Systemic Practitioner (SAFE) Fixed Term Until 31st March 2025

Who are we?

Kibble is a specialist provider of services for at risk children and young people across the UK. Many of the young people the charity cares for have experienced significant trauma in their lives and we provide a safe, stable environment that is both nurturing and therapeutic. With a robust support network and wide range of integrated services, we offer young people opportunities and encourage them to believe in themselves, feel a sense of belonging, and realise their own self-worth.

About the service:

The SAFE service is an exciting new national and free to access service for children and families affected by crime. It is Scottish Government funded through the Victim Centred Approach Fund for three years. The service will go to families in their communities and provide person-centred and trauma-responsive services through advocacy, systemic family therapy, psychological services and speech and language consultation, assessment, and therapy.

The overall goal of the service is to support the emotional wellbeing of young victims/witnesses to crime (aged 5-25). The service will do this by providing three types of support.

Type 1: professional consultation

We will provide systemic and psychological advice and support for organisations and professionals who do not have that expertise in trauma, mental health, and intervention but who support young victims and witnesses, e.g., education, social work, police. This will include drawing together shared-understanding formulations and care/intervention plans alongside other professionals. It may also include training and consultation around organisational processes and structures. The goal is to improve systems and how they support young people.

We will also support colleagues and partner agencies through institutional advocacy and awareness raising to help other agencies provide the best possible service for victims and witnesses of crime.

Type 2: delivery of direct systemic family and psychological therapy to children, young people and their wider family impacted by crime.

The service will work with families to help them understand the impact of crime/victimisation and how models such as attachment-based parenting and trauma therapy, can help them and their children and young people. We will support children directly with a therapy modality that fits them. Therapeutic interventions will be assertive and go to the children and families in their community. Our aim is to intervene and prevent experiences of crime and victimisation leading to harmful or risk-taking behaviours.

We understand the impact of multi-generational trauma experienced by parents and carers and will work with a family to help them with the impact of domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. We will work alongside families to enhance their resilience and capacity as carers.

We will work closely with professionals and services to help ensure that risk assessment and management along with safeguarding requirements are effectively planned, assessed, responded to, and met.

Type 3: Advocacy

We will provide advocacy support to children who have experienced crime helping them through the Criminal Justice process, explaining the procedures, how they work and ensuring they understand their individual rights. We will support young victims to be able to make decisions based on what is right for them. Our advocacy services will enable children and young people to engage more safely and meaningfully with court processes and feel empowered to complete court actions, with an aim to increase accountability of perpetrators, reduce repeat offending and achieve positive outcomes for family members.

We will advise children and young people of their options for seeking help and will connect them to services and co-ordinate the provision of multi-agency support in relation to the reporting of crime. We will proactively ensure barriers to accessing support and protection are minimised and will advocate for victims with external support agencies who can help address challenges that they may face. By acting alongside children and young people we will enable them to feel safe and supported in accessing the justice system.

Job Purpose

You will take a key role in the design and delivery of the service. You will deliver direct services to children and families, line manage and supervise a systemic practitioner, provide consultation to professionals and work systemically with those around a child. You will collaborate and integrate with the service’s clinical psychology, speech and language and advocacy workers to provide a wholistic and systemic service.

Main Duties:

• To provide consultation to professionals and those using the service regarding systemic formulation, trauma, victimisation and care planning.
• To help formulate and then implement plans for the systemic support and therapy for children, young people and / or family members based on an appropriate conceptual framework, and using methods based on evidence of effectiveness and efficacy.
• To implement a range of systemic interventions for individuals, carers, staff, professionals, and families by drawing from different explanatory models and maintaining a number of professional hypotheses.
• To evaluate and make decisions about intervention options considering both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family, or group.
• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, support and discharge of those using the service whose problems are managed by psychologically based plans.
• To systemic advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to an intervention or care plan of those using the service.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a systemically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all those using the service.
• To contribute to risk assessment and risk management regarding risk to self and risk to others for individuals and their families and to provide advice to other professions on systemic aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
• To ensure children and young people who need to be referred to CAMHS or other specialist services are properly referred and to input to other agencies meetings where appropriate.
• To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and intervention plans of children and families.
• To receive professional supervision from appropriate supervisors.
• To provide training, knowledge and information about the service to professionals and stakeholders in a variety of settings and forums.
• To write reports summarising systemic assessment, formulation or intervention outcomes.
• To contribute to research, service audit and evaluation.​​​​​​​

Person Specification

Education and/or Professional Qualifications

Essential

A Foundation Certificate in Systemic Practice and experience of providing intervention to families

or

Educated to degree level or above with extensive experience providing intervention to families and a willingness to undergo systemic training.

or

A counsellor or psychotherapist registered with a regulatory body with a knowledge of systemic practice and experience of working with families.

Desirable

An Intermediate Certificate in Systemic Practice.

Job Related Skills and Achievements

Essential

• Car driver with ability and readiness to travel to multiple sites
• Skills to undertake clinical roles and tasks within the multi-disciplinary and multi- agency contexts in which service users are cared for.
• A high-level ability to communicate effectively at both a written and oral level to colleagues, professionals and lay people, and a high level of skill and ability to foster effective partnership working.

Desirable

• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.

Personal Attributes

· Enthusiasm for a broad range of psychological phenomena related to the development of harmful behaviour and psychological difficulties, an interest in models of service delivery, and an ability to articulate the value added by systemic and psychology services within the context of working with children, young people and families who have experienced crime.

· A capacity to establish priorities and organise workload effectively and efficiently.

· Ability to operate successfully within a team-based setting as well as being able to work autonomously.

Safe Crisis Training (SCM)

Successful candidates will require a level of fitness to be able to carry out SCM. Please see note section below (4) for further information.

Benefits:

Pension, holidays (up to 8 weeks per year) and employee benefits including cash4health, employee assistance programme, free parking, free meals, gym membership plus access to onsite physio.

Notes:

1. This job outline reflects the main tasks and responsibilities discharged by the postholder at the present time, however, Kibble reserves the right to alter or amend the content of this job outline to reflect changes to the job or services provided, while maintaining the overall character and level of responsibility for the post.
2. Notwithstanding any information or statement described within this job outline, all duties must be carried out in a way that promotes equality of opportunity, dignity and respect for all individuals and which is consistent with Kibble’s stated policy on equal opportunities
3. The successful candidate will be subject to PVG Scheme Membership. Having previous convictions will not automatically disbar you from working at Kibble (with the exception of offences against children or other vulnerable groups) and every case is taken on an individual basis.
4. The successful candidate will be required to undertake Safe Crisis Management (SCM) training and will require a level of fitness to be able to carry out SCM. The successful candidate must be able to participate fully in this training and be prepared to put this training into practice.

The SCM training will consist of two days theory and two days physical training. The successful candidate must complete this training in full within four weeks of an agreed start date. Should the candidate for any reason fail any aspect of the SCM training (theory, physical or both parts), an additional two weeks will be given to pass.

5. Appointments will be subject to Twelve Month probationary period.