Highly Specialist Family & Systemic Psychotherapist
Band 8a
Main area 222 12171 Family Therapy Grade Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours Full time – 37.5 hours per week Job ref 222-SF-750-A
Site St Bernard’s Hospital Town London Salary £63,665 – £70,887 per annum inclusive Salary period Yearly Closing 13/10/2026 23:59
West London NHS Trust provides a full range of mental health, community and physical healthcare services for children, adults and older people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow.
We also provide some specialist services that are commissioned regionally, such as our medium secure services; and nationally, such as the Cassel Hospital for people with complex and severe personality disorder and our high secure services at Broadmoor Hospital.
Job overview
Highly Specialist Family & Systemic Psychotherapist – West London Forensic Service
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the West London Forensic Service in Ealing as part of our well-established Systemic Family Work Team. The team provides systemic psychotherapy to service users with complex mental health needs across medium and low secure services and within the community.
We are seeking a qualified Family and Systemic Psychotherapist to join us on a full-time basis, although part-time hours will be considered. The role offers excellent CPD opportunities alongside involvement in research, teaching, consultation, and supervision within the Psychological Therapies Department.
Appointments may be made at Band 7 or Band 8a, depending on experience. Candidates appointed at Band 7 will be supported through a structured preceptorship programme with a clear pathway to Band 8a progression.
This is an excellent opportunity to join a supportive and specialist forensic service and make a meaningful difference to the lives of service users and their families.
Main duties of the job
Working within a secure forensic environment offers a unique opportunity to build meaningful therapeutic relationships with adults and their families over time. The service enables creative, sustained systemic work, supporting people to rebuild relationships, strengthen support networks and reconnect with aspects of their identity beyond that of a patient.
Our service works with people who have experienced significant trauma, marginalisation and social disadvantage, alongside enduring mental illness and complex emotional needs. As a Family and Systemic Psychotherapist, you will play a key role in supporting recovery, resilience and lasting positive change.
You will work closely with colleagues in our Reflecting Team, using a collaborative and compassionate approach to support families through complex and emotionally demanding situations. The role provides excellent opportunities to develop specialist systemic practice, with regular supervision, peer support and reflective practice.
You will also work in partnership with multidisciplinary teams across the forensic service, providing expert consultation, formulation and systemic interventions at individual, family and team levels. By building strong collaborative relationships, you will help deliver psychologically informed, family inclusive care and make a meaningful difference to the lives of patients and those closest to them.
Working for our organisation
West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.
Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ 4,500 staff, of whom 56% are BME. Our turnover for 2023-24 is £426m.
The Trust is rated as ‘Good’ overallby the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as ‘Outstanding’.
The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached.
The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.
Person specification
Qualifications
- Recognised qualification in one of the core mental health professions (eg. Nursing, Psychologist, Occupational Therapy, Social Work,)
- Masters level qualification in Systemic and Family Psychotherapy.
- Registration with UKCP as a Systemic and Family Psychotherapist.
- Other related academic qualifications
- Advanced Diploma in Supervision of Systemic and Family Psychotherapy
Experience
- Experience of working in adult mental health and/or forensic settings
- Extensive experience of conducting assessments with individuals, their families and social networks, particularly those with complex and severe difficulties, taking account of a range of theoretical models and with the ability to develop clinical formulation and make recommendations for intervention.
- Experience of working systemically across different cultural contexts and of recognising the operation of power and privilege, for example in relation to racism, gender, class and sexual identities.
- Extensive experience of working as an autonomous and independent practitioner.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of service user groups, presenting with a range of clinical issues and degrees of severity, with the capacity to maintain professionalism while being presented with highly demanding and distressing situations.
- Experience of teaching and/or supervising individuals or groups of staff at different levels of training and experience.
- Experience of offering systemic consultation to individuals, multidisciplinary staff teams and other professional groups.
- Experience of planning and delivering training in systemic principles and practices.
- Experience of research and audit
- Experience of working in inpatient or other institutional settings.
- Experience of other clinical approaches (for example MBT, EMDR, DBT).
- Experience of working with people with diagnoses of severe mental health problems and/ or trauma.
- Experience in undertaking investigations (including serious untoward incidents, disciplinary incidents and complaints).
- Publications in academic or professional journals and /or books.
- Experience of facilitating Reflective Practice groups
Knowledge
- Comprehensive knowledge of systemic theories, methods and techniques and their appropriate application in different contexts, with individuals, families, organisations and social networks.
- Comprehensive knowledge of the evidence base for family and systemic interventions.
- Knowledge of other clinical and psychotherapeutic models and modalities sufficient to engage with multidisciplinary team colleagues in deciding on and coordinating between different interventions.
- Knowledge of psychiatric diagnosis and treatments
- An understanding of the role of systemic psychotherapy in the modern NHS.
- Good knowledge of different pathways of care in terms of mental health provision in statutory and voluntary sectors.
- Knowledge of legislation regarding mental health and the criminal justice system; and regarding the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults.
- Knowledge of NHS Policies and their implications for clinical practice, professional management and service development.
- Understanding of confidentiality, data protection, legislation and Caldicott principles.
- Awareness and appreciation of equality and diversity issues
- Knowledge of research methodologies
As an employee of West London NHS Trust, you have a responsibility to maintain a sound understanding of, and a commitment to uphold the National Health Service values and principles set out in the NHS Constitution.
We reserve the right to close adverts prior to the closing date stated should we receive a high volume of applications.
By applying for this post you are agreeing to West London NHS Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, you will be required to undergo a pre-employment checks which can take between 4-8 weeks . After which your information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system (ESR ).
Please ensure you include email addresses for your referees which MUST be at supervisory or managerial capacity covering the last 3 years of employment to date to avoid delay in the recruitment process.
West London NHS Trust is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We encourage the thoughtful use of technology as a demonstration of strong time management and a commitment to innovation. However, we encourage applicants to personalise their recruitment application to showcase their unique skills and experiences.
While AI-generated content can be a helpful tool, relying solely on generic responses instead of highlighting your own strengths and achievements may impact the success of your application. The success of an application will always be assessed against the essential and desirable criteria for the role, so it is important to ensure that your application and any supporting information clearly demonstrate how you meet these requirements.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
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.
At West London NHS Trust, we want you to support you to build a career you can be proud of and this starts before your first day with us. Our people live our values every day as they deliver, manage and work to improve our services to patients, carers, families and other professionals.
We’re committed to making our recruitment process clear and efficient. It’s in everyone’s interest that we get the very best people on board as soon as we can.
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