Principal Family and Systemic Psychotherapist

Job summary

This Principal Family and Systemic Psychotherapist role will develop and lead our family and carer offer across our five Community Neighbourhood Teams in Lewisham.

It will focus on delivering a range of high quality evidence-based therapies to clients, families and carers, including Open Dialogue, Carer Support, Family Intervention for psychosis, and Systemic Family Therapy.

It will also support our wider community development work alongside our local familes, carers and partner organisations.

Main duties of the job

To provide, develop and ensure the systematic provision of a highly specialist family and systemic psychotherapy service (including Family Intervention for psychosis) across adult community services in Lewisham, including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes.

To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate. To contribute to service evaluation, audit, research and policy development.

To ensure that systems are in place and working effectively for the clinical and professional supervision and support of all other family and systemic psychotherapists, trainees and honorary staff within the service area as appropriate (or responsibility for a specific area of clinical expertise).

To work as an autonomous professional within AFT, UKCP, and HCPC guidelines and guided by principles and policies or procedures, taking full responsibility for interpreting policies within defined parameters.

About us

About South London and Maudsley:

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) provide the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK as well as substance misuse services for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. We work closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London and are part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. Our scope is unique because it is built on three major foundations: care and treatment, science and research, and training.

SLaM employ around 5000 staff and serve a local population of 1.1 million people. We have more than 230 services including inpatient wards, outpatient and community services.

By coming to work at SLaM, you will gain experience of being part of an organisation with a rich history and international reputation in mental health care. You will have access to professional development and learning opportunities, and have the chance to work alongside people who are world leaders in their field. SLaM delivered more than 14,000 training experiences in 2014; providing an extensive range of learning opportunities for staff at all levels. In addition, our working relationship with King's Health Partners allows those working at the Trust to get involved in academic research.

Job responsibilities

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care

To liaise with other agencies and service providers in relation to the provision of systemic psychotherapy, family intervention, family work and systems/family-oriented services as appropriate to the role.

KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

To co-ordinate and chair, service and directorate meetings related to families and carers, to ensure effective functioning and review outcomes and progress, as appropriate.

KR 3 Policy and service development

To implement policies and service changes related to families and carers.

To identify aspects of the service which could be improved and initiate and implement service development projects, that affect a range of professions or services.

KR 4 Care or management of resources

To take care of, and use carefully, the Trusts equipment and physical resources.

To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.

KR 5 Management and supervision

To provide professional leadership to more junior family and systemic psychotherapists and other professionals, as appropriate.

To be responsible for the day-to-day supervision or co-ordination of an agreed workload of more junior family and systemic psychotherapists.

KR 6 Teaching and Training

To plan and undertake teaching and training of pre and post-qualification family and systemic psychotherapists and specialised training to other professions as appropriate.

KR 7 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.