Featured job: Psychology Graduate Support Worker, Bramley Health

Steve Tree, Human Resources Director, explains that 'These are ideal roles for psychology graduates who need time to think and explore next steps, or for those who need developmental experience before applying for clinical courses. We’re developing a programme to meet new graduates’ needs, and the people we recruit will help shape it.’

Bramley Health is a family-owned health and social care provider, running care homes and hospitals in Croydon, Bexhill-on-Sea, Coulsdon, Thornton Heath and Maidstone. These concentrate on neurocognitive disorders, mental health issues, female complex needs and learning disabilities, and run outcome-focused models with an integrated pathway from specialist hospital to enhanced residential services and supported living.

Steve gives more detail on the programme they’re developing for psychology graduate support staff. ‘Hospital-based psychologists will help design it and we’re building links with external organisations. We can provide certain experiences on site – we’ll have to create access to others outside the organisation. In return, we need people who – as I put it – “have the caring gene”, exhibiting patience and real concern with often challenging service users. This can be an upsetting environment, so everyone is trained how to cope with difficult situations. These support workers will work with people individually either in-house or, where possible, going with them for outside experiences. We want people who are practical and who can build relationships with disparate staff with different outlooks and opinions. Some people find this difficult; I think it’s extremely stimulating. We hope that psychology graduates will learn from other staff and service users but also pass on some of their knowledge in turn. They’ll bring a little bit extra to the role. I suppose I could sum up by saying that these support workers must be comfortable working in a genuine team with an absolute commitment to caring.’

To get a flavour of the culture within the group, their most recent online news item reads “Bramley Health’s Langford Centre football team…took part in the national football therapy tournament in Lewes on 3rd May 2017… [they reached] the plate final which they won with a score of 5–4.” They are obviously proud of the team!

Steve’s final comment. ‘Initial roles are in our Coulsdon site, but we are constantly changing and currently expanding. We’ll almost certainly be recruiting elsewhere. That offers real development opportunities to successful candidates.’

- Find more about the job at Jobs in Psychology.