We are seeking a highly motivated, enthusiastic, flexible, conscientious, and kind individual to join our service as a Personal Assistant (PA).

The post holder will exclusively support a visually impaired clinician who is currently training to deliver cognitive behaviour therapy within the Preston Talking Therapies service.

The clinician to whom the PA support will be provided is a guide dog user, so being at ease around dogs is essential.

Excellent interpersonal skills are essential due to the role's context within mental health services and the postholder must possess emotional resilience when accessing information that may be distressing.

Talking Therapies is an innovative and forward-thinking service that provides a rapid accessible mental health screening, assessment and treatment whilst enabling people accessing the service to have a collaborative role in the choice of intervention they receive.

The Talking Therapies service has dedicated teams of Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs), Cognitive Behavioural Therapists and Counsellors who offer a range of support to help people make positive changes to reduce stress and anxiety and improve their wellbeing., The postholder will work closely and collaboratively with the clinician daily who will be taking the lead and directing your assigned duties on a day-to-day basis. The PA will take direction led by the clinician, which includes all aspects of receiving, managing, and inputting information into the patient's electronic care record, preparing materials to support client therapy, and typing notes and diagrams of client sessions completed in readiness for the next therapeutic session.

The post holder will have knowledge of all the relevant administrative and secretarial procedures applicable to this role and the ability to deal with non-routine activities that arise. Problem-solving is an integral part of the role.

Previous experience using digital software such as adobe to create and edit documents, comprehensive understanding and use of excel, pdf to word conversion processes and Microsoft word is essential. The postholder will also be trained in the use and operation of the electronic patient clinical care record IAPTus.

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care.

The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area.

Lancashire & South Cumbria Foundation Trust encourages flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, flexi-time and career breaks. We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview.