Systemic Family Therapist for Eating Disorders

Job overview

This role is offered on a permanent basis. The hours are part-time, 22.5 hours per week.

Are you an experienced & creative Family Therapist?  We are seeking an enthusiastic & compassionate Systemic Family Therapist with experience of working in Eating Disorders services to join a new multidisciplinary team of professionals.

The part-time Systemic Family Therapist will join a team which provides a well-established, highly specialist service for young people in Gloucestershire. You will work with young people up to 18 years and their families/carers, with significant mental health difficulties.

You will demonstrate strong leadership skills, have extensive experience of multiagency working & a proven track record of delivering high quality care and treatment. Experience of working within a physical health/paediatric context would also be helpful in terms of confidently managing the demands that flow through this developing clinical service.

Main duties of the job

The All-Age Eating Disorders Service consists of 3 specialist teams from aged 6+: The Risks High in Eating Disorders (RHED) team, the Front Door Team and the Treatment team. This role will join the current Psychologists, psychiatrists, dieticians and clinicians to provide a more comprehensive delivery of Family Therapy.

The post holder will:

• To provide highly specialists clinical services within the Eating Disorders Community Service.
• Service delivered in a varied settings and locations if required – including medical wards.
• Training, consultancy and supervision to a range of specialist staff and professionals in other agencies.
• To contribute to the development of a Family Therapy within the Eating Disorders service.
• To contribute toward service development in line with the ongoing transformation agenda.
• Within defined area of specialism job impacts across the County of Gloucestershire (pop. 623,000).

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We welcome discussion/applications both from those with the relevant experience and HCPC registration, and also from those who are about to qualify / have more recently completed training. In the latter case we would discuss amendments to role with a view to appointing at Band 7 and supporting progression to Band 8a role.

Clinical

• You will organise and coordinate a family therapy service to young people and their families referred to the service
• You will provide thorough, evidence based assessments of the families of young people who have an eating disorder
• You will provide treatment based on the current eating disorder evidence and compliant with NICE guidelines
• You will be competent to deliver this treatment with clinical skill and expertise, taking into account family ‘fit’
• You will have a knowledge of, or training in, other interventions in eating disorder treatment such as DBT (Dialectical Behavioural Therapy), CRT (Cognitive Remediation Therapy) and ABFT (Attachment Based Family Therapy)
• You will deliver an agreed number of family interventions within an evidence based approach
• As a Family Therapist you will work autonomously, being responsible for your own clinical caseload
• Advice and guidance is generally via professional “clinical supervision”
• You will be required to have involvement in construction of certain protocols relevant to clinical area and in general agreement with line manager. The post holder is allowed to interpret these as appropriate
• It will be expected that you would make suggestions to wider clinical team on different ways of dealing with this specific client group and following through with appropriate action rebalancing and prioritising tasks to meet demands
• You will be involved in complex negotiations with colleagues about the place of family intervention in relation to other interventions and planning the pace of these connected but distinct methods
• To be involved in discussions relating to implementing new developments in the clinical area
• The post includes organising, planning and delivering specialist training/ consultation and supervision to colleagues within Eating Disorders and Mental Health services, therefore the post holder should have some experience of these activities
• Provide and co ordinate a family therapy service to young people/adults and their families referred to the service
• Responsible for assessing, developing, outlining and implementing highly specialist family therapy treatment packages to young people and their families
• Develop highly specialised programmes of treatment - Develop and agree plans of a complex nature around the care of young people and wider service interventions that will require high levels of formulation and will need to be reviewed and adjusted over time
• Refer a young person or members of their family to other services / agencies as appropriate
• Provide highly specialist advice and consultation in respect to individual cases and family therapy in general to professional colleagues
• Contribute in an active way to the network of services organised for young people and their families within eating disorder services
• You will be responsible for ensuring that colleagues in the eating disorder service are able to implement family treatment and this will include collaborating on longer term training or strategy plans.

Teaching, training, supervision and consultancy

• To ensure that other staff, professionals, and managers (across a range of agencies and settings) have access to a Family Therapy based framework for the understanding and care of patients of the Eating Disorders service, through the provision of specialist advice, guidance and consultation and the sharing of research and theory.
• To provide regular training updates for the whole team.

Research activities, service evaluation and development

• The Family Therapist uses professional skills and knowledge including research, service evaluation and audit to suggest ways to improve and develop practice.
• Ensures reflective scientist-practitioner approach in own practice and that of supervisees
• To provide research advice to other staff undertaking research
• To undertake project management including complex audit and service evaluation to help develop service provision
• To utilise theory, evidence based literature and research to support and develop evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

Analysis and Judgement

• Provide and co-ordinate family therapy service to individuals and families.
• Assess complex cases and make decisions about what treatment is best for individuals and families. These decisions can be of highly complex and sensitive where information is conflicting or where expert opinion may differ

The Trust is required to work in line with the Government’s UK Visa and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information about sponsorship for certain roles, please visit - https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas