Main area: Family and Systemic Therapist Grade Band 8a
Contract: Permanent
Flexible working: a possibility
* Full time
* Flexible working
37.5 hours per week (Agile/Flexible working will be considered)
Job ref: 350-MHC6944835
Site: North Mersey Early Intervention Psychosis Services
Town: Liverpool, Sefton, Southport, Kirby
Salary: £53,755 - £60,504 per annum pro rata
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 17/02/2025 23:59
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnic minorities, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore, we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
Job overview
As the Family and Systemic Therapist, the post holder will be providing highly specialised systemic psychotherapy and systemic practice to service users, their carers and families who have experienced a First Episode of Psychosis (FEP) or an At Risk Mental State (ARMS).
This post sits across dynamic, well-resourced and innovative Early Interventions Services focused on developing responsive and effective therapeutic relationships with service users, their families and carers. The post will be focused on the delivery and governance of family interventions capable of enhancing outcomes for psychosis and ARMS clinical populations.
The post presents a wonderful opportunity for clinicians passionate about delivering evidence-based family interventions alongside a service development role which will call for managerial experience and a creative mindset which can integrate training needs and various approaches to family work required to meet the needs of the local clinical population. Opportunities for research, training and personal development will also be available.
Main duties of the job
* The post holder will be expected to provide highly specialist theoretical and practical knowledge to colleagues from a range of disciplines, both within EIS and within external agencies.
* To supervise and support the assessment and treatment provided by Systemic Family Practitioners and clinicians providing family interventions for psychosis across the patch.
* To work collaboratively with families and ‘experts by experience’ and support co-production methodologies to inform service model.
* To develop links with training providers who can provide bespoke systemic training, evidence-based family interventions and psychoeducational packages based on best practice and the evidence base for people with FEP and ARMS.
* To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of systemic practice within the service and to provide governance, supervision and service development for evidence-based family interventions for the EIS clinical population.
* To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research. To develop and implement policy and procedures collaboratively within the area served by the service.
Working for our organisation
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.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Duties and Responsibilities
Clinical
* To hold a caseload of highly complex systemic assessment, treatment and consultation work based upon a highly specialised, conceptual framework and employing research based evidence.
* To be responsible for the provision of highly specialist systemic psychotherapy with clinical autonomy drawing on a range of systemic models and incorporate specialist theoretical and practical knowledge.
* To practice in a manner that is inclusive and considerate of the needs of the service users, carers and families engaged with EIS within the highly complex systems in which they live.
* To be responsible for implementing a range of highly specialist systemic psychotherapy interventions and evidence-based family interventions for psychosis, ARMS and Bipolar Disorder, drawing upon different explanatory models and evidence-based family interventions, to maintain a number of provisional hypotheses in reaching a formulation and a treatment plan.
* To work in ways that are sensitive to the needs of families from a wide range of racial, cultural and religious backgrounds.
* To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account multiple and highly complex factors which may conflict or contribute to high levels of ambiguity and instability within families and their professional networks.
* To exercise responsibility and autonomy, within supervisory, managerial and accountability structures, for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed within the systemic team.
* To deliver care co-ordination as required, ensuring effective assessment, care planning and risk management processes are maintained.
* To organise and provide family and systemic psychotherapy clinics in line with service and training needs.
* To hold responsibility for standards of clinical practice within the systemic psychotherapy clinics.
* To work jointly and collaboratively with other team members in order to enhance and develop the provision of services to all service users, their carers and families.
* To provide systemic consultation, advice and guidance to colleagues, teams and external agencies.
Person specification
Qualifications
* Core professional/graduate qualification in a relevant field of mental health or social welfare e.g., nursing, social work, psychology, and demonstrable practice over a minimum of four years or equivalent experience
* Masters or equivalent level qualification as a Systemic and Family Psychotherapist
* Up to date Professional Registration (to be maintained) - UKCP registration: meeting CPD requirements including relevant short and long training events
* Training in systemic supervision
* A relevant management qualification and or training
* Breakaway Qualification.
* AFT Approved Clinical Supervisor
* Hold a recognised qualification in teaching
Knowledge & Experience
* A minimum of 4 years post qualification experience as a systemic psychotherapist or equivalent experience including multi-disciplinary experience of working with children, adolescents, families, and groups; some leadership experience and experience working across different services
* Experience of teaching and training systemic psychotherapy in multiple contexts
* Minimum 4 years practice in relevant first profession or equivalent experience
* Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
* Experience of representing a team or the profession at a local level and Trust level
* Experience of professional management of staff and/or managing budgets
* Experience in the field of psychosis mental health
* Experience of providing NICE concordant evidence-based interventions for psychosis
Values
* Accountability
* Support
* High professional standards
* Responsive to service users
* Engaging leadership style
* Transparency and honesty
* Discreet
* Change oriented
Skills
* Advanced knowledge and skills in using the complete range of approaches within systemic practice as required to meet the needs of different patients and settings
* Advanced level of knowledge of the mental health needs of adults, children and adolescents
* Ability to work within a culturally diverse community in a wide variety of contexts including highly specialist skills for working in settings outside the clinic
* Advanced skills in the use of videotape and other multi-media materials suitable for presentations in public, professional and academic settings
* Advanced knowledge and skills in providing consultation to other professionals and non-professional groups
* Ability to take full clinical responsibility for patient care and treatment, both as a care co-ordinator and within the context of a multi-disciplinary team
* Interpersonal skills of the highest level to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, in order to convey complex and clinically sensitive information to family members of all ages and to a wide range of lay and professional persons, within and outside of the NHS
* Knowledge of research design and methodology consistent with systemic practice to at least Masters level or equivalent
* Knowledge of legislation and strategic frameworks and their implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the full range of client groups
* Ability to convey and to model a sophisticated understanding of the AFT ethical guidelines in all areas of professional conduct
* Physical stamina to support clinical caseload which requires intense concentration whilst sitting with client groups or in video screen rooms observing clients for prolonged periods
* A commitment to the continuous improvement of services using feedback from individual clients, families, user surveys and clinical research
* Emotional stamina and ability to respond constructively in highly stressful situations where individuals hold very different perspectives and there is a high level of distress, ambiguity and conflict
* Ability to demonstrate leadership and management skills and to articulate the value added by systemic psychotherapy services to multi-disciplinary work
* Ability to organise and co-ordinate areas of work that are complex and demanding
* Information technology and management skills using word processing, spreadsheets, database and presentation software
* High level of knowledge and/or training and other psychological therapies
Other
* Ability to identify and provide appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours
* Ability to identify and employ as appropriate clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice
* Demonstrate a commitment to respecting and displaying the Trust Values at all times
Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply for all correspondence. All information regarding your application will come from apps.trac.jobs not NHS Jobs.
Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview.
As a Disability Confident Employer, we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants who consider themselves to be disabled who meet the minimum (essential) criteria for the role in the person specification. If you would like your application to be considered under the Trust’s guaranteed interview scheme you can indicate this in the personal information section of your online application form.
Should you require a reasonable adjustment to our recruitment process please email recruitment@merseycare.nhs.uk to ensure that measures can be put in place to support you.
We reserve the right to close any vacancy earlier than advertised in exceptional circumstances once we have received a high volume of applications.
The Trust expects all post holders who require an enhanced DBS for their role subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Please be advised that the use of Artificial Intelligence on applications is monitored and if you choose to use this, you must declare this on your application form.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Name: Diane Griffiths
Job title: Principal Clinical Psychologist
Email address: diane.griffiths@merseycare.nhs.uk
Telephone number: 0151 330 8001
Additional information: Claire Seddon, Mersey Care Mental Division Psychology Lead
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