Highly Specialist Family and Systemic PsychotherapistNHS

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

London, SE5 8AZ Permanent £66,274 to £73,496

Posted 11 August 2026 Closing date 25 August 2026

Denmark Hill Rail Station (0.1 miles away) Victoria Station (3.0 miles away)

Job summary

The eating disorders inpatient unit is looking for an enthusiastic systemic therapist with appropriate experience to work at a senior level for two days per week. You will be joining an evidence generating service and a diverse and passionate team committed to supporting people with eating disorders. The role involves providing a highly specialist systemic psychotherapy service to patients, their friends and families, disseminating information about available support for friends and family, delivering remote specialist skills workshops and monthly support group.

Main duties of the job

Job Purpose:

To provide a highly specialist systemic psychotherapy service tothe eating disorders inpatient serviceincluding specialist assessment, treatment, planning,implementationand monitoring of outcomes.
To provide clinical supervision and consultation asappropriate. To contribute to service evaluation,auditand research.
To work as an autonomous professional within AFT and UKCP / HCPC guidelines and guided by relevant principles and policies or procedures, taking full responsibility for interpreting policies within defined parameters.

Job description

Key Responsibilities:

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care

Toprovide highlyspecialist assessment and clinical formulation to individuals, couples,familiesand social networks where the identified client has complex mental health needs, includingcomorbidities alongside an eating disordersuch as neurodiversity, personality disorders,traumaand diabetes.As many of the friends and families we work with live at a distance from the ward, you will need to be flexible and creativeutilisingvirtual sessions to engage friends and families in this work.
To utilise specialist pathwayssuch asour PEACE pathway for neurodiversity, diabetes pathway for people with type 1 diabetes mellitus and eating disorders,personality disorders pathwayand the carers pathway which provides support across our inpatient,outpatientand day services.
To select and administer specialist assessments as appropriate.This would include creating genograms and/or eco-maps,analysisand assessment of multiple levels of contextual meaning, deconstruction of current interactional patterns of behaviour and meaning around mental health issues and complex relationships.
To organise and co-facilitatespecialisteating disorder specificcarer skills workshops and support groups for friends and families in person (whereappropriate)and virtually.
To meet with families during the admission process and orientate them to carer support on the ward.
To provide reports, including relevant formulation,opinionand interventions,in order toinform referrers and, whereappropriate, service users and their families.
To select and deliverevidence-basedspecialist therapeutic interventions, drawing from a broad spectrum of systemicmodels, monitoringoutcome and modifying and adapting interventions as necessary, based on the highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, couple, family or group.
To assess andmonitorrisk and draw upappropriate riskmanagement plans.
To provide psychological support to clients who are emotionally distressed. Either due to theserious consequencesof their illness or due to other traumatic events in their lives.
To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information withclients, carers, staff,referrersand community servicestaking account of communication needs.
To ensure that all services provided are acceptable and accessible to the diverse communities which make up theeating disorder populationandatall times to work in ways that are sensitive to and appropriate for the needs of families from a wide range of racial, cultural and religiousbackgrounds, and to be aware and sensitive to the different contexts that different families may be acting out of.

KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

To contribute to the effective working of theeating disorder service and MDT,and to a psychologically and systemically informed framework for the service area.
To provide consultations to other clinical staff on the use of family therapy and systemic psychotherapy techniques and, whereappropriate, to jointly work with other team members in the provision of therapeutic interventions
Torepresentfamilyand systemictherapy work in weekly ward rounds and CPAs.
To take a proactive stance in challenging racism and discrimination and support the development of a culturally competent service.
To contribute towards the provision of advice and consultancy to local teams/services for clients.In this respect, to advise on the development and integration within the team of systemically based assessment and intervention techniques that might at a systems level be incorporated within the teams operational policy, and be applied on a routine basis by other team members
To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clientsin order todevelop and review care plans and to arrange and lead network meetings asappropriate.
To utilise theory, evidence-basedliteratureand research to supportevidence-basedpractice in clinical work and work with other team members.
Toparticipatein helping develop services to family and carers of service users

KR 3 Policy and service development

To implement policies and procedures in own area of work.
Toidentifyaspects of the service that could be improved andinitiateand implement service development projects.
Toparticipatein clinical governance initiatives as agreed by the Directorate clinical governance committee.
To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users and their families in planning anddeliveringservices.

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

Tocontribute to the appraisalof more junior family therapists, family workers,systemicpractitionersand assistant psychologists.
Toparticipatein the recruitment of more juniorfamily therapists, family workers or systemic practitioners,and assistant psychologistsas appropriate
To provide professional and clinical supervision to junior family therapists, familyworkersor systemic practitioners,honorariesand trainee family and systemic psychotherapists for all aspects of their work
To provide supervision for the systemic and family work of other multi-disciplinary staff asappropriate.

KR 6 Teaching and Training

To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within theeating disorders inpatient servicebymaintainingan active awareness of current developments in the field of systemic practice andeating disorders and by implementing knowledge gained in practice
Todisseminateresearch and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.
To provide training in family/social network inclusive practice to multi-disciplinary teams
To deliver in-service training workshops and seminars on systemic topics for practitioners (e.g. nurses, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, paediatric staff etc.), and to contribute to multidisciplinary training events which may be organised by other staff within the Trust.

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.
Tomaintainthe highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.

KR 8 Research and development

Toinitiate, undertake and supervise regular complex service evaluation and audits
Toinitiateand carry outappropriate researchand provide research advice and supervision to other staff undertaking research within the service.
To provideexpertisein a specialist research area which will contribute toeating disorders services.
Toinitiateand implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment andassistother staff in the implementation of same
Initiate andparticipatein evaluating systemic approaches withinparticular areasof the service.
Toutilise andcontribute to current research in the servicesuch as the PEACEPluspathway forneurodiversity.

KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior family and systemic psychotherapist according to UKCP and Trust guidelines.
To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with AFT and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and the UKCP Continual Professional Development guidelines
Tomaintainan up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
Tocomply withUKCP Ethical Principles and Code of Professional Conduct and ensure professional development in line with these.
To adhere to the UKCP Ethical Principles and Code of Professional Conduct and Trust policies and procedures

KR10 General

To travel toother eating disorder services, community mental health teams, other professional sitesasappropriateand across the Trust whenrequired.
To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the clientgroup, andfollow trust policies relating to its management.
To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situationssuch asadmission under MHA;receiving nutrition via NG tube,high levelsof emotional distressandphysiological risk; self-harmandchallenging behaviours,and to support others involved in such situations.
To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment tooffering sessionsoutside working hours to enable working friends or family to access,supportwithin the overall Job Plan.

About us

As part of the Psychological Medicine and Older Adults Directorate, the Eating Disorders Service is within the South London Partnership and provides inpatient treatment for local and national patients. The Gerald Russell Unit is an 18-bed, all-gender inpatient service based in the newly built Douglas Bennett House at the Maudsley Hospital. Patients may be admitted voluntarily or detained under the Mental Health Act.

The service supports individuals with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, ARFID, and OSFOED. Evidence-based treatment programmes are tailored to the needs of service users and their carers, with the service receiving a high volume of referrals each year.

We have developed innovative pathways to support people at different stages of illness and with varying comorbidities. These include FREED (early intervention), PEACE Plus (for neurodivergent patients), STRIDE ( trauma), a diabetes pathway for people with type 1 diabetes, a carers pathway supporting families and carers, and additional specialist support for people with personality disorders.

Our specialist tertiary service provides intensive treatment in inpatient, day patient, and outpatient settings, including for individuals with complex comorbidities. Interventions may include individual, group and family therapy, dietetic input, and comprehensive risk management for needs that cannot be safely or effectively managed within primary or secondary care services.

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