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Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
About
We provide NHS care and treatment for people living in south east England. Our mental health services provide care and treatment for people with conditions such as psychosis, depression, anxiety, dementia and personality disorder. Our vision is to provide outstanding care and treatment you can be confident in.
Family & Systemic Psychotherapist
Accepting applications until: 02-Jul-2026 23:59
Vacancy status: Open
Accepting applications until: 02-Jul-2026 23:59
Key details
Location
- Site
- New CAMHS Inpatient Unit
- Address
- Princess Royal Hospital Lewes Road
- Town
- Haywards Heath
- Postcode
- RH16 4EX
- Major / Minor Region
- West Sussex
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Salary
- Salary
- £49,387 - £56,515 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Grade
- (NHS AfC: Band 7)
Specialty
- Main area
- Mental Health
Come and join us
We’re looking for people who share our values of compassion, accountability and optimism to help us provide high quality care for the patients, carers, families and communities we serve. We specialise in NHS mental health and learning disability services and we’re proud to make a difference every day.
At SPFT we put people first. We’ll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. You’ll have opportunities to learn, grow and gain new experiences to support your career, with access to lifelong learning and professional development.
We actively promote flexible working and understand how important work life balance is, especially in healthcare. Whether it’s part time hours, hybrid working or flexible start and finish times, we’ll explore what works for you and the role.
We recognise that tools like AI are becoming part of everyday life and you may choose to use them when preparing your application. We welcome this, as long as what you submit reflects your own experience, skills and voice. AI can be helpful for structuring or refining your answers, but it should not replace your own examples or create content that isn’t based on your real experience.
Our recruitment process is designed to get to know you, and we’ll explore your examples further at interview, so it’s important your application genuinely represents what you bring. You can read more about using AI in applications and interviews on our recruitment process page.
We’re shaping a workplace where ideas are encouraged, technology supports you and everyone has a voice in how we improve. If that sounds like the kind of organisation you want to be part of, we’d love to hear from you.
Job overview
We are excited to be recruiting to our newly redesigned Children & Young People’s Inpatient Mental Health Unit at Chalkhill, reopening in Autumn 2026. Following extensive engagement, co‑design, and investment in our clinical model, workforce, and environment, we are creating a modern therapeutic service where young people receive purposeful, high‑quality care.
Following extensive co-design with young people, families and staff, and significant investment in our workforce and therapeutic approach, this is an exciting opportunity to work in a modern, recovery-focused inpatient service delivering high-quality, purposeful care to young people with acute mental health needs.
Listen to our EBE podcast here:
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Our refreshed CAMHS inpatient service is built around:
- Purposeful admissions with early review points
- Structured, therapeutic care programmes delivered across 7 days
- Strong links with crisis and community services, including COAST (Crisis Outreach Acute Support Team),
- Trauma-informed and autism-aware practice
- A focus on least restrictive practice and improving experience and outcomes
- Supportive MDT working, safe staffing and strong clinical leadership
You will work as part of a skilled and supportive multidisciplinary team, delivering therapeutic care to young people and working closely with families and carers from admission through to discharge.
Advert
We are seeking a dedicated and passionate UKCP‑registered Family and Systemic Psychotherapist (Band 7) to join the CAMHS Inpatient Team on a full‑time (1.0 WTE) basis.
You will be committed to family‑focused practice, ensuring families’ needs and experiences remain central throughout hospital admissions. The role involves delivering family and systemic interventions for children and young people requiring inpatient care, and working closely with the COAST team, which provides alternatives to admission for those experiencing acute mental health difficulties.
You will join a skilled multidisciplinary team providing integrated, family‑led care across Sussex. Drawing on a range of systemic psychotherapy approaches, you will contribute to assessment, formulation and the delivery of timely, targeted interventions, supporting young people and families to feel heard, involved and supported in their recovery from the outset.
You will work collaboratively with the multi-disciplinary team and a strong culture of teamwork and shared responsibility for high‑quality care. You will receive regular supervision from the Principal Family and Systemic Psychotherapist and Consultant Psychologist, alongside support from the wider Psychological Professions network.
We welcome compassionate, motivated professionals committed to trauma‑informed practice, co‑production and improving outcomes for children and young people in a fast‑paced inpatient setting.
Working for our organisation
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust delivers specialist mental health, learning disability and neurodevelopmental services across Sussex.
This post sits within our Specialist CAMHS Services, offering opportunities to work closely with acute, community and crisis pathway colleagues.
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, and to creating a compassionate, supportive working environment where staff feel valued, developed and able to deliver excellent care.
What we can offer you
· The opportunity to help shape a newly reopened CAMHS inpatient unit
· Comprehensive induction programme prior to opening, where all new staff train together and contribute to the team’s therapeutic approach
A supportive leadership team and strong MDT culture
High‑quality clinical and managerial supervision
Access to CPD, specialist CAMHS training and leadership development
Career progression opportunities within inpatient and wider CAMHS services
NHS Pension Scheme and Agenda for Change benefits
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Sussex Partnership provides mental health and learning disability care for children, young people and adults across Sussex. The trust is rated as ‘good’ overall and ‘outstanding’ for caring by the CQC.
SPFT encourage flexible working. We know that a positive work/life balance brings about huge health related benefits, which has a positive impact on the care we provide. Please speak to us about flexible working, for example, flexible start/finish times or anything else. If it works for you and works for the role, we'll do our best to make it happen.
This is an excellent time for Psychology Professions to be joining Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust as we have launched our Strategy and can offer the following to you:
· Regular Professional and Clinical supervision with a focus on enhancing wellbeing at work
· The opportunity to ensure that Children and Young People benefit from increased access to Psychological Therapies
· A commitment to improving matters of Equality, Inclusion, Diversity and Human Rights for Children and Young people, their families and staff.
· The opportunity to participate in a range of quality improvement work and service innovations.
· Access to a wide range of training and CPD opportunities through
· The Psychological Professions Practice Networks
· The Leadership Programme for Senior Psychological Professions.
· Quarterly Psychology Professions CAMHS, Early Intervention and Perinatal Senior Leadership Forum
In order to be a successful Family & systemic psychotherapist (Band 7) in our team you will be:
· Registered with UKCP
· Experienced in risk management
· Comfortable working in a fast-paced and varied role
· Able to communicate effectively in complex and challenging circumstances to support professional decision making
· Adaptable, organised, compassionate and a team player
· Experience working in a multi-disciplinary environment
· Experience working with families who are facing tough times and in crisis and adapting your therapeutic relationship/ intervention accordingly.
If you want to make a real difference to young people’s lives and help shape a redesigned, values‑driven inpatient service, we would love to hear from you.
Applicant requirements
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Recognised/accredited postgraduate level training in a psychological therapy as specified in one of the Appendices
- Professionally registered as specified in the same Appendix
Desirable criteria
- Additional pre- and/or post-qualification training as specified in the same Appendix
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Substantial experience of specialist psychological therapy (assessment, formulation maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse. n and treatment), as specified in the same Appendix,
- A high level of competence in applying a psychological therapy to complex difficulties appropriate for this therapy with the client group, and a proven track record of delivering positive outcomes in this therapy Experience of offering teaching, training and supervision within a demanding organisational context.
- A clear and theoretically informed approach to supervision
- Experience of the application of psychological therapy in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of delivering group interventions
communication
Essential criteria
- Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
- Proven ability to establish, maintain and conclude therapeutic relationships with clients
- Good inter-personal and inter-professional skills and ability to work autonomously as a single discipline practitioner in a multi-disciplinary setting
Skills
Essential criteria
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- A capacity to reflect upon the therapeutic process and upon one’s own part in it.
- An ability to make effective use of clinical supervision and to utilise these skills in contributing to clinical consultation within the team and to other professional and non-professional groups
planning
Essential criteria
- Ability to work within a large geographical area effectively, managing travel arrangements and using creative working solutions.
- Ability to assist or take a lead in specific service development projects
- Ability to plan and manage a work load
leadership
Essential criteria
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
Desirable criteria
- Ability to supervise and support psychological professionals, in the locality, undertaking appraisals and managing sickness and annual leave where appropriate
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Kat Baker
- Job title
- Principal family & systemic Psychotherapist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07471032071
- Additional information
John Cavanagh , Consultant Family & systemic psychotherapist and Professional Lead for Family & systemic psychotherapy and practice, Sussex CAMHS [email protected] or 07738 757213
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