Research Assistant Practitioner

The Resettle service is funded by the joint specialist commissioners from Prison and Probation (HMPPS) and the NHS as part of the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway. Resettle is an intensive community risk management and intervention service (IIRMS) that works with individuals released from prison subject to post custody release licences. All pose a high risk to others and are MAPPA eligible due to the nature of the offences. A range of individual and group interventions are guided by a psychological formulation of needs and risk.

This role sits within the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) Pathway and is critical to the delivery of robust, ethical, and impactful research. It will support a growing programme of research into the experiences, risks, transitions, and outcomes of individuals exhibiting personality difficulties and complex needs across custodial and community settings.

The postholder will contribute to mixed-methods evaluations, longitudinal studies, and feasibility research, with a focus on participant recruitment, fieldwork, data analysis, and stakeholder engagement. Working in close partnership with NHS, HMPPS, and academic collaborators, this role will ensure that the research informs trauma-informed, psychologically informed, and evidence-based practice across the OPD pathway.

The post will be split 0.8WTE focusing on research and 0.2wte focusing on clinical work in Resettle & Reintegrate IIRMS OPD services.

The postholder will contribute to mixed-methods evaluations, longitudinal studies, and feasibility research, with a focus on participant recruitment, fieldwork, data analysis, and stakeholder engagement. Working in close partnership with NHS, HMPPS, and academic collaborators, this role will ensure that the research informs trauma-informed, psychologically informed, and evidence-based practice across the OPD pathway. This post will support the Research Officer role within the service. The role will involve supporting the sociotherapy intervention programme with service users on probation and will involve community and office based sessions.

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

To support and enhance the psychological well-being of people on probation/prisons within the service, across all sectors of care; providing informal and formal support in the community, psychological assessment and psychological interventions under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist, working independently according to a plan agreed with a qualified psychologist and within the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures. This may include group and/or individual interventions under supervision.

To communicate the results of assessments and interventions to people on probation or in prisons and wider professional networks, overcoming barriers to understanding where necessary.

To utilise theory, literature on evidence-based practice, and research to support evidence-based practice in own work and work with other members of the team or department.

To implement clinical audit, survey projects, service evaluation and research projects within agreed department and service objectives.

Contribute to the writing up of results and to the publication of a research paper/s. Some of the research projects are already underway, and it will be expected that the successful applicant will continue on from what has been completed with minimal interruption, with co-researchers.

Develop research skills and knowledge. Participate in regular supervision and appraisal, internal and external CPD activities, and through a personal development plan agreed with the supervisor and line manager.

Attend research meetings/conferences/seminars as agreed with the supervisor/line manager.

Maintain the highest standards of record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, paying due attention to confidentiality. Write reports and disseminate relevant information appropriately to other professionals. Monitor records and reports as required.

Maintain the highest standards of record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, paying due attention to confidentiality. Write reports and disseminate relevant information appropriately to other professionals. Monitor records and reports as required.

Enter research information as required into databases and statistical packages. Receive and send emails and use the Internet to access information relevant to professional practice and research. Prepare reports and presentations to a professional level.

The postholder will be required to have contact with service users under probation supervision. This may entail occasional exposure to accounts of distressing life experiences.

To undertake psychological assessments of clients using appropriate standardised psychometric assessments, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users and/or others involved in their care, and to collate historical and developmental data. To analyse data and write reports.

Provide and receive highly complex, sensitive, distressing and emotional information in relation to mental health and forensic issues, such as traumatic life history information or details of serious violent and sexual offending, and provide risk assessments, clinical formulations or other information where there may be barriers to acceptance or understanding.

Participate in regular clinical and professional supervision and appraisal and internal and external CPD activities and update knowledge and skills in psychology relevant to the practice of forensic psychology through a personal development plan agreed with the Lead.

To help create and manage Microsoft Access and other databases for clinical and audit data, including Excel.

To support the facilitation and development of training sessions for staff.

To take responsibility for organising own day to day activities, and planning and prioritising own workload.

To comment on policies, procedures and potential service developments where appropriate.