Family Therapist / Systemic Psychotherapist | Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in Greater London seeks an innovative family/systemic psychotherapist for the Brent Integrated Psychology & Psychotherapy Service. The role involves assessing and treating complex mental health issues in a multi-disciplinary team. Candidates should have a background in systemic family therapy and a commitment to supporting individuals and families in their recovery. This position offers the chance to work directly with patients while contributing to a range of therapeutic models and practices.

Qualifications

• Experience in family therapy and systemic models required.
• Knowledge of mental health needs and interventions.
• Skills in conducting assessments with families and individuals.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist assessment and clinical systemic formulation.
• Administer specialist assessments and therapeutic interventions.
• Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams in treatment plans.

Skills

Systemic family therapy

Mental health assessment

Therapeutic interventions

Communication skills

Cultural competence

Education

Qualified Systemic Family Therapist

Job description

Job Overview

We are looking for an innovative, motivated and enthusiastic family/systemic psychotherapist with an interest in working in adult services to join us in the Brent Integrated Psychology & Psychotherapy Service (BIPPS). This would be an excellent opportunity for a newly-qualified Systemic Family Therapist with a background in another mental health training such as Social Work, Occupational Therapy or Mental Health Nursing. The post-holder will be located across the three BIPPS specialist psychological therapies pathways: Complex Mental Health (CMH), Complex Emotional Needs (CEN), and Psychosis. They will also have some input into the Early Intervention in Psychosis service. This is an exciting opportunity to join a team committed to improving the lives of the population we serve and we are looking to recruit someone who is equally committed to supporting people with their recovery. As a colleague in BIPPS, the post-holder will be attached to a particular MDT whilst under the management and support of an integrated psychological therapies service. As such they will have contact with colleagues who deliver individual, group and family therapies from a wide range of interesting theoretical models working across the three pathways. The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings. The post-holder will be expected to work across the psychological therapies pathways, supporting clients and their families/systems using established systemic family therapy interventions/approaches to assess and treat difficult dynamics and relational problems. They will work alongside the senior family therapist in the running of a family therapy clinic, involving colleagues from across the CMHT. Alongside direct clinical work, the post-holder will also work with the MDT, providing systemic consultations alongside colleagues from other professional groups, as well as supporting teams through reflective practice. They will provide systemic thinking to the different psychological therapy pathways to encourage the whole team to 'think family'.

Responsibilities

• To provide specialist assessment and clinical systemic formulation to individuals, couples, families and social networks where the identified client has severe and highly complex mental health needs, including (but not limited to) emotional and behavioural disturbance, parenting difficulties, acute and chronic mental and physical illness, deliberate self-harm, suicide risk, experiences of violence and trauma, and adult and child safeguarding.
• To select and administer specialist assessments as appropriate through the use of a range of systemic assessment tools. This would include analysis and assessment of multiple levels of contextual meaning, deconstruction of current interactional patterns of behaviour and meaning around mental health issues and complex relationships.
• To provide reports, including relevant formulation, opinion and interventions to inform referrers, service users and their families.
• To select and deliver specialist therapeutic interventions, drawing from a broad spectrum of systemic models, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions as necessary, based on the highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, couple, family or group.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
• To act as lead professional where necessary, taking responsibility for the planning and reviewing of care plans for service users.
• To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with service users.carers and colleaguestaking account of communication needs.
• To ensure that all services provided are acceptable and accessible to the diverse communities which make up the Borough of Brent.At all times to work in ways that are sensitive to and appropriate for the needs of families from a wide range of racial, cultural and religious backgrounds, and to be aware and sensitive to the different contexts that shape different families experiences, beliefs and perceptions. This will include working with interpreters.

Contributing to the wider service

• To contribute to the effective working of the team and to a psychologically and systemically informed framework for the service.
• To provide consultations to other clinical staff on the use of family therapy and systemic psychotherapy techniques and, where appropriate, to jointly work with other team members in the provision of therapeutic interventions.
• To take a proactive stance in challenging discrimination and support the development of a culturally competent service.
• To provide systemically informed advice and consultancy to local teams and services for clients.
• To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals to develop and review care plans and to arrange and lead network meetings as appropriate.
• To use theory, evidence-based literature and research to support clinical practice and work with other team members.

Policy and service development

• To implement policies and procedures in own area of work.
• To identify aspects of the service that could be improved and initiate and implement service development projects.
• To participate in clinical governance initiatives as agreed by the team.
• To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users and their families in planning and delivering.

Management of resources

• To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust's equipment and physical resources.

Management and supervision/consultation

• To be responsible for providing consultation to mental health practitioners developing systemic skills.
• To contribute to the appraisal of trainee family therapists, and other mental health practitioners developing systemic skills.
• To participate in the recruitment of trainee family therapists, and other mental health practitioners developing systemic skills.
• To provide consultation for the systemic and family work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.

Teaching and training

• To contribute to the teaching and training of family and systemic psychotherapists and specialised training to other professions as appropriate.
• To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the Brent Integrated Psychology and Psychotherapy Service by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in the field of systemic practice and Adult Mental Health and by implementing knowledge gained in practice.
• To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.
• To provide training in family/social network inclusive practice to multi-disciplinary teams as appropriate.

Record-keeping and information governance

• To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.

Research and development

• To contribute to service evaluation and audits.
• To contribute to appropriate research within the service.
• To initiate and implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment and assist other staff in the implementation of same.
• Initiate and participate in evaluating systemic approaches within particular areas of the service.

Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

• Regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior family and systemic psychotherapist will be available according to AFT, UKCP and Trust guidelines.
• To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with AFT and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and the UKCP 'Continual Professional Development' guidelines.
• To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
• To adhere to the UKCP 'Ethical Principles and Code of Professional Conduct' and Trust policies and procedures.

General

• To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour and follow trust policies relating to its management.
• To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations and to support others involved in such situations.

This is not intended as an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities of the role. The postholder may be required to undertake other duties which fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with their manager.

Disability confident

About Disability Confident: A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to .