Job summary
We are seeking a senior Family and Systemic Psychotherapist, to take up this exciting role developing Family Therapy provision in Adult Mental Health Services in Swindon. The post holder will be based within Swindon locality.
The post holder will provide specialist, evidence based therapy to families with a member who is receiving care in secondary services. This will include continuing to run the Family Therapy Clinic, which is currently staffed by a supervisor and warm, motivated and experienced colleagues from Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry. We also typically have a Family Therapy MSc student from Exeter University.
Family Therapy services are also keen to develop clinics that include community involvement and participation: the BANES FT service has recently created a Family Therapy Clinic at Bath City Farm and the Swindon post holder will be encouraged and supported to explore similar options. The post holder will also hold an individual caseload outside of clinic work themselves. They will also have a key leadership role in providing supervision, consultation and training to professionals in other teams whilst helping to ensure that systemic thinking is present in all aspects of our care. The role will involve working in partnership with service users, colleagues within PTS, and with the BSW Lead for Family Therapy.
Main duties of the job
You should have significant post-qualification experience of providing evidence based, systemic interventions. In addition to carrying a clinical caseload, you will play a key role in advising on ways to improve access to NICE recommended interventions for service users who would benefit from a systemic approach.
The role will involve supervision, consultation and training to colleagues in other teams on the importance of considering the system around a service user. As a key principle of systemic care emphasises collaboration, you should feel comfortable liaising with a wide variety of stakeholders, including service users, those close to them, their professional networks, including third sector providers. The post holder will receive line management from the Head of the Psychological Therapies Service, and clinical supervision with the BSW Family Therapy Lead, and will work closely with both Leads in Swindon.
About us
We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust): a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care.
We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.
Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.
At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Swindon Psychological Therapies Service comprises a supportive team of Arts Psychotherapists, Clinical Psychologists, Counselling Psychologists, and CBT Therapists, and is co-located with the Recovery Service which is also a Multi-Disciplinary team. All staff have access to regular activities to support their ongoing professional development, including access to a bi-monthly CPD club. The team has a strong commitment to supporting staff wellbeing, including a bi-monthly reflective practice session and a monthly team wellbeing newsletter.
AWP have a commitment to career development for Family Therapy and currently there is a training fund for the Systemic Supervisors course in Adult Mental Health services allocation would be dependent on the number of applications/fit with service.
See the detailed job description and person specification for full details of the responsibilities associated with this role.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Swindon Psychological Therapies Service comprises a supportive team of Arts Psychotherapists, Clinical Psychologists, Counselling Psychologists, and CBT Therapists, and is co-located with the Recovery Service which is also a Multi-Disciplinary team. All staff have access to regular activities to support their ongoing professional development, including access to a bi-monthly CPD club. The team has a strong commitment to supporting staff wellbeing, including a bi-monthly reflective practice session and a monthly team wellbeing newsletter.
AWP have a commitment to career development for Family Therapy and currently there is a training fund for the Systemic Supervisors course in Adult Mental Health services allocation would be dependent on the number of applications/fit with service.
See the detailed job description and person specification for full details of the responsibilities associated with this role.
Person Specification
Education and Qualification
Essential
- MSc in Family and Systemic Psychotherapy or equivalent and UKCP Registration
Desirable
- Professional qualification (e.g. RMN, Clinical Psychologist, O.T., Social Work qualification)
Experience and Knowledge
Essential
- Significant clinical experience within a health or social care setting;
- In-depth experience and knowledge of working with families of individuals with complex mental health difficulties;
- Expert knowledge in the provision of Systemic Family Therapy;
- Experience of supervision/ consultation to other professionals around complex work with service users and their families;
- Highly specialist assessment, supervision and formulation skills;
- Experience of working alongside a number of teams and managing relationships with key stakeholders;
- Detailed understanding of all key issues of clinical governance, risk and safety in service delivery, including Health and Safety Legislation and regulations, Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults, local and national policies for individualised care and the Mental Health Act;
- Experience of working with Carers
Desirable
- Specific qualification/ training in the supervision of staff providing Systemic Family therapy
- Experience of designing or delivering training with service users or carers;
- Specific leadership role in a relevant area.
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Expert knowledge of Systemic Family Therapy for this client group;
- Good knowledge of current research and best practice in this area, including knowledge of family interventions in EIP work.
- Skills in providing systemic/Family Therapy consultation, teaching and training to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Skills in both live and indirect delivery of systemic psychotherapy to peers and/or multidisciplinary colleagues.
- Effective team player with excellent communication skills and the proven ability to establish positive working relationships;
- Well organised with very good administration and IT skills;
- High level written communication skills and an ability to express complicated multi-stranded concepts in an accessible way;
- High level presentation skills;
- Well developed communication skills, including sensitivity, negotiation and ability to make judgments in a diverse range of settings, including with front line staff, service user and carer groups;
- Empathy/engagement skills with service users with highly complex difficulties;
- A positive attitude towards client group and staff and an ability to inspire and motivate others;
- Ability to cope with significant workload pressure and prioritise workload;
- Ability to work in a highly autonomous and independent way;
- Ability to work with high levels of emotion;
- Sufficient resilience to cope with difficult interpersonal situations, competing demands, and tight timescales.
- Evidence of continuing Professional Development as required by UKCP/AFT guidelines
- Knowledge of ethical practice mindful of issues of power and diversity and to work in a way that is sensitive to clients' cultural backgrounds.
- Knowledge and skills of risk management and ability to perform a clinical risk assessment.
- Must be capable of taking substantial professional responsibility and acting autonomously in respect of clinical decisions in the area of specialist practice.
Desirable
- Experience of conducting and supervising research and audit within health service settings
- Experience of designing and delivering training/ lecturing to other professionals;
- Experience of the application of psychological therapies in different cultural contexts.
- Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of Systemic Psychotherapy/Family therapy in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, eating disorders, dual diagnosis etc)
Other Requirements
Essential
- Empathy for individuals who have experienced mental health problems and ability to cope with behaviour which may be challenging at times.
- Accountable for own professional actions within professional ethics and trust policy.
- Ability to understand and implement the Trust's Equal Opportunities Policy at a level appropriate to the job
- Ability to sit for extended periods of time and maintain intense focused concentration during clinical tasks often with pressurised circumstances
Person Specification
Education and Qualification
Essential
- MSc in Family and Systemic Psychotherapy or equivalent and UKCP Registration
Desirable
- Professional qualification (e.g. RMN, Clinical Psychologist, O.T., Social Work qualification)
Experience and Knowledge
Essential
- Significant clinical experience within a health or social care setting;
- In-depth experience and knowledge of working with families of individuals with complex mental health difficulties;
- Expert knowledge in the provision of Systemic Family Therapy;
- Experience of supervision/ consultation to other professionals around complex work with service users and their families;
- Highly specialist assessment, supervision and formulation skills;
- Experience of working alongside a number of teams and managing relationships with key stakeholders;
- Detailed understanding of all key issues of clinical governance, risk and safety in service delivery, including Health and Safety Legislation and regulations, Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults, local and national policies for individualised care and the Mental Health Act;
- Experience of working with Carers
Desirable
- Specific qualification/ training in the supervision of staff providing Systemic Family therapy
- Experience of designing or delivering training with service users or carers;
- Specific leadership role in a relevant area.
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Expert knowledge of Systemic Family Therapy for this client group;
- Good knowledge of current research and best practice in this area, including knowledge of family interventions in EIP work.
- Skills in providing systemic/Family Therapy consultation, teaching and training to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Skills in both live and indirect delivery of systemic psychotherapy to peers and/or multidisciplinary colleagues.
- Effective team player with excellent communication skills and the proven ability to establish positive working relationships;
- Well organised with very good administration and IT skills;
- High level written communication skills and an ability to express complicated multi-stranded concepts in an accessible way;
- High level presentation skills;
- Well developed communication skills, including sensitivity, negotiation and ability to make judgments in a diverse range of settings, including with front line staff, service user and carer groups;
- Empathy/engagement skills with service users with highly complex difficulties;
- A positive attitude towards client group and staff and an ability to inspire and motivate others;
- Ability to cope with significant workload pressure and prioritise workload;
- Ability to work in a highly autonomous and independent way;
- Ability to work with high levels of emotion;
- Sufficient resilience to cope with difficult interpersonal situations, competing demands, and tight timescales.
- Evidence of continuing Professional Development as required by UKCP/AFT guidelines
- Knowledge of ethical practice mindful of issues of power and diversity and to work in a way that is sensitive to clients' cultural backgrounds.
- Knowledge and skills of risk management and ability to perform a clinical risk assessment.
- Must be capable of taking substantial professional responsibility and acting autonomously in respect of clinical decisions in the area of specialist practice.
Desirable
- Experience of conducting and supervising research and audit within health service settings
- Experience of designing and delivering training/ lecturing to other professionals;
- Experience of the application of psychological therapies in different cultural contexts.
- Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of Systemic Psychotherapy/Family therapy in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, eating disorders, dual diagnosis etc)
Other Requirements
Essential
- Empathy for individuals who have experienced mental health problems and ability to cope with behaviour which may be challenging at times.
- Accountable for own professional actions within professional ethics and trust policy.
- Ability to understand and implement the Trust's Equal Opportunities Policy at a level appropriate to the job
- Ability to sit for extended periods of time and maintain intense focused concentration during clinical tasks often with pressurised circumstances
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
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