Family & Systemic Psychotherapist - Children's Eating Disorders

Transformationunitgm; Oxford; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mental health organization is seeking a Senior Family and Systemic Psychotherapist to provide high-quality mental health services for children and young people facing complex challenges. The role involves conducting assessments, delivering family-based treatments, and working within a multidisciplinary team in Oxford. Candidates should have a postgraduate qualification in family/systemic psychotherapy and experience in CAMHS. This permanent full-time position offers a competitive salary package and opportunities for professional growth.

Benefits

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays

NHS discounts

Competitive pension scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Tailored learning and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Postgraduate qualification in family/systemic psychotherapy is required.
• Registered as a Systemic Psychotherapist with UKCP or equivalent body.
• Experience working as a family and systemic psychotherapist in CAMHS.

Responsibilities

• Conduct assessments and treatment of young people with eating disorders.
• Deliver family-based treatment and systemic psychotherapy.
• Collaborate within a multidisciplinary team for comprehensive care.

Skills

Advanced systemic assessment skills

Excellent communication skills

Experience in family and systemic therapy

Crisis intervention skills

Research and implementation skills

Education

Postgraduate qualification in family/systemic psychotherapy

Maintenance of registration as a Systemic Psychotherapist with UKCP

Professional qualification in a relevant mental health discipline

Job description

Main area Family and Systemic Psychotherapist - Oxford Grade Band 8b Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 267-OC7605645

Employer Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Raglan House Town Cowley - Oxford Salary £64,455 - £74,896 Per Annum Salary period Yearly Closing 22/01/2026 23:59

Family & Systemic Psychotherapist - Children's Eating Disorders

Band 8b

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 so, 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.

We are also committed to increasing diversity in the workforce, that is why we actively encourage applications from those groups of people who are currently under-represented, which include amongst others: people with disabilities; men from all socio-economic backgrounds; people from diverse ethnic backgrounds; and people from the LGBTQIA+ community.

Good luck and we hope to hear from you.

Job overview

Are you a compassionate Senior Family and Systemic Psychotherapist, looking for a new role where you can be autonomous, creative, and a team player?

Are you dedicated to improving the lives of vulnerable children and young people with complex needs?

This post is based in our Oxfordshire Child and Adolescent Eating Disorder Service. The Family Therapist role will deliver a high-quality, comprehensive mental health service for children, young people, and their families experiencing mental health and eating disorder challenges alongside the multidisciplinary team. We are looking for an experienced and dedicated professional, who's not afraid to think outside the box, to support and engage children, young people, and their families.

Main duties of the job

NICE concordant treatments, including family-based treatments are at the forefront of our practice. The MDT consists of clinicians from a range of specialisms including psychology, nursing, dietetics, family therapy and psychiatry. In this role, you'll hold your own case load.

Key tasks

• The assessment and treatment of young people with a range of eating disorder presentations
• Delivering family-based treatment and family and systemic psychotherapy to young people and families
• Maintaining a systemic perspective of the young people we see in context and using systemic skills such as systemic formulation to aid the evidence-based treatment we offer

You’ll be co-located with a range of other services already working alongside the team and our young people with complex needs (CAMHS Crisis, Outreach etc).

As a senior clinician you will be a member of the senior leadership team who prioritise service development, ongoing research, and the collation of outcome data for research and service evaluation.

There are times you may be required to work off site and in other clinical buildings or departments. We work closely with out inpatient units and collaborative working is vital.

We’ll need you be flexible and adaptable, have excellent interpersonal/communication skills and high levels of resilience. We’re looking for someone with a strong background of working with CYP with mental health difficulties. Someone who thrives on the challenges and rewards of working with complexity.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the “candidate guide to making an application” and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.

As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast 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”

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
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.

The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.

Person specification

Education

• Postgraduate qualification in family/systemic psychotherapy
• Maintenance of registration as a Systemic Psychotherapist with UKCP or equivalent body
• Professional postgraduate qualification in a mental health or social welfare discipline or agreed Association for Family Therapy (AFT) equivalent

Knowledge

• Advanced knowledge and skills in the use of complex methods of systemic assessment and treatment of individuals, couples, family systems and groups, frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
• Advanced knowledge of and skill in using a wide variety of systemic theories and interventions and the ability to use these appropriately in relation to client need, developmental stage of client and work setting
• Communication and relationship skills of the highest level in working with hostile patients and their families in situations of sexual abuse and where complex formulations need to be explained
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of Systemic Psychotherapy/Family therapy in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, eating disorders, dual diagnosis etc)
• Skills in providing advanced level systemic/ Family Therapy training and supervision to other professionals.

Experiance

• Substantial practice in relevant first profession.
• Substantial experience of working as a family and systemic psychotherapist within CAMHS.
• Experience of teaching and training Systemic/Family Therapy theory and skills to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Experience of designing and implementing research projects.
• 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’re advocates of flexible working and many of our roles offer a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.
• Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
• 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.
• Oxford is a world-renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing

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.