi-monthly CPD Club.
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.

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.
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.