26 PRINCE OF WALES ROAD LONDON NW5 3LG

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Assistant Psychologist, Brandon Prevent Programme

JOB DESCRIPTION

Title of Post:Assistant Psychologist

Grade:Band 5

Hours:Full time, 35 hours per week

Duration:Fixed Term, 1 year

Responsible to:Geoffrey Baruch, the Director of the Brandon Centre

Accountable to:The Director, the Brandon Centre

Base:Brandon Centre and Camden Council, 5 Pancreas Square

JOB CONTEXT

The Assistant Psychologist position is a full-time post at the Brandon Centre.

A. BACKGROUND OF POST

The Brandon Centre is a registered charity no. 290118 and Company Limited by Guarantee no. 1830241. The Centre was founded in 1968 and is managed by a Council of Management, set up in accordance with its Articles of Association.

The director is responsible for the organisation and direction of the Centre and is accountable to the Council of Management.

Our vision

Our vision is for young people to have access to effective support which helps them build on their strengths and achieve their goals.

The Brandon Centre will continue to meet the sexual and reproductive health care needs of young people and promote their emotional well-being so that they can function independently and fulfil their potential, as we have for nearly 50 years.

Our mission is to provide services that are:

  • accessible: responsive to and shaped by young people
  • evidence based: we use knowledge of what works (the evidence base) and our experience (practice based evidence) to decide with young people the best way to help them
  • outcome focused: we help young people achieve the outcomes they want and use outcome measures and feedback from young people to find out whether we are meeting their goals

Our principles

We are dedicated to service provision.

The needs, wishes and views of young people inform everything that we do.

We work with partners to maximise the impact of our services on the lives of young people.

The work of the Centre covers:

1) Direct clinical work:

- Contraception and sexual health service

- Individual psychotherapy/counselling with young people using a range of evidence-based therapies, and consultation to parents/carers/professionals

- Multisystemic therapy (MST)

- Parent management training

2) Information

3) Consultation and teaching

4) Research and Evaluation

Brandon Centre projects and services for young people with antisocial behaviour

Over 13 years, the Brandon Centre has acquired considerable experience in delivering programmes for young people at risk of persistent challenging and antisocial behaviour. A recent practitioner review of prevention programmes (de Vries et al, 2015) identified several specific effective ingredients associated with positive treatment outcomes: programmes should be based on social learning theory and include behavioural contracting, modelling and parenting skills training. The interventions should be delivered in the family home, be multimodal (i.e. applying different evidence based interventions according to the individual's presentation) and should include targeting siblings showing signs of behavioural problems. The number of sessions should be kept low.

The programme that the post holder will be involved in delivering is designed to target challenging behaviour in 12 to 16 year olds at an early stage. It also addresses families' need for post programme support in case of relapse in the young person's behaviour.

The programme is suitable for:

  • 12 to 16 year olds with disruptive patterns of behaviour at home, in school and in the community: e.g. curfew violations, truanting from school, minor offending, for example stealing, criminal damage, damaging property in the home, being aggressive and argumentative, substance misuse, defying parent/carer rules, impulsivity, siblings showing signs of disruptive patterns of behaviour at home, in school and in the community
  • Parents who have ineffective parenting styles (authoritarian, permissive, neglectful), unclear rules, a lack of knowledge of effective discipline practices, of using rewards and negative consequences, and who have loose monitoring practices; parents who are motivated to make changes.

The programme:

1. The referred parent(s) participates in a group based parent training programme, Parenting with Love and Limits, run by the director. This is an evidence based psycho-educational group where the parents learn about how to apply relevant skills associated with effective parenting, including behavioural contracting and contingency management techniques that can be applied to the referred child and siblings. Two parallel programmes, one on a Thursday evening and one on a Friday morning are run in January and February, April and May and September and October. The programme is run over six weeks and comprises six, two hour sessions. (Parents of challenging teenagers not requiring extra support also attend the programme).

2. Families are offered six sessions parallel to the group programme with a psychologist to support the parents in implementing the ideas from the parenting programme into practice in their own home.

3. The young person will be offered some individual sessions focusing on developing strategies around problem solving, anger management and communication skills.

4. Parents will be offered support in developing collaborative relationships with school in order to help to engage their child in education.

5. Where appropriate, families will be given practical support for matters that may be a barrier to effective parenting e.g. negotiating with social services, with housing, benefits, etc.

6. Where appropriate, families will be offered a post programme support service that will be available over 10 months and will include top-up sessions and telephone support.

JOB SUMMARY

With the director and the referral's co-ordinator, the post holder will identify referrals to the Centre's parent training group who could benefit from the enhanced programme.

The post holder will:

  • Contact identified referrals and invite them for a meeting to explain and offer the enhanced parent training programme and seek their agreement to participate.
  • Support and encourage their attendance in the group programme.
  • Attend the group programme and support its delivery.
  • Obtain feedback from parents at the end of each session on what they have learned and whether the session was useful.
  • Arrange to meet the family either in their home or at the Centre after each group meeting and help the parent to develop strategies to put the ideas from the programme into practice, using modelling techniques and role play scenarios.
  • Engage with the young person and, where appropriate, support them with developing their skills in problem solving, anger management and communication skills.
  • Provide practical support to the family in areas that are having a negative impact on parenting and helping with the young person's re-engagement in education.
  • Be available for post programme support for 10 months including top up sessions and telephone support.
  • Telephone the family monthly, or if necessary more frequently, to find out how the family is managing.
  • If appropriate liaise with referrers on the progress being made by the parents.
  • Participate in regular clinical supervision with the director and a clinical psychologist
  • Participate in CPD and other developmental activities.
  • Follow defined practices and procedures under the management and co- ordination of their line manager.

