CAMHS Principal Specialist Family & Systemic Psychotherapist

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond. We are committed to providing high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for the care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission rates our services as ‘good’. We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.

Our Values: We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special. As a Trust, we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview: National and Specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (N&S CAMHS) are seeking to recruit enthusiastic and skilled Principal (band 8b) Specialist Systemic Family Psychotherapist to the Outpatient Team at the Maudsley Centre for Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders (MCCAED). The post holder will join a dynamic multidisciplinary team providing specialist assessment, formulation and treatment to young people with eating disorders, and their families. We are committed to getting the very best out of our staff and support staff in their career aspirations. We have career pathways available, where you will be able to develop your skills and build on your experience to progress into other roles across different specialties. For this role, we offer career pathways to more senior positions. In addition, we offer ongoing training and development in evidence-based treatments for eating disorders.

Main duties of the job:

• An opportunity to work in a highly specialist, multi-disciplinary child and adolescent eating disorder service.
• Supervise and manage a range of senior clinicians providing specialist clinical interventions.
• Deliver and supervise systemic individual, family and group therapy interventions for young people with eating disorders and their families.
• Take on a senior leadership position within the wider MCCAED service.
• Lead on several areas of service development and staff well-being.

Working for our organisation: Flexible Working: As one of the few Trusts in London, we are proud to offer flexible working as part of our new ways of working, and we are happy to talk flexible working at the interview stage. In this role, you will be able to work Monday to Friday in the time frames from 8am to 6pm, giving you the very best of good work-life balance. You may also be required to work up until 6.30pm to cover meals on a rotated basis, which may include working early mornings, later evenings or Saturdays as part of the core working hours/working pattern for this post.

About our locations: Maudsley Hospital (headquarters): The post will be based at the Michael Rutter Centre, De Crespigny Park, SE5 8AZ on the Maudsley Hospital site. Located at Denmark Hill less than 5 minutes from the train station (zone 2) and is within walking distance from the beautiful green spaces of Ruskin Park and the vibrant high-street that offers great shopping opportunities and a wide range of restaurants.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

• Support with leadership and management of the multi-disciplinary team of specialist clinicians supporting young people with eating disorders and their family members.
• Deliver highly specialist systemic individual, family, group and multi-family clinical interventions.
• Provide high quality supervision and management to senior MCCAED team members.
• Deliver national and international teaching, consultation and training in the models of treatment offered at MCCAED.
• Support the operational management of the service, including rostering, leave management, performance management and recruitment.
• Work closely with the senior leadership team within MCCAED.

Person specification:

• Post-graduate qualification in relevant mental health/social welfare profession and demonstrable practice in this field.
• Masters level qualification in Family and Systemic Psychotherapy or equivalent qualification, accredited by UKCP.
• Additional training in a specialised area of systemic practice through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses, OR an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice–based learning in a specialist area of clinical practice, assessed by an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma.
• Registered with the UKCP as Systemic Psychotherapist and evidence of continuing professional development as required by the UKCP.
• Accredited by AFT to supervise qualified Systemic and Family Psychotherapists.

• Evidence of having worked as a qualified systemic family psychotherapist under supervision in Child & Adolescent eating disorders service.
• Experience of specialist systemic assessment, formulation and intervention with individuals and families with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature in Child & Adolescent eating disorders.
• Experience of supervising trainee family and systemic psychotherapists, having completed the relevant training.
• Experience of providing teaching and training to family and systemic psychotherapists or other professional groups.
• Experience of working with, and addressing issues of, diversity, including experience of working within a multicultural framework.

• Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised systemic and psychological therapies for Children and Adolescents eating disorders.
• Advanced theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base for the relevant treatment Family therapy for eating disorder both Anorexia and Bulimia nervosa.
• Attachment Based-Family therapy.
• Advanced knowledge of assessment techniques systemically in eating disorders field with children and adolescents.
• Advanced knowledge of a wide range of systemic and family models and interventions.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues and child protection.

The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights.

We aim to put this commitment into practice by:

• Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice.
• Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment.
• We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity.

SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion.