Job Description

We are delighted to offer an exciting opportunity to work as an Assistant Psychologist within our inpatient dementia intensive care unit. The Assistant Psychologist will work alongside two other Assistant Psychologists and a Clinical Psychologist. The unit provides a specialist service to individuals with dementia who experience psychological and behavioural distress, as well as their families/support networks. Key responsibilities are to assist with psychological assessment, bio-psycho-social formulation, psychological and psychosocial interventions and evaluation of outcomes. This will include working collaboratively with the person's family/social networks. The role includes working as part of a multidisciplinary team. The Assistant Psychologist will have a key role in assisting the development of psychologically informed care plans, which aim to enhance empathy and understanding of the psychological needs of each individual with dementia; and will work both directly and indirectly to promote the psychological well-being of people living with dementia, their families/support networks. Working closely under the supervision and support of the Clinical Psychologist, the Assistant Psychologist will also assist with providing a psychological perspective within risk assessments and safety plans for individuals who have been admitted to hospital with a high risk of harm to themselves or others.



The Dementia Inpatient Service works within a person-centred care ethos and an important part of the Assistant Psychologist's role is to assist with service development to further enhance person-centred care approaches. Experience and knowledge in person-centred dementia care (e.g. Enriched model of dementia (Kitwood)/Newcastle model (James)) is particularly desirable. We are interested in recruiting an Assistant Psychologist with a clear passion for working with people living with dementia, with experience of working with or knowing a person living with dementia/people with other cognitive difficulties (please give details of your experience of this in your application). There will be opportunities to gain experience in a wide range of assessment, formulation and intervention models, alongside the core model of Person-centred dementia care, such as Positive Behaviour Support, Systemic, Neuropsychological and Cognitive-behavioural. There is also the potential opportunity to train (and gain a qualification) as a Dementia Care Mapper and use this to inform person-centred care plans/ interventions alongside the multidisciplinary team.



The successful applicant will join a friendly, highly-skilled and enthusiastic community of applied psychologists within West Sussex, who have close links with the Doctoral Clinical Psychology training programme at the University of Surrey. We place a high value on staff wellbeing and you will receive regular supervision and continuing professional development opportunities. At Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust we are at the forefront of best practice in Dementia Care and Dementia research. There are likely to be opportunities to collaborate with the supervisor on publications, such as poster presentations for UK Conferences.



Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health, learning disability and forensic services in and across Sussex. The Trust has recently been rated by the CQC as Good overall and Outstanding for care. Sussex Partnership has teaching status and is developing into one of the country's leading teaching mental health trusts. Psychological Therapies are highly valued in Sussex Partnership and Psychological Therapists occupy a range of senior positions across the Trust. Working here offers continued training and development, variety, plus all the benefits of living in Sussex. Sussex is a beautiful county with good transport links, vibrant communities, rural areas, and tourist attractions, including the Coast and the South Downs.



Closing date two weeks from advert. We anticipate and hope for a high number of applications. Therefore this post is likely to close ahead of the advertised closing date.

Main responsibilities include:

To undertake assessments and interventions (for example neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect observations and semi-structured interviews of clients, family members and others involved in the clients care), as appropriate to level of training, competence and under live or regular supervision from a qualified practitioner Psychologist.

To gather information to contribute to the assessment, formulation, and interventions completed with people living with dementia on the ward at the time. This will involve communicating with the person with dementia themselves, communicating with their carers, reviewing notes, and speaking to other professionals (within the MDT and other agencies).

Indirect psychologically-informed work including arranging and contributing to meetings with people living with dementia and those who support them, members of the MDT, and professionals from other services. This includes admission and discharge meetings, best interest meetings, and team formulation meetings.

To assist in the development of psychologically based frameworks of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service.

To ensure relevant documentation is kept up to date and accurate (for example safety plans). If required, to compile risk histories to inform care plans, risk and crisis plans.

To formulate and deliver care, training or research plans within settings where there may be a hostile atmosphere, challenging behaviour or high levels of expressed emotion.

To conduct literature searches, collate audit and outcome evidence, analyse relevant data and produce reports to inform and enhance care delivered by the service.

To assist in the coordination and running of therapeutic groups, training or research projects.

To work with other team members to improve care, training and research practices and the quality of life of clients.

To attend and contribute to multi-disciplinary meetings.

To support the delivery of evidence based psychological interventions for clients.

To carry out other clinical and administrative tasks as appropriate to the post holder's grade.

To be up to date with both de-escalation, physical breakaway and PMVA techniques appropriate to the service environment.

To attend regular supervision and CPD sessions.