South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.
We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’.
We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.
The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.
Our Values
We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special.
As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.
Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Highly Specialist Psychologist/Psychological Therapist/Psychotherapist/Family and Systemic Therapist to join our unique Family Interventions and Support Service (FISS) in Croydon.
We are looking for a motivated clinician who is passionate about supporting the families/carers/networks of adults with psychosis and complex mental health difficulties to join us working in Adult Secondary Care.
The successful applicant will have good engagement skills, think creatively, work flexibly and have a range of skills in working collaboratively alongside others. The post holder will be a part of providing therapeutic interventions to the families/carers/networks of individuals living with psychosis and supporting the collaboration and presence of family interventions and needs within the wider community teams. The post will also include the supervision and development of more junior clinicians and provide opportunities to further develop in family approaches for psychosis (e.g. FIp, Open Dialogue).
Main duties of the job
Clinically, you will be: offering a range of family interventions to families/carers/networks and service users living with psychosis; supporting the professional and personal network around service users; supervising junior staff; teaching and offering consultation and support to MDT colleagues. FISS aims to promote the needs of families/carers in Croydon and the community teams, therefore this role also has a strong service development component, including: research and evaluation; developing and refining the existing service; liaison and joint work with colleagues across the directorate and Trust.
* Working with service users with psychosis under the Croydon CMHTs and/or their families/carers/networks.
* Offering family interventions:
o Assessing and developing specialist formulations and interventions tailored to family/carer needs
o Co-facilitating family interventions with colleagues
o Collaboration and communication with service users' professional and personal networks
* Consultation and liaison with teams and agencies across Croydon
* Supporting, developing and evaluating FISS
* Supporting and directing the work of junior staff in the team (currently B6 DClin Trainee)
* Provision of staff support within area, including but not limited to Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve (Reflective Practice)
Working for our organisation
The Family Intervention and Support Service (FISS) is based at Jeanette Wallace House in central Croydon, close to local amenities and public transport. In addition to this post, the team is comprised of a Higher Assistant Psychologist, Trainee Psychologist, Clinical Psychologist and Systemic Family Therapist/Lead.
This small team was established in 2010 and provides specialist input to service users residing within the borough of Croydon who have received a primary diagnosis of psychosis/bi-polar disorder and have relatives/social network who would benefit from a family approach. The service works closely with all secondary care teams in the psychosis care pathway, offering evidence-based family interventions (Family Interventions for Psychosis, Behavioural Family Therapy), Systemic Family Therapy (with a clinic/reflecting team), individual carer support, carer and sibling groups, Open Dialogue informed network meetings, consultation, supervision and teaching. Psychologist colleagues and care coordinators in the surrounding Community Mental Health Teams work in partnership with FISS to provide additional family intervention resource.
FISS is part of the broader psychosis pathway services in Croydon (e.g. EIS and individual psychosis service) which provides many opportunities for collaboration, training and learning. Likewise, there are active Psychology and Psychotherapy networks and discipline specific groups within SLaM which are also available to the candidate.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Clinical and Client Care
* To provide highly specialist psychological interventions/therapy for the carers, families/networks and people living with psychosis and complex mental health problems within secondary care adult psychosis community services in Croydon- including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes.
* Knowledge, interest and experience of family interventions/approaches for psychosis.
* To ensure cultural context is considered/discussed and to provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with SUs and their carers/families.
* To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
Contributing to team or service clinical functioning
* To contribute to the effective working of the team or service and to a psychologically-informed framework for the service.
* To contribute to the team's or service’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.
* To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.
* To offer advice, consultation and training for Croydon community teams on the specialist psychological care of clients with psychosis and their families/carers.
* To liaise with referrers and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.
* To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in therapeutic work and work with other team members.
Policy and service development
* To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes.
* To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.
* To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users/families/carers in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.
Management and supervision
* To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of more junior psychological practitioners with support from a more senior psychologist/psychotherapist.
* To contribute to the recruitment of more junior psychological practitioners, as appropriate.
* To provide supervision for the psychological work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.
* To be active in the provision of staff support within their area, including but not limited to Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve. To participate, as a recipient, in staff support work when appropriate.
Please see JD/PS attached for full list of responsibilities.
Person specification
Qualifications
* Registered with professional body as appropriate to discipline HCPC/APC/BPC/UKCP/BACP/BABCP/ADMP-UK. (A/I)
* Qualified as DClin/Coun Psychologist and/or MSc Family Therapy or Psychotherapist
* Additional training in family interventions/approaches for psychosis
* Additional training in supervision/consultation
Experience
* Evidence of having worked as clinical specialist with individuals and/or families with complex MI w/in NHS secondary MH services
* Experience of working with families/couples/groups/carers in context of complex MH difficulties
* Experience of supervising assistants/trainees
* Experience of post-doc/MSc level research/audit or service evaluation projects
* Experience of working with/adressing issues of diversity in local communities
* Experience of working psychologically with individuals/families living with psychosis/BAD
* Experience of providing teaching/training to p&p/professional staff
* Experience of involving service users/carers in research/service evaluation
* Experience of facilitating reflective groups for professionals
Knowledge
* Knowledge of evidence base for family interventions for psychosis
* Theoretical knowledge of psychological approaches to working with families in psychosis (FIP, BFT, CBTp, OD, Systemic)
* Understanding of service provision for psychosis and issues arising for them/families
* Knowledge of factors affecting acceptability/accessibility to MH care including racial/diversity issues
Skills
* To work effectively within MDT
The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:
* Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice
* Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment
* We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity
Please note:
* That all applications for this post will need to be made online
* That you read and understand the Job Description and Personal Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria
* That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible
* That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs
* That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not been successful
* That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
* That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
* That we are a smoke-free Trust
SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion, Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe.
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: Suzanne Hutchison
Job title: Principal Systemic Family Therapist/FISS Lead
Email address: suzanne.hutchison@slam.nhs.uk
Telephone number: 07966913629
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