The post holder is expected to:

  • Work with a minimum of 20 families per annum.
  • Become familiar with Parenting with Love and Limits leader's guide.
  • Become familiar with Parenting Your Out-of-Control Teenager manual.
  • Support and help the parent to formulate and rate their goals for the programme on a weekly basis.
  • Have good keyboard skills and a good working knowledge of Windows, Microsoft Office Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook and other relevant software
  • Haveskillsinconductingliteraturesearchesanddeveloping clinical resources/information leaflets
  • Undertake data collection, analysis, the production of reports and summaries
  • Contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the post holder’s supervisors
  • Maintain the highest standards of record keeping and report writing in accordance with professional codes of practice
  • Undertake specific administrative duties as required
  • Perform other duties of a similar kind appropriate to the grade, which may be required from time to time
  • Gain wider experience of professional psychology over and above that provided within the principal service where the post holder is employed.
  • Develop skills and competencies that assist in the delivery of current duties.
  • Promote Brandon Prevent through attending meetings with other services and developing materials as appropriate.

CONFIDENTIALITY

All information concerning patients/clients and staff must be treated as strictly confidential at all times in accordance with the Brandon Centre’s policies on confidentiality.

CHILD PROTECTION

All staff have an obligation to practice according to the Centre's child protection policies, which includes the responsibility to promote and safeguard the welfare of children/adults at risk of harm they are responsible for/come into contact with. Staff are made aware of the policy on induction.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

It is the aim of the Brandon Centre to ensure that no job applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of sex, race, colour, religion, martial status, sexuality, age or disability and is not placed at a disadvantage by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justified. To this end the Brandon Centre has an equal opportunities policy and it is for each employee to contribute to its success.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Employees must be aware of the responsibilities placed on them under the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), and to ensure that agreed safety procedures are carried out to maintain a safe environment for employees, patients and visitors.

NO SMOKING POLICY

There is a no smoking policy in operation in the Brandon Centre. In accordance with this policy smoking is positively discouraged and is not permitted on the premises.

DATA PROTECTION

Staff that have contact with computerised data systems will be required to obtain, process and/or use information held on a computer or word processor in a fair and lawful way; to hold data only for the specific registered purpose and not to use or disclose it in any way incompatible with such purpose; to disclose data only to authorised persons or organisations as instructed.

ACCESS TO HEALTH RECORDS

All staff have an obligation to ensure that health records are maintained efficiently and that confidentiality is protected. Staff are also subject to this obligation both on an implied basis and also on the basis that, on accepting their job description, they agree to maintain both patient/client and staff confidentiality.

In addition, all health professionals are advised to compile records on the assumption that they are accessible to patients in line with Access to Health Records Act 1990.

WASTE DISPOSAL

All staff must ensure that waste produced within the Centre is disposed of in such ways that control risk to health or safety of staff and the public alike in accordance with relevant legislation and procedures contained within the policy.

To be noted:

This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities, and the post holder may be required to undertake other duties which fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with the team managers.

This job description will be reviewed regularly in the light of changing service requirements and any such changes will be discussed with the post holder.

BRANDON CENTRE FOR COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

FOR YOUNG PEOPLE PERSON SPECIFICATION

Assistant Psychologist, Brandon Prevent Programme

ESSENTIAL / DESIRABLE / TESTED
TRAINING & QUALIFICATIO NS / An upper second class honours degree or higher in Psychology.
Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society. / Further postgraduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice, offending behaviour and/or research design and analysis. / Examination results
EXPERIENCE / Experience of paid or voluntary work with young people that present with antisocial behaviour and/or mental health problems.
Experience of collecting or extracting data through audits, service evaluations or research, and presenting this in a written format. / Experience of conducting audits and/or service evaluation in a mental health setting. / Interview Application form References
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS / An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to troubled families and to young people that present with antisocial and challenging behaviour.
Ability to communicate sensitive information to families and colleagues.
Experience using databases for data- analysis, Excel, SPSS and Access.
High level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive.
Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively. / An understanding of the needs and complexities of young people that present with antisocial and challenging behaviour.
An understanding of the types of interventions that are used with troubled families and young people that present with antisocial and challenging behaviour.
An understanding of the types of interventions that are used with children and young people that have antisocial and challenging behaviour.
Experience of outreach work with families, children and young persons / Interview Application form References
PERSONAL / Interest in working with troubled families and young people with antisocial and challenging behaviour.
Ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines.
Ability to interact with parents and young people with antisocial and challenging behaviour.
Ability to work independently, reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals.
Ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism when faced with highly emotive and distressing problems, and high risk behaviours.
An awareness of one’s limitations and an ability to ask for help/support as needed.
A high level of organisational and time- management skills.
A high level of interpersonal skills, to be approachable and able to build a rapport with clients and colleagues.
An ability to adapt to an agile working environment / Interview Application form References
OTHER / Willingness to work out of office hours as well as in office hours / A desire to explore a career the field of mental health. / Interview Application form References