MST (Multisystemic Therapy) Therapist

Job description

Job responsibilities

At Kirklees we want to be innovative and creative in the way we work to deliver our services to our communities. We know we have challenging times ahead, so we are always looking for better and smarter ways to work.

MST Therapist

MST is an intensive family and community-based intervention for children and young people aged 11-17, where young people are at risk of out of home placement in either care or custody due to their offending or having severe behaviour problems. The aim of MST is to break the cycle of anti-social behaviours by keeping young people safely at home, in school, and out of trouble. The service will be contactable 24/7 to ensure the most effective and timely support to families at times of crisis.

As an MST Therapist, you will bring your professional discipline to the team and will hold a caseload of complex cases working intensively and flexibly with families for up to 5 months. You will deliver the most appropriate MST intervention (e.g., behavioural therapy, CBT) utilising the MST model and analytical process.

This role is based within Children & Families.

Key areas of responsibility:

You will work intensively with some of the most complex cases in Kirklees and will engage directly with those families in their own homes and communities, to empower them with the tools and resources to manage the young persons behaviours.

You will be supported to determine the appropriate interventions and work with families to establish specific goals for the intervention. The overall aims of MST are:

o increase young peoples engagement with and success in education and training.

o promote positive activities for parent & young person.

o reduce young peoples offending and/or anti-social behaviour.

o improve family relationships.

o Systemically tackle underlying problems within the family.

Engaging with families and developing their commitment to MST as well as the input required will be vital to your success although the nature of the work means this will be challenging.

You will take the lead role and navigate working beyond professional disciplines to deliver and ensure the success of MST interventions. Development of commitment to expected outcomes of interventions will be crucial. You will provide advice to others on the MST model.

You will be supported within the MST team and by the Service Manager; and will receive regular group and individual professional supervision to support you as a professional and share learning and best practice.

To support the intensity of support and interventions, the service will be contactable 24/7 and as such you will be expected to participate in an on-call rota.

Exercises professional judgement and uses appropriate MST methods and interventions to support the best possible outcomes for children and young people.

Adheres to the MST approach and works within expectations of relevant profession.

• Is a role model for the MST approach.
• Utilises theory and evidence-based practice in delivery of the MST approach.
• Support the development and promotion of MST.
• Positively engages with and makes effective use of reflective supervision, putting learning into practice and contributing to the appraisal processes. Identifies and takes up opportunities for CPD.
• Positively engages in regular training and development with supervisor and MST Expert in line with MST model.
• Contribute to the performance monitoring and reporting requirements of the MST programme.
• Makes full use of the councils IT systems and works within administrative & financial procedures.
• Work proactively and professionally with a range of professional disciplines.
• Work flexibly and intensively with families being clear of expectations.
• Develop knowledge and expertise in a range of MST interventions, sharing across the team and wider service.
• Works in a way that considers issues relating to age, sexuality, health, race, religion, culture, and life experience.
• Maintains accurate and up to date case records and works within confidentiality and information sharing protocols.

MST-FIT Therapist

As an MST-FIT Therapist you will bring your professional discipline/experience to the team and will hold a caseload of complex cases working intensively and flexibly with families for up to 6 months. You will deliver the most appropriate MST intervention (e.g., DBT, behavioural therapy, CBT) utilising the MST model and analytical process.

MST-FIT uses Standard MST principles with additional components to address the specific issues and contexts of young people returning home from a care environment. The MST FIT programme combines a number of evidence-based interventions with the goal of targeting multiple determinants of antisocial behaviour, substance abuse and mental health issues in young people.

The overarching framework of the intervention is derived from Multisystemic Therapy (MST) and this is combined with Dialectical Behaviour Therapy to target young peoples individual mental health needs and support those caring for them more effectively.

The model works for 3 to 4 months with young people aged 11-17 years and their carers while they are placed away from home, thus improving skill level of the current residential or foster carers and also with the young persons family to identify the issues which may present difficulties in order to plan a successful return home. Once the young person has returned home, work continues with the family for a further four months and with other key agencies, such as social care and schools and also to support the family members to develop community-based supports and reduce their longer-term reliance on statutory services.

The overall aims of MST-FIT are to:

• Return children successfully from care to a home environment.
• Improve skills and resilience of young people, family, foster carers, and other professionals.
• Reduce young peoples offending and/or anti-social behaviour and/or violence.
• Increase young peoples engagement with and success in education and training.
• Promote positive activities for parent & young person.
• Improve family relationships.
• Systemically tackle underlying problems within the family.

Alongside the general requirements for the MST Therapist role, it would be desirable if you also had:

• Experience of working with children in care.
• Experience of using DBT.

Behaviours and expectations:

The right behaviours and attitudes are as important to us as the skills you bring to the job. We expect all our employees to demonstrate the following behaviours:

1. Positive
2. Honesty
3. Respectful
4. Flexible
5. Communicative
6. Supportive

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Batchelors degree in a relevant subject, and/or preferably professionally qualified in a relevant discipline (e.g. social work, psychology, mental health nursing)

Experience

Essential

• Significant experience of working with children, young people, and their carers. Has a positive and restorative approach to working with families and professionals. Confident, passionate, and committed to working directly, flexibly and therapeutically with families to make a difference to the outcomes of young people. Demonstrates an understanding of and commitment to the MST approach. Demonstrates an ability to use MST interventions to promote positive change, independence, and wellbeing in accordance with assessed need, demonstrating the voice of the child. Demonstrates skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, psychological formulation, intervention, and management. Ability to communicate effectively, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information, including contentious and highly distressing information to client, their families, carers, and other professional colleagues both within and outside the Local Authority. Ability to build and maintain effective working relationships across professional disciplines. Keeps up to date with changes in practice, legislation and guidance and is committed to continuous professional development and working within professional standards. Working knowledge of relevant legislation and ability to apply legislation to practice. Understanding of developments in legislation, national and local policy particularly in relation to offending behaviour and mental health. Able to undertake high quality assessments and provide clear analysis, within set timescales. Able to transfer knowledge and skills into new situations. IT skills to support accurate and timely case recording. Accepts that the nature of the programme requires a flexible approach. Willingness to participate in on call rota. Accepts an enhanced DBS and barred list check is required. Please note