Family Therapist

Our clinical team is central to supporting, developing and sustaining our systemic social work model of practice. We are a busy, supportive team with strong positive working relationships with social work practitioners and managers across CYPS. We value a pragmatic, responsive, anti-oppressive, purposeful approach to practicing systemic therapy. We are looking for enthusiastic Family Therapists who can use their specialist skills directly with children, families, kinship systems, social care practitioners and the wider community to enable change to happen, drawing on the expertise of families and their networks. The role will sit under the Director of Clinical Practice, reporting directly to a Senior Family Therapist. This is an exciting opportunity to do more than just practice Systemic Therapy; it's an opportunity to shape, develop and create new ways of practicing. The role will give you the chance to use your skills directly with families offering targeted interventions mainly within family homes. Part of the role will be to develop and deliver training packages to a variety of staff groups, to offer supervision to social work practitioners on their year 1 and 2 of systemic training and be an active contributor in making Newham a Centre of Systemic social work excellence. You will join a local authority that actively supports systemic practice and this is recognised in the recent Ofsted Report (November 2025); ' The ongoing investment in the clinical team and the social work academy has undoubtedly strengthened practice and contributed to a culture of learning'.. 'Workers show an in-depth knowledge of the authority's practice model and are able to articulate the positive impact this has had on consistency and the quality of practice with children and their families', Shortlisting decisions will be based on candidates' relevant experience and on candidates' suitability for the role in line with the person specification, as described in their supporting statement and CV.

You will be a dynamic, creative and relational practitioner who is enthusiastic about systemic ideas and enjoys working with families across a wide range of contexts. One who can offer a Systemic Social work approach working across the whole of the CYPS area including Family help, Child Protection, Children in Care and Care Experienced Young adults. We are looking for someone who is skilled, flexible, has the ability to self-motivate and develop others. You should have direct experience of working alongside Social Workers doing statutory social work, to be able to offer training to both small and large diverse professional groups. You will be able to balance imagination with rigour, see possibility of change in the most complex of contexts, and hold hope when others are struggling to do so. You should want to join a local authority that welcomes change, leads practice on shared family decision making and one that will welcome your contribution to its developing practice model. You will bring previous experience and an understanding of working within a diverse, urban community and have the confidence and desire to challenge oppression and disproportionality wherever it is found. You will hold a Masters Level qualification in Family and Systemic Psychotherapy and be registered or in the process of registering with the UKCP. As well as being a qualified Social worker currently registered by Social Work England. This is a dual-qualified role. We will also consider applications from people who are in their final year of training for their Masters degree in Family and Systemic Psychotherapy and will be ready to register with the UKCP by October 2026.

We've been working hard to make Newham a great place to practise social work.

• We're a an OUTSTANDING local authority focused on achieving excellence.
• We offer genuinely flexible/hybrid working as long as children and families are supported.
• Our firmly established practice model, Circles of Support, was recently nominated for the prestigious MJ Award for Innovation in Children's Services and allows systemic, restorative practice to flourish.
• Career progression; we are constantly promoting from within
• We have a renowned Social Care Academy - 47 social workers have studied for systemic higher education with us since 2020. Our Academy offer received significant praise from Ofsted.
• Oyster card/parking permit for business use.
• Wellbeing service, leisure and discount benefits (Council scheme).
• Travel season ticket loan, cycle scheme, Local Authority pension.