Band 8a Family and Systemic Psychotherapist

at  Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

A vacancy has arisen for an experienced Family and Systemic Psychotherapist to join our CAMHS which provides assessment and treatment for children and young people with Neurodevelopmental Disorders and their families.
The post holder will provide specialist systemic assessment, treatment and psycho-education to patients and their families. The post holder will provide supervision to Band 7 Family Therapists and consultation to other colleagues within and outside the team. The post holder will contribute to the management and development of the service.
The post holder will work autonomously within professional guidelines and within the overall framework of the service’s policies and procedures.
The post holder will lead on the provision of two of our highly valued provisions; our Family Support Package (FSP) and the Family Therapy Reflecting Team Clinic. The FSP is a resource offered to parents of all children and young people newly diagnosed with ADHD. In addition to providing psychological treatment for our patients, the Family Therapy Reflecting Team Clinic, like the FSP, also provides training opportunities for junior doctors, trainees and students. The post holder will have their own individual caseload of families. They will be a member of the Senior Leadership Team, contributing to the management and development of the CAMHS service. This post is line manager and clinical supervisor for two Band 7 Family Therapists. There are opportunities to join with Family Therapists in the Royal Free’s Eating Disorders service for CPD and some opportunities for paediatric liaison work.
The Child and Adolescent Mental Health service (CAMHS) is situated in the Royal Free hospital. The clinical team, which comprises Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychotherapy and Systemic & Family Therapy. Members of staff tend to stay in post for a long time as the small team is friendly, supportive and appreciative of each other’s professional perspectives. The team is supplemented by students and Trainees on placement. The hospital is an interesting environment in which to work. Transport links are good and nearby is the green space of Hampstead Heath.

JOB SUMMARY:

The post holder will provide clinical expertise and therapeutic interventions to referred patients and their families with specific emphasis on neurodevelopmental conditions. This will include systemically informed assessment and treatment, as well as the provision of parent support and some individual work. The post holder will also provide consultation from a systemic perspective on patients’ psychological care to other colleagues within the team and wider professional network.
As the senior Systemic and Family Psychotherapist , the post holder will represent Family Therapy in the Senior Leadership Team, joining senior colleagues in the management and development of the service. The post holder will have additional responsibilities to supervise and support the development of fellow systemic colleagues, other relevant core disciplines, students and trainees. They will lead on the provision, development and monitoring of the Family Therapy Clinic and Parent Support Package and offer training to the wider team on systemic principles pertinent to the effective treatment of patients. Through formulation, treatment pathways and supervision, the post holder will assist the team in providing family-focused approaches, where the parents are valued as a resource rather than a cause of the illness, and the therapeutic relationship is central to progress. The post holder will be required to take on the role of Duty Clinician, once a week (within their working hours) for coordinating responses to queries from families and other services. The post holder will work both autonomously and as part of the team and adhere to professional/Trust guidelines and overall service policies and procedures related to evidence-based practice, audit, policy and service development and research relevant to the speciality of child and adolescent mental health. The post holder will be required to account for their professional practice through appraisal and audit, and ensure delivery of clinically safe, high-quality care for all Service users. The post holder will also directly contribute to the positive working environment within the Service and will require a high degree of professional autonomy and self-management.
The post offers some opportunity to work flexibly, both onsite and remotely as fits the needs of the service and in agreement with the post-holder’s line manager

Please refer the Job description for details