About the team:
We are seeking a motivated and passionate systemic psychotherapist who can contribute to the ongoing development of a family therapy service within the perinatal mental health teams in SLAM, through a combination of direct and indirect work with women and their families. This post will offer input to PMHTs in the four SLAM boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Croydon.
About the location:
Our Trust headquarters is located at Denmark Hill less than 5 minutes from the train station (zone 2). We also provide services and operate across other locations, such as London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark.
The successful applicant will work as part of a wider psychological therapies team to contribute to the ongoing strategy in the service to increase the availability of responsive evidence-based psychological therapies and to create a culture of service delivery that holds in mind the needs of the whole family. This post is open to all psychologists and psychotherapists who have the relevant qualification in systemic family therapy. The successful applicant will join a friendly and supportive psychological therapies service that offers excellent opportunities for research and continuing professional development. Specialist systemic supervision will be arranged and regular professional supervision will be provided from within the service via the Principal Family Therapist and Consultant Psychologist.
Benefits:
We are committed to ensuring our staff get the most out of their benefits package and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance. There is an extensive range of excellent benefits for you and your family. We want you to feel like you are part of a close knit team at SLaM. It’s important to us that you valued and appreciated and that are why we have a comprehensive benefits package on offer
Some of our benefits are highlighted here:
• Pay, pensions and leave,we offer a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on the role and length of service.
• Work life balance,flexible working and support a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working and job sharing.
• Career development,There are plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes
• Car lease,our staff benefits from competitive deals to lease cars
• Accommodation,our staff benefits fromkeyworker housing available which is available on selected sites
• NHS discounts,with discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands though Health Service Discounts website.
Other benefits include:
• Counselling services
• Wellbeing events
• Long service awards
• Cycle to work scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Childcare vouchers
• Staff restaurants
Clinical and Client Care
• To provide specialist assessment and clinical formulation to individuals, couples, families and social networks where the identified client has complex mental health needs including mood disorders, anxiety, psychosis, personality disorders, and difficulties with parenting or in relationship with children in the context of a parental mental health problem.
• To select and administer specialist assessments as appropriate. This would include creating genograms and/or eco-maps, analysis and assessment of multiple levels of contextual meaning, deconstruction of current interactional patterns of behavior and meaning around mental health issues and complex relationships, through the use of live team observations, DVD analysis and other systemic assessment tools.
• To provide reports, including relevant formulation, opinion and interventions, in order to inform referrers and, where appropriate, service users and their families
• To select and deliver evidence based 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 be responsible for psychological interventions with carers (or families as appropriate) of referred clients (e.g. family members, partner, significant others).
• To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
• To communicate skillfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers, family members and colleagues taking account of communication needs.
• To ensure that all services provided are acceptable and accessible to the diverse communities we serve in Lambeth, Southwark, Croydon and Lewisham. At all times to work in ways that are sensitive to and appropriate for the needs of families from a wide range of cultural and religious backgrounds, and to be aware of and sensitive to the different contexts that families may be acting out of
• To provide psychological support to clients and their families who are emotionally distressed, either due to the serious consequences of their illness or due to other traumatic events in their lives.
Contributing to team or service clinical functioning
• To contribute to the effective working of the team or service and to a psychologically and systemically informed framework for the service area.
• To advise other members of the service on specialist systemically informed psychological care of clients.
• To liaise with referrers, GPs 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 clinical work and work with other team members.
Policy and service development
• To implement policies and procedures in own area of work.
• To identify any aspects of the service which could be improved and propose changes to practices or procedures.
• To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.
• To participate in clinical governance initiatives as agreed by the Directorate clinical governance committee and team.
• To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users and their families in planning and delivering services.
Care or management of resources
• To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust’s equipment and physical resources.
• To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.
Management and supervision
• To be responsible for the day-to-day supervision or co-ordination of an agreed workload of trainee family therapists/family therapy honoraries, as required, under supervision from a more senior systemic family therapist.
• To provide clinical supervision for psychological work undertaken by trainee family therapists as appropriate
• To supervise Family Therapy trainees after completion of the relevant Training Course’s Supervision Training.
• To assist in the short-listing and interviewing of family therapy honoraries if required.
• To provide supervision for the psychological work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.
Teaching and Training
• To provide specialist training in systemic approaches to care to other professions as appropriate
• To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.
• To provide advice and consultation where appropriate to other health, social care, voluntary sector and education staff working with the client groups
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 undertake regular complex service evaluation and audits
• To carry out appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research within the service.
• To contribute to the development and implementation of systematic outcome measurement and assessment, and assist other staff in the implementation of same.
Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development
• To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior systemic psychotherapist according to UKCP, AFT 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’ policy
• To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
• To comply with the UKCP ‘Ethical Principles and Code of Professional Conduct’, and ensure professional development in line with these.
• To adhere to the UKCP’s ‘Ethical Principles and Code of Professional Conduct’ and Trust policies and procedures.
General
• To travel to home visits, community placements, meetings as appropriate and across the Trust when required.
• To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management
• To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations (put in appropriate for service, such as challenging behaviour, abuse etc) and to support others involved in such situations.
This advert closes on Monday 17 Mar 2025