Family Therapist

Family Therapist – Building Bridges – Reunification and Staying Together Teams

Starting Salary: £38,220 progressing to £41,771 per annum – pay award pending.

Hours:

37 (part time or compressed hours considered).

Base

Location:

East – Stevenage / West – Hemel Hempstead.

Contract Type:
Permanent.

Directorate:
Children’s Services.

We are seeking a Child Therapist or Systemic Family Therapist (qualified or in training) to join our new multi‑disciplinary Building Bridges Service. The service works intensively with families facing acute and complex difficulties to prevent care entry where possible and to support the safe reunification of children returning home from care.

The successful applicant will be confident working in contexts of risk, conflict, and family distress. You will work with children and young people aged 10–18, and/or their families, where there is significant risk due to trauma, family breakdown, exploitation, or severe mental health needs. The role sits within a psychologically and trauma‑informed, multi‑agency model, and is based upon the Family Safeguarding model.

• Work as part of a multi‑disciplinary team to support the service in assessing and formulating plans for children and families with complex, intersecting needs.
• Deliver trauma‑informed therapeutic assessment and intervention with children, young people and/or families.
• Contribute to dynamic risk assessment and safety planning in complex, high‑risk situations.
• Develop formulations and intervention plans and review these as needs change.
• Provide time‑limited, intensive interventions in home and community settings. Interventions will be in line with your training and experience (mentalisation based, CBT, systemic family therapy etc).
• Contribute to formulation meetings, planning meetings, and court processes where required.
• Work collaboratively with professionals across social care, health, education and partner agencies.
• Contribute to service development.
• Adapt interventions for communication, sensory, and processing differences, utilising the support of our Neurodiversity Specialist Worker as needed.
• Clinical and leadership responsibilities will be proportionate to qualification, experience, and stage of training.
• Non‑clinical staff within the team utilise ARC, NVR, AMBIT, TLSW and Motivational Interviewing. Postholders will either need to be trained, or be willing to undertake training provided in these approaches.

• Core professional qualification in a relevant field (e.g. psychology, psychotherapy, counselling, social work, nursing, or allied mental health profession).
• Registration with an appropriate professional body (e.g. HCPC, UKCP, BACP, BABCP, Social Work England).
• Experience of therapeutic work with children, young people and/or families with complex needs.
• Experience of safeguarding and multi‑agency working.
• One of the following:
  • Postgraduate qualification in Counselling or Psychotherapy or equivalent therapeutic training.
  • Postgraduate qualification in Systemic Psychotherapy/ Family Therapy (AFT‑accredited or eligible), or currently undertaking recognised systemic family therapy training.
• Occasional evening working required.

• Driving Required – you’ll need the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.
• English Fluency – the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required).
• Safeguarding – this role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.