Senior Systemic Psychotherapist/ Family Therapist - Oxford/Bucks

Main area: Adult Forensic Mental Health Services

Grade Band: 7 - 8a (preceptorship opportunity)

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 37.5 hours per week (9 day fortnight considered)

• Full time
• Part time
• Job share
• Flexible working
• Compressed hours

Job ref: 267-FS6803624

Employer: Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

Employer type: NHS

Site: Marlborough House

Town: Milton Keynes

Salary: £46,148 - £60,504 per annum | pro rata

Salary period: Yearly

Closing: 31/03/2025 23:59

Senior Systemic Psychotherapist/ Family Therapist - Oxford/Bucks

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

We are a responsive and innovative Foundation Trust that places our values of Caring, Safe and Excellent at the heart of everything we do. We take great pride in our staff and believe that investing in you is key to us achieving our vision of outstanding care delivered by outstanding people.

We work with a wide range of partner organisations to deliver care and support to people in their own homes and from a number of hospitals and community bases. We focus on delivering care as close to home as possible for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

We actively support anti-racism, equality, diversity, and inclusion. If you’re excited about this job opportunity and you meet our Trust values, but feel unsure about applying, then please get in touch and we will be happy to have a conversation with you.

Job overview

Are you an experienced Systemic Psychotherapist or Family Therapist wanting to make a difference to patients with complex and severe mental health difficulties?

We would be excited to have someone like you join our team as a Systemic Family Psychotherapist.

Oxford Health has secured funding to develop systemic family psychotherapy across our Forensic Service. This is a creative development, reflecting the NICE guidelines recognition of systemic intervention for psychosis which affects a significant proportion of the forensic patient population.

This service covers three counties: inpatient wards in Buckinghamshire (Milton Keynes), Oxfordshire and Berkshire, all of which provide specialist community based services in collaboration with the probation service.

There is a new vacancy for a Band 8a (or preceptorship at Band 7) to join the Lead in bringing systemic thinking and clinical expertise to the service. In order to thrive in this role, you'll have experience of general adult mental health services, though forensic experience is desirable. The location of the role can either be in Buckinghamshire or Oxford, with some travelling to community sites.

We offer a supportive learning culture to promote your personal and professional development at Oxford Health. In this role, you'll have the opportunity to participate in our fantastic Flyer Programme (preceptorship).

Please note if you are based outside of the UK you will need to hold HCPC registration in order to be considered for this role.

Main duties of the job

• Delivering systemic Family Therapy to patients and families
• Offering sessions in the community, home visits, hostels
• Providing Continuity of Care – Following patients and families throughout from inpatient to community
• Working in Multidisciplinary team, systemic teaching
• Co-working – Family Therapy with members of MDT, (Social Worker, Psychologist)
• Delivering training to staff, induction and presentations at Academic meetings and community settings
• Co-facilitating Carers Forum and Families and Carers Open Days
• Systemic Consultation/Reflecting on practice to Teams

Please refer to the job description attached for a comprehensive list of duties.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust provides physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible.

Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team.”

Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent.”

At Oxford Health we offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists may apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We offer great CPD and training opportunities and have excellent links with the Oxford Centre for Psychological Health and Oxford Institute for Clinical Psychology Training, which is hosted by the Trust.

We actively encourage innovation and research with opportunities for collaborations with the University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry. We also collaborate with Oxford Brookes University, Buckinghamshire New University, and the University of Bath.

We provide excellent opportunities for professional development and accredited supervision by senior therapists to help you consolidate your therapy skills in a focused and supported way, monthly opportunities to meet psychological therapy colleagues from across the county for reflective practice groups and clinical updates.

We would really like to hear from you if you can demonstrate you have the following skills:

• Experience of leadership and management of therapy staff
• Significant knowledge in your specialist therapy area
• A good working knowledge of effective treatments
• Sound clinical risk assessment and management
• Experience of safeguarding children and vulnerable adults
• Substantive experience of supervision with other Systemic Psychotherapists and Family Therapists

Person specification

Qualifications – Academic/Skills/Professional

• Post graduate qualification in Social Work, Clinical/Counselling Psychology, Nursing or equivalent with relevant professional registration e.g. HCPC
• Masters level qualification in Systemic Psychotherapy
• Registration with UKCP AFT Division as a Family Therapist
• Eligible for registration as Clinical Supervisor by Association for Family Therapy
• Couples Therapy qualification

Experience

• Working as a family therapist where the index patients are adults

Knowledge and Skills

• Advanced skills in the use of complex methods of systemic assessment, intervention with individuals, couples, family systems and groups frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
• Advanced knowledge of and skill in using a wide range of systemic theories and interventions and the ability to use these appropriately in relation to client need, developmental stage of client and work setting
• Highly developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
• Advanced skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
• Analytic and judgement skills in processing the significant complexity of information arising from systemic understandings requiring assessment and formulation and then prioritizing from a range of options while maintaining a collaborative alliance with family members and fellow professionals
• Advanced skills in professional supervision to meet UKCP requirements, skills for offering live supervision of both systemic psychotherapists and other colleagues
• Ability to work with a racially and culturally diverse community in a wide range of contexts including highly specialist skills for working therapeutically in family homes
• Masters or Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology consistent with systemic practice
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health

Further Training or Job Related Aptitude and Skills

• Good organisational and time management skills, ability to plan and prioritise own workload
• Ability to work autonomously, setting appropriate goals, in accordance with ethical and professional guidelines and Trust policies
• Evidence of continuing professional development as required by professional and accrediting bodies
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour

We’re advocates of flexible working, offering in many roles a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.

All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.

Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.

We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.

We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

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.

Name: Amanda Austen

Job title: Lead Systemic Family Psychotherapist

Email address: amanda.austen@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk

Telephone number: 077 7657 2517

At Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust we want to employ people not just with experience, but with the aptitude and motivation to succeed and whose values resonate with our own.

Therefore, if you don’t meet all the requirements of the role and are unsure about applying but are excited about the opportunity, please do get in touch. We will be happy to discuss the requirements in more detail ahead of making a written application.