Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Band 7 Systemic Family Therapist - Chippenham

The closing date is 05 October 2025

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a family and systemic psychotherapist to work in Working Age and Later Life secondary mental health service in Wiltshire.

The successful applicant will be based within the Wiltshire locality with a focus on providing equal access to service users (area to be negotiated).

The post holder will provide specialist, evidence-based therapy to service users and their families supported by secondary adult mental health services (working age and later life). The post holder will work with a senior systemic family therapist to develop family therapy clinics alongside the offering in Bath and Swindon where systemic family therapists are assisted by other mental health professionals (including psychology and psychiatry). It is hoped that these clinics will include community involvement, participation and aspects of care connected to nature based work and other evidence-based initiatives.

In addition to offering formal family therapy clinics, the post holder may hold an individual caseload. They will provide supervision, consultation and training to professionals in other teams and have a key role in developing systemic thinking in all aspects of care.

Main duties of the job

You should have significant experience of providing evidence based, systemic interventions. In addition to carrying a clinical caseload, you will play a key role in advising on improving 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 ability to work independently and creatively will be essential. The post holder will receive line management and clinical supervision with the Family Therapy Lead and will work closely with the the Psychological Therapies Service (PTS) for Wiltshire.

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.

AWP is committed to support and create a positive research and evidence-based environment and culture, which can have a beneficial impact on everyone who works for the organisation and the care we provide to those who use our services.

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.

Date posted

19 September 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £54,710 a year pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time, Flexible working, Compressed hours

Reference number

342-WTS191-0925

Job locations

Bewley House

Marshfield Road

Chippenham

SN15 1JW

Job description

Job responsibilities

To provide a Family and Couples service to the specified Team/Service.

To enhance systemic thinking and anti-discriminatory practice.

To assess and treat a specialist workload of clients and maintain associated records.

To participate in CPD and other developmental activities including training.

To undertake R & D and clinical audit.

CLINICAL

To support service provision of Systemic Family Therapy including assessment and therapy both for families, individuals and groups as appropriate.

To provide a specialist consultancy service to multidisciplinary teams and other agencies providing care for the client group.

To participate in generic team duties as agreed by the operational manager and Psychology Lead as appropriate, to the needs of the service.

To participate in clinical and caseload supervision arrangements provided by the Psychology Service.

To maintain accurate records and to monitor clinical workload using agreed systems.

To ensure timely recording of all data required by the Trust.

To support the full implementation of Your Team, Your Conversation, Your Plan acting as keyworker as appropriate to the needs of the client.

PROFESSIONAL

To adhere to the HCPC policies and procedures or equivalent related to any core profession.

To adhere to the Association of Family Therapists (AFT) code of conduct.

To be aware of, adhere to, and where appropriate, contribute to the formulation and review of Trust, Area and Psychology Service policies and procedures.

To participate in local meetings and Trust wide meetings as appropriate.

To maintain and develop high standards of practice by engaging in continuing professional development and co-operative working/networking with colleagues.

To participate in an annual performance appraisal.

SERVICE GOVERNANCE

To participate in service governance processes in the profession, ensuring a safe and effective service.

To support and participate in multidisciplinary clinical audit.

To liaise with other disciplines and agencies to ensure that best practice is shared.

To promote the use of effective interventions in the service.

TRAINING AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT

To provide training, supervision and consultation in Systemic Family Therapy and other psychological approaches to other staff in the multidisciplinary team. This to include joint assessment with key-workers, formulation of psychological problems and planning of interventions to be implemented by key-workers or other team members with service users.

To provide training and supervision to appropriate staff.

To collaborate with colleagues to develop and offer training courses, workshops and supervision groups to develop skills in psychological interventions.

To contribute to the teaching of students and trainees in psychology, medicine, nursing and other health care disciplines.

To agree a plan of personal development with the Family Therapy Lead and the post holders line manager.

To provide inclusive, compassionate and effective leadership for your team by setting clear vision and direction.

To develop a culture and environment in which members of staff are encouraged and supported to deliver high- quality services and are supported to innovate and improve services where appropriate.

To encourage your team to feel able to raise concerns openly and safely.

To promote equality of opportunity in service delivery and employment, ensuring that no person receives less favourable treatment than another on the grounds of gender, marital status, race, religion, creed, colour nationality ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation or disability.

To ensure that key messages are cascaded in your team and that your team are encouraged to put forward suggestions.

To show appreciation to your team when they do good work and support them when they are struggling.

To consider the individual needs of team members for a healthy work-life balance and think about how their needs can be supported by providing flexible ways of working.

To seek support from the HR Team to tackle any worries regarding matters of discipline, including both conduct and capability concerns, supporting a just and restorative culture.

To take prompt action regarding serious concerns and ensure clear plans are in place for problems which are less serious in nature but prove difficult to resolve.

Act as a positive role model at all times, encouraging people to feel equal members of the team whilst working within clear frameworks and policies.

Ensure that you and your team understand all of the agreed key performance indicators for your service, particularly relating to outcomes and essential standards to be met.

SERVICE AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT

To collaborate with other specialist staff in designated area to extend the range of specialist psychological and group interventions available across the area.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

To engage in research relevant to service priorities as appropriate.

To participate in audit and service evaluation activities examining the effectiveness of current service delivery and leading to development of services relevant to client needs.

To undertake advice, support and consultation to colleagues from other disciplines undertaking research in the area.