Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
Family and Systemic Psychotherapist
The closing date is 01 July 2026
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Family and Systemic Psychotherapist to join the multidisciplinary team at the Becton Centre for Children and Young People.
The Becton Centre has 3 lodges working with young people with a range of complex mental health presentations who require intensive assessment, stabilisation and treatment. Family and systemic psychotherapy is a valued and established profession within the MDT.
The successful post holder will join an experienced Principal Family and Systemic Psychotherapist and a range of other psychological professionals (Clinical Psychologists, art psychotherapists and child and adolescent psychotherapists) as part of the varied multidisciplinary team.
As well as joining an established group of psychological professionals within the inpatient CAMH Service, the successful postholder will join the supportive group of Family and Systemic Psychotherapists at Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation trust who meet regularly.
This post will be based on Emerald Lodge which supports young people under the age of 13 with complex mental health presentations and will input into Ruby Lodge which supports young people with learning disabilities and mental health presentations.
Main duties of the job
* To maintain high-quality clinical records in accordance with professional and Trust standards.
* Deliver direct family and systemic psychotherapy to children and families who are inpatients at the Becton Centre.
* Contribute a systemic perspective to the MDT assessment, formulation and care planning process for young people alongside other professionals.
* To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate.
This role has been assigned the occupation code 2229 using the CASCOT coding tool. To check the eligibility of this code for sponsorship and right to work please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-eligible-occupations/skilled-worker-visa-eligible-occupations-and-codes
Please note: We do not offer visa sponsorship for Band 2 roles.
About us
At Sheffield Children’s, our purpose is clear: to provide healthier futures for children and young people. Our three strategic aims are Outstanding Patient Care, Brilliant Place to Work, and Leaders in Children’s Health.
We work with partners across local, regional, and national levels to deliver physical and mental healthcare in both acute and community settings. Many of our clinicians are nationally and internationally recognised for their expertise.
We're proud that 73% of colleagues would recommend Sheffield Children’s as a place to work, placing us among the top five NHS trusts in England — and the top-ranked trust in the North East and Yorkshire — in the latest NHS Staff Survey.
Our nearly 4,000 colleagues bring our CARE values — Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence — to life every day, creating a kind, welcoming environment where patients and families feel safe and supported.
As we approach our 150th anniversary in 2026, we're excited to keep building our leadership in children's health, improve experiences for patients and staff, and focus on our communities and population health.
We also offer excellent benefits to support your wellbeing, with generous annual leave and pension schemes, health and wellbeing programmes, and exclusive discounts — helping you thrive at work and beyond.
Person Specification
Qualifications and Training
* Registration as a systemic family therapist with the UKCP
* Masters/Doctoral level qualification in Family Systemic Psychotherapy or equivalent
* Postgraduate qualification in relevant mental health/social welfare profession and significant demonstrable practice.
* Post-qualification training and accreditation in a specialised area of psychological practice.
Experience
* Significant practice experience in relevant first profession (in Health and/or Social Care settings)
* Experience of working and communicating with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course; in particular with children and young people, as well as working with family groups and adults, including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems and verbal and physical abuse.
* Experience of a wide variety of child & family clinical presentations across the full range of severity and care settings
* Experience of working in multidisciplinary teams
* Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care co‑ordinator and within the context of a multi‑disciplinary care plan
* Experience of representing family therapy within the context of multi‑disciplinary care.
* Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
* Experience of assessing and treating clients across the full range of care settings, including inpatient care.
* Experience of working in different cultural contexts.
Knowledge & Skills
* Skills in the use of complex methods of assessment, intervention and management with children and adolescents with complex and significant mental health problems frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
* Well‑developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to children of all ages, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
* Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non‑professional groups.
* Relevant master's level knowledge of research design and methodology.
* Some knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
* Well‑developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult‑to‑treat groups (e.g. eating disorder, dual diagnoses, severely challenging behaviours etc.).
Personal Attributes
* Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
* Ability to identify, and employ as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
* Experience of multi‑agency working.
* Ability to self‑manage within a busy and often emotionally clinical environment.
* Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Address
Becton Centre for Children and Young People
Salary
£49,387 to £56,515 a year pro rata
Contract
Permanent
Working pattern
Part‑time
Reference number
425-26-7710484
Job locations
Becton Centre for Children and Young People
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