Family Therapist

Job summary

The Eating Disorder Intensive Treatment Hub are looking for an experienced Family Therapist with the right skills to complement our small multidisciplinary will work within our newly commissioned Day service and network closely with our existing community teams helping families and young people to thrive. As a new service there will be lots of opportunity for contributing to the new model of care for eating disorders in the region.

We will provide Supervision, reflective practice, training, and opportunities for professional development. We are passionate about improving standards and service user/carer experiences.

We would love to meet you if you have experience working with children and young people with eating disorders.

This role will initially be based at our Ida Darwin site in Fulbourn before relocating in approx. 12 months (date TBC) toour Brookside Family Consultation Clinic in Cambridge.

Main duties of the job

To provide and a qualified highly specialist systemic family therapy service to clients of Cambridgeshire and The post holder will provide a systemic overview of the family approach to the treatment of mental health disorders within complex situations, specialising in eating disorders. o The post-holder will be responsible for co-ordinating, developing and delivering a variety of family and systemic The post holder will be responsible for this process by researching new practices, understanding, and applying evidence-based approaches both in relation to family treatments and in the involvement of service users and The post holder will provide an important leadership role in the service overall, including multi-disciplinary team functioning, family involvement, training and development, and service development and evaluation

o The post-holder will offer advice and consultation on clients' care to all colleagues and to other, non-professional carers, working autonomously within professional guidelines and codes of ethics and the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures.

o The post holder will be accountable for their own professional actions and will need to interpret broad service priorities and policies ( commitment to a family approach to treatment, involving service users and carers at all levels of treatment and service development).

About us

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high-quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting andempowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high-calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities

1. To provide highly specialist family therapy with clinical autonomy and to work in ways which are sensitive to the needs of families from a wider range of racial, cultural and religious backgrounds. To be responsible for the delivery of a full range of family treatments to all patients. These treatments may include the following systemic psychotherapy interventions: Conjoint family therapy (all family members present in the room at the same time, plus patient and other members of multi-disciplinary team). Separated family therapy ( parental counselling and individual systemic counselling running in parallel). Multi-family group therapy Multi-agency risk support meetings within a recognised systemic approach2. The post holder will participate in assessments of patients referred for treatment ensuring a systemic formulation for all young people, and to work in partnership with colleagues, multi-disciplinary and multi-agency, regarding the family treatment component of each patients care. Assessment of family interactions and formulating how these are connected to diagnostic factors will be a key component of the post, influencing the direction of treatment and recommendations for appropriate family interventions. This will include multi-agency network systemic responses at the thrive level of getting risk To communicate complex clinical information in a skilled and sensitive manner including assessment, formulation and treatment plans of patients and families to monitor progress during the course of uni - and multi-disciplinary To work jointly and collaboratively with other team members to enhance and develop work with families by the team as a whole providing highly specialist systemic knowledge and skills and enabling team members to gain confidence in working within a relational practice To produce reports on clients, in a timely manner, that convey the key findings of systemic assessment and formulation and treatment outcome, in a way that does justice to the complexity of the challenges arising, and that are understandable to the recipients of the reports, including clients and To assist in the management of the team caseload including the pathway through the service from admission to discharge, including acting on key decision points with colleagues to provide clear understandable contexts for and with To work in partnership with other disciplines and to maintain links with statutory and non-statutory and primary care agencies and to actively promote relational network practice using a systemic To provide appropriate care for clients across the services by providing psycho-education, liaising with other professionals, who are using other approaches including motivational interviewing, and contributing to risk assessment, health promotion and crisis To contribute to risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and families, and to provide advice to other professions on aspects of risk assessment and risk management in line with Trust and inter-agency policies and To act as care coordinator, ensuring the provision of a care package appropriate for the clients needs, coordinating the work of others involved with care, taking responsibility for arranging CPA reviews as required and communicating effectively with the client, his/her family and all others involved in the network of care, and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary In common with all Systemic Psychotherapists the post-holder will be responsible for ensuring that they receive regular clinical supervision and continuing professional development, in accordance with United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy/Association of Family Therapy requirements and good standards practice To act alongside the professional lead and other senior members of the family therapy team within the trust to promote systemic practice contributing to the development of the team as appropriate for a senior leader. This may include teaching, accommodating trainees, supporting other family therapists with supervision, and working to ensure effective governance and standards for family therapy within the trust. This may involve leading and/ or supporting particular short term projects in line with the family therapy strategic goals each year.

Person Specification

Education / Qualifications

Essential

Diploma in Systemic Psychotherapy/Family Therapy or equivalent. UKCP registered family therapist. Additional qualification in a related profession ( social work, nursing, psychology).

Experience

Essential

Substantial post-qualifying experience as a systemic/family psychotherapist working in health care or social care setting. Relevant experience of working collaboratively with service users and carers in the development of patient/client-centred services Substantial experience of working with children, adolescents and families with eating disorders and mental health problems in complex situations (ideally working within a CAMHS setting) Experience of supervising other mental health professionals. Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan.

Skills & Abilities

Essential

Skills in the use of different methods of assessment, formulation, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration. This requires the use of highly developed analytical and judgement skills. Of current, evidence based, stepped care models of care as detailed in NICE guidance. Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information, including contentious and highly distressing information, to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.

Desirable

Knowledge and facilitation of multi-family group therapy programmes for eating disorders. Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised systemic therapies in specific difficult to treat groups ( personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc.) Knowledge of neurodevelopmental disorders including ADHD and ASD and learning disability including specific child protection and risk issues relevant to this group of CYP.

Knowledge & Understanding

Essential

Knowledge of Eating Disorders and common co-morbidities - anxiety including OCD, anxiety & depression. Good working knowledge of evidence base for the treatment of eating disorders in CAMHS Evidence of continuing professional development as required to meet UKCP standards for accreditation and practice.

Other

Essential

Willingness to develop the role of the family/systemic psychotherapist within the service and to contribute to the broader field.

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