Assistant Psychologist

Introduction

An assistant psychologist seeks to improve lives and promote health and independence for people with learning disabilities by providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions, and assisting in clinically related administration, the conduct of audits, the collection of outcome statistics, and/or other project work as appropriate under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist working within the service.  

They work within a positive behaviour support framework to provide an accessible, non-stigmatising, localised service that contributes to the specialist healthcare of people with learning disabilities within the locality.

Salary, hours and benefits

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What you’ll do

Your day-to-day duties may include:

• undertaking psychological assessments, formulation, therapeutic interventions, and consultation under supervision to support people with specific needs, e.g. challenging behaviour, dementia, autism, mental health issues, and psychological and emotional difficulties to maintain skills needed for living an ordinary life.
• actively working with people to implement care plans devised by psychologists,
• acting as an advocate to ensure there is proper regard for people’s dignity, choice, self-esteem, and racial, cultural, sexual, and religious needs and preferences,
• carrying out comprehensive assessments, and planning, implementing, and evaluating the delivery of psychology interventions under the supervision of a psychologist as part of a holistic approach, working in a variety of settings,
• taking appropriate and immediate action to keep people safe in a crisis or safeguarding situation, reporting back to a senior colleague in a timely manner,
• practicing within the Positive Behaviour Support framework,
• observing and documenting any changes in the wellbeing of the people you are supporting, reporting to the professional or team manager any change in risk or presentation of the person, and updating risk assessments as required,
• working in partnership with people in other health and social care settings,
• establishing and maintaining effective relationships with colleagues, other agencies, and people who use services and their families,
• contributing to clinical audits and research, maintaining current knowledge of research findings and development within the learning disability field,
• participating in quality assurance activities as required,
• contributing to the development, implementation, and monitoring of interventions driven by government initiatives, e.g. transforming care, learning disability mortality review to promote positive health gains for clients
• contributing to the development and provision of a range of specialist teaching/training packages that can be delivered to a range of multidisciplinary audiences.

Working environment 

You could work in an NHS or private hospital, at a hospice, or in the community. 

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Characteristics and skills required

You’ll need: 

• to be passionate about ensuring a high-quality holistic approach to the care and support provided to people with learning disabilities who have been identified as in need of psychological support to enable them to exercise choice over their own lives,
• experience of working in a care setting,
• experience of working in teams and the ability to work well with others,
• knowledge of psychological assessment and intervention for adults with learning disabilities,
• competent in the design and methodology of projects,
• competent in the use of IT including SPSS for Windows, setting up databases, statistical analysis, and presentation of results,
• excellent verbal and written communication skills,
• the ability to accept reflections upon your work,
• the ability to work well under pressure and remain calm in stressful situations.

Restrictions and requirements 

You’ll need to pass enhanced background checks.

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Career path and progression

You can use the experience of being an assistant psychologist to apply for further professional training, e.g. doctoral applied psychology courses, Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT), wellbeing practitioners.

Career Framework level	Role	Degree?
5	Assistant Psychologist  An assistant psychologist seeks to improve lives and promote health and independence for people with learning disabilities by providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions, and assisting in clinically related administration, the conduct of audits, the collection of outcome statistics, and/or other project work as appropriate under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist working within the service.	Yes
5	Trainee Clinical Psychologist Trainee clinical psychologists work with people of all ages and in a variety of settings in physical and mental healthcare. The role contributes to the core work of clinical psychologists and provides a training ground with regular supervision in which to practice and develop skills as a clinician and researcher.	Yes
6	Specialist Clinical Psychologist Working as a band 7 clinical psychologist within a learning disability service is a varied role that involves working both with adults diagnosed with learning disabilities (defined as a reduced intellectual ability that impacts the person’s ability to complete everyday activities) and the systems around them. This could include families, carers, and staff teams, in addition to other health professionals.	Yes
7	Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologist Qualified psychologists apply psychological knowledge and skills to help individuals and those who support them to have a good quality of life. Psychologists working in the field of learning disability use a wide range of clinical skills, including formal assessment, formulation, therapeutic interventions, teaching, and consultation.	Yes
8	Consultant Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologist As consultant psychologist, you will be a leader, for example lead for learning disability psychology across a whole NHS trust, although in some cases a consultant psychologist may cover one geographical or specialist area.	Yes
8 and 9	Head / Director of Psychological Therapies As head/director of psychological therapies, you will be the lead for all the psychological therapies across all care groups within the organisation.  You will work closely with the chief executive/chief operational officer, medical and nursing leads, and the chief finance officer to ensure the delivery of safe and effective psychological therapies in the organisation.	Yes

How to become an Assistant Psychologist

To become an assistant psychologist you will need to have a degree in psychology (usually 2.1 and above) or working towards this role by undertaking voluntary work or other related employment.

Work 

You can work as an assistant psychologist with people with learning disabilities in inpatient mental health/learning disabilities units or in a community team setting. You will work under the direct supervision of a qualified applied psychologist, while working closely with other members of the multidisciplinary team.

Volunteering and experience 

You’ll find it useful to get some paid or voluntary experience in a healthcare setting or personal care role. This will help when you apply for jobs. 

You could contact the voluntary services co-ordinator at your local NHS trust for advice about opportunities.

From within health and social care

If you are already working in the health and social care sector and you are looking for a new challenge, then you can change career to become a psychologist within learning disability and autism support and care. To qualify, you will need a degree in psychology (usually at 2.1 and above), which gives you Graduate Basis for Registration with the BPS.

From outside health and social care

If you want to work in health and social care and you are looking for a new challenge, then you can change career to become a psychologist within learning disability and autism support and care. To qualify, you will need a degree in psychology (usually at 2.1 and above), which gives you Graduate Basis for Registration with the BPS.

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Current opportunities

Most NHS trusts advertise their vacancies on NHS Jobs. Some advertise on trust websites. You can find a list of trusts on NHS Choices.

Some job opportunities may be in social care settings and available through Community Care or Local Authority websites.