Senior Assistant Psychologist

• Clinical,Family Services
• Permanent
• Full Time
• Competitive

Post Outline

We are seeking an experienced and enthusiastic Senior Assistant Psychologist to join our dedicated, experienced and growing team of professionals as we embark on a journey of expansion.

This is a permanent post supporting the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT), specifically the Psychology Team, in the delivery of effective clinical services through assessment, intervention and ongoing support to children, young people and families accessing the service.
You will work as part of a multidisciplinary team that includes Learning Disability Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Paediatrician, Assistant Psychologists, Clinical Assistants and charity volunteers. The role also will involve close collaborative working with the Registered Manager, Children and Family Services Department, Applications Department and Volunteer Department.

About Caudwell Children

Established in 2000, Caudwell Children is a national charity which works to transform the lives of disabled children and their families, enabling them to challenge the barriers they face throughout childhood by providing practical and emotional support.

The Charity is going through an exciting period of growth having opened a state-of-the-art facility for multi-disciplinary therapy programmes for childhood disability and research of neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism, within the grounds of Keele University.

It provides a state-of-the-art base for the Charity’s therapies and an environment where ground-breaking research can be undertaken, potentially changing the way some disabilities are treated, affecting millions of people around the world. This is a fantastic and exciting opportunity to join a dynamic and fast moving Charity at a time when it will attract national and international attention.

The services of Caudwell Children enrich the lives of our children and families through the delivery of high quality person centred care and support services that promote independence and achieve valued outcomes. We seek to create a safe, homely and supportive environment that enhances the lives of children with autism and associated conditions.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

Main Duties:

• Carry out assessment and interventions.
• Deliver structured and unstructured play sessions.
• Be involved in the delivery of training to parents and other staff, both internal and external.
• Undertake projects relating to service development and evaluation.
• Support the team with the production of resources and materials that support the programme.
• Assist with the holistic assessment of children and families, using a knowledge of psychological theory, verbal and non-verbal methods of communication, technology, analytical skills and clinical formulation skills.
• Attend and contribute to meetings and forums (including MDT meetings) relating to an individuals and families, as appropriate.
• Support the delivery of psychological evidenced based interventions.
• Decide on appropriate activities to meet the aims of individual or group interventions, modifying and using supports as necessary for the child or group.
• Implement individual and group interventions within the program, making modifications using own initiative as necessary to suit the child’s needs and environment.
• Adapt practice to meet individual child and ‘setting’ circumstances, including due regard for cultural and linguistic differences and mode of communication including signs and symbols.
• Demonstrate empathy with children, families and carers.
• Develop skills in motivating children, and families and/or carers to engage in the therapeutic and developmental processes.
• Demonstrate an understanding of child development and apply to daily care of children.
• Demonstrate/develop knowledge of specific therapeutic techniques and develop skills to assist/carry out these techniques.
• Maintain sensitivity at all times to the emotional needs of the child, the families and their carers, in particular when discussing distressing information regarding the nature of the child’s difficulties and implications of assessment results.
• Develop the ability to manage children with challenging behaviour including the application of appropriate management strategies.
• Liaise with other professionals as well as voluntary groups and to participate in the MDT.
• Carry out therapeutic activities and liaise with parents/guardians as needed.
• Assist with ad hoc administrative tasks, e.g., answering telephone, email and on-line enquiries, scanning, record keeping, stock control, data spreadsheets, etc.
• Make resources to support interventions for individual children and the settings they attend.
• Design and make equipment for groups and for personal use with children.
• Prepare rooms in readiness for sessional work in line with relevant programmes.
• Report any on-site incidents affecting staff, users or visitors in accordance with the Charity’s policy.
• Design and implement agreed elements of audit and research projects.
• Undertake data collection and analysis, produce reports and summaries, using IT and statistical programmes.
• Undertake searches of evidence-based literature and research in order to promote evidence based clinical practice.
• Support the Assistant Psychologist team with managing workloads, allocations of administrative tasks, and work-related challenges.
• Liaise with line managers, supervisors and Qualified Psychologists to support the Assistant Psychologist team as needed.

Customer Care/Quality Assurance: 

• Support service teams to ensure, where possible and appropriate, children and families are involved in future programme planning and delivery.
• Communicate with children, families and all stakeholders in a way that respects their views, autonomy and culture.
• Uphold the principles and practice of customer care and continuous improvement.
• At all times to afford service users, colleagues and stakeholders the dignity and respect to which they are entitled with full regard to the organisations Equality and Diversity Policy.
• Ensure that customers/stakeholders are enabled to comment and complain about any of the services they receive, ensuring all comments and complaints are dealt with promptly and in accordance with organisational policy and procedures.
• Confidentiality and data protection regarding all personal information and Caudwell Children activities must be maintained at all times (both in and out of working hours) in accordance with professional codes of conduct and relevant legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulations 2018.
• Contribute and co-operate fully with any regulatory or organisational inspections/audits.

