Job summary
- Main area
- Mental Health
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time - 30 hours per week
- Job ref
- 363-SSLB7728670
- Employer
- East London NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Bedford CAMHS
- Town
- Bedford
- Salary
- £55,690 - £62,682 pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 26/01/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Family & Systemic Psychotherapist
NHS AfC: Band 8a
ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job overview
North Bedfordshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
Family & Systemic Psychotherapist
CAMHS Adolescent Mental Health Team / Alternative to Admission Pathway
Band 8a
33.75 hours per week - permanent
Do you want to be a valued member of a diverse and dynamic mental health team working with young people and families? We are a range of professionals who know the importance of bringing together our different skills and experience to work together to meet the needs of our service users, and we are looking for a Family & Systemic Psychotherapist who would like to join us in meeting that challenge.
Main duties of the job
We are looking for someone who is an experienced Family & Systemic Psychotherapist with a substantial knowledge in the field of child and adolescent mental health and who is confident working with adolescent mental health and crisis/risk management.
Our clinically-led service is strongly committed to continuously improving the experience and quality of care we offer our families. We encourage curiosity and innovation in our clinicians in our ambition to do the very best for our service users.
As the successful candidate you would receive a robust induction program, regular clinical and management supervision to support you in the role. You would be invited to a regular countywide forum for family & systemic therapist’s so that you can develop and maintain links with other family psychotherapist’s working across a range of teams and benefit from the shared learning from presentations by colleagues.
As a Trust and in our local service we are working hard to support staff well-being and address inequalities (for our service users and ourselves). We are doing our best to encourage open dialogues about difficult topics and ensure that the Trust values are evident in how we deliver our service and work together.
Working for our organisation
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The successful applicant will be located within our North Bedfordshire clinic working with families with specific emphasis on adolescents with complex, severe and enduring mental health problems. This varied role will include the provision of specialist advice/consultation/ formulation, family therapy/systemic assessment, liaison with other agencies, systemic interventions, clinical supervision and teaching of staff and/or students.
This post is based in Bedford, Bedfordshire, close to the M1 and easily reached by rail and car from North London, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. The clinic also has the added benefit of free parking and all clinicians are supported by very dedicated and efficient administrative staff. Whilst some of the work is based in the clinic, access to a car is essential as some travel will be required to undertake outreach support at home or other CAMHS/ multi-agency sites.
Please see attached JD for more details
Person specification
Education/ Qualification/ Training
Essential criteria
- Qualification in appropriate mental health/social welfare profession such as Social Work, Nursing, Psychology, Psychiatry, Teaching OR AFT-agreed equivalent
- Masters or Doctoral level qualification in Systemic Psychotherapy or AFT agreed equivalent
- UKCP Registration
- Evidence of CPD
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience in relevant first profession
- Post-qualifying 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 working with children and young people in an emotionally demanding environment.
- Experience of working with children and young people and their families in a therapeutic context.
- Experience of working with children, young people and families in emotional crisis.
- Knowledge and experience with working with child protection issues and serious mental health problems S/I Experience of risk assessment and risk management.
- Experience in working in a complex multi-disciplinary context.
- Experience, skills and flexibility to contribute to and facilitate effective working within a multi-disciplinary team setting.
- Experience/knowledge of working in a multi-ethnic community and of working with interpreters.
- Experience of using audio visual/video equipment in clinical setting.
Knowledge & Skills
Essential criteria
- Skills in the use of specialist systemic assessment and treatment of individuals, couples, family systems and groups
- A specialist level of clinical skill
- Skills in applying systemic theory to work with individuals, couples, family systems, groups and organisations
- Evidence of continuing professional development as required by UKCP/AFT guidelines.
- Knowledge of and skill in using a wide variety of systemic theories and interventions and the ability to use these appropriately in relation to client need and work setting.
- Sufficient knowledge of other modalities to engage appropriately with colleagues and their work with clients.
- Knowledge of child and adolescent development.
- Up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation, and ethical issues, including The Children Act 1989, and strategic frameworks and their implications for both clinical practice and professional management.
- Knowledge of current developments in systemic family therapy, in clinical psychology and in psychiatry generally, in working with children and adolescents with serious mental health problems.
- Ability to develop and maintain highly specialist knowledge of clinical aspects of child and adolescent mental health.
- Well-developed skills to communicate effectively, orally and in writing at an age appropriate level, complex, highly technical and /or clinically sensitive information to children, adolescents, their families, carers and professionals within and outside the NHS
- Ability to communicate distressing and unwelcome information to children, adolescents and their families
- Ability to work with a racially and culturally diverse community in a wide variety of contexts including highly specialist skills for working therapeutically in family homes
- Ability to deal sensitively with stressful situations including:- staff and /or organisational problems, child abuse, family breakdown, serious mental ill health
- Ability to cope with verbal abuse and to recognise and diffuse potential physical abuse from clients.
- Ability to work within a multi-disciplinary team
- Ability to work flexibly across service boundaries and CAMHS Tiers
- Skills and ability to liaise effectively with other agencies and professionals
- Ability to use supervision effectively
- Knowledge of the Children’s Act, Mental Health Act, CPA legislation and national treatment guidelines
- Able to draw upon a broad theoretical knowledge base in the analysis of highly complex facts or situations to arrive at appropriate formulations.
- Able to compare and select from a range of treatment options, based on a contextualized formulation.
- Able to plan, organise and prioritise own workload.
- Competent use of other IT packages e.g. PowerPoint, Excel and Access, RiO
- Able to record and report on as required clinical information.
- Competent in use of basic IT packages – word processing, e-mail and internet.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis.
- Up to date knowledge of psychological research and national guidance relevant to the client groups. Knowledge of legislation and its implications for clinical practice with the client groups.
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of adapting therapies for adolescents and presentations, including working with young people on the Autistic Spectrum
- Knowledge of current developments in the assessment and treatment of a range of serious mental illnesses, including psychotic disorder, obsessive/compulsive disorder, schizo-affective disorder and other related issues
- Working with victims of child sexual abuse and relational trauma
- Working with looked after children
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Matt Sparks
- Job title
- Clinical Team Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01234893300
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