Health & Safety: 

In addition to the organisations overall responsibility for your health and safety, you have a personal responsibility for your own health and safety. As such you are required to:

• Have an awareness of relevant health and safety regulations and legislation.
• Be responsible for your own health and safety and that of anyone else whom your acts and omissions may affect and maintain a professional and hygienic personal appearance at all times.
• Inform your line manager and facilities of any safety issues you identify that could affect you or others in the workplace.
• Co-operate fully with management and colleagues at all times in achieving safer working practices.
• Have knowledge of a range of safer handling and mobility skills relevant to the management of children, young people and families in your care, including safe use of transfer equipment.
• Use equipment when necessary and as instructed (as appropriate to your role), which will include checking the equipment is safe to use, prior to its use, reporting any defects immediately to your line manager/facilities.
• Be responsible for the implementation and adherence to organisational health and safety policies and procedures for areas within your remit.
• Ensure suitable and sufficient risk assessments are completed for all areas within your remit. The controls identified must be evaluated and implemented where necessary.
• Ensure your work adheres to Health and Social Care Act 2008, Code of Practice for the Prevention and Control of Infections and Related Guidance as applicable to your role.
• Report any concerns of potential abuse of a service user in line with the organisations Safeguarding Policy and procedures.

Resource Management: 

• Ensure maintenance and security of physical, financial and information resources, where applicable.
• Effectively maximise all resources available in the course of your duties, minimising waste and working within budgets.
• Ensure that all resources and utilities are used prudently and that any waste is minimised. Manage, monitor and maintain budgets agreed by management.
• Ensure stock levels of equipment are maintained and checked regularly, as appropriate to your role.
• Where appropriate, participate in the recruitment, induction and retention of team members as appropriate to your role.

General: 

• If applicable, ensure compliance with professional standards in relation to your relevant professional governing body (RCOT, RCSLT, NMC, BPS, CIPD, CIMA, ACCA, AAT, CIM, etc.).
• Adhere to your professional body’s regulations, ensuring registration is maintained at all times, where applicable.
• Demonstrate commitment to ongoing personal and professional development, maintaining professional portfolio’s and training profiles.
• Keep up to date and integrate any relevant new initiatives, regulations and legislation as appropriate to your role.
• Where appropriate, develop and maintain links with other professionals in the same specialist field of work.
• Keep comprehensive and accurate records in relation to your role and in accordance with organisational policies and procedures as well as local, professional and national guidelines.
• Attend training as appropriate to the role, applying knowledge gained to the workplace.
• Engage in Support and Supervision sessions, where appropriate, to reflect on practice enhancing communication and quality of service.
• To work effectively and collaboratively as a member of the team, building and maintaining good working relationships with all colleagues, stakeholders and professionals from external agencies.
• Collation and analysis of complex information derived from multiple sources to create robust service monitoring and achievable action plans that deliver results.
• Creation of comprehensive and robust information monitoring that is shared at all levels of the Charity and allows clarity and understanding of performance. Understanding what information is important to all other functions, including the CEO, and leading on how this is best delivered. Understanding how performance might affect delivery in other parts of the
• Charity and working closely to provide it.
• Ensure compliance with statutory and non-statutory bodies, including CQC, ISO 9001 and the Health & Safety Executive.
• Adhere to all Caudwell Children policies and procedures.
• Demonstrate commitment to Caudwell Children’s mission, vision and values.
• On occasion and when necessary work flexible hours to meet the needs of the business.
• Willingness to travel in order to meet the needs of the post.

This Job Description indicates only the main duties and responsibilities of the post and is not intended as an exhaustive list. The post holder may be asked to carry out other duties from time to time. The Charity reserves the right to amend this Job Description from time to time, according to business needs.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria:

• Honours degree 2:2 or above in Psychology, or equivalent. Eligible for graduate basis for chartership with the BPS.
• Experience of working with children.
• Relevant clinical and research skills.
• Knowledge of childhood development milestones.Excellent team-working and communication skills.
• Excellent leadership skills.
• Excellent time management and organisational skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Information technology skills, Excel, Word, Outlook etc.
• An openness and willingness to learn new skills and to put these into practice.
• A personal commitment to the organisation’s values and principles.
• A commitment to the principles and practice of continual improvement and the provision of personalised services.
• A commitment to uphold the rights of children; vulnerable and disabled people.
• A commitment and the organisation’s approaches to equality and diversity.
• A positive can-do attitude.
• Ability to demonstrate a flexible approach to work.
• Able to meet the physical requirements of the role after reasonable adjustments have been made for illness or disability.
• Undertake personal and professional development in order to meet the changing demands of the role.
• Able to travel to meet the needs of the role.

Desirable Criteria:

• Further post qualification in a relevant area.
• Experience in the use of psychometric assessments.
• Experience of working in an MDT.
• Experience of therapeutic contact.
• Experience of training others.
• Experience working with children with autism.
• Knowledge of Safeguarding principles and their application when working with children and families.
• Knowledge of neurodevelopmental disorders e.g. ADHD.
• Knowledge of Health, Education and Social Care.
• Experience working with volunteers and students.
• Experience of working in the Charity/Third Sector.
• Experience of working in ISO regulated organisations.
• Experience of working in CQC regulated organisations.

Disclosure & barring service checks

The Charity is committed to safeguarding children and young people and therefore adopts a safer recruitment approach through a robust recruitment and selection process. All posts within the Charity are subject to DBS checks, in line with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974). This role is eligible for an Enhanced with barred lists DBS check.

Equal Opportunities

Caudwell Children is a Disability Confident employer committed to offering an interview to all applicants who meet the minimum criteria and declare they have a disability as defined in the Equality Act 2010. We are committed to creating a diverse environment and will not discriminate for any reason against any person because of their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex or sexual orientation. We particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background and other underrepresented groups.

Location:

Caudwell International Children’s Centre (CICC) Keele, Staffordshire

Salary:

Competitive

Hours:

Full-time (37.5 hours per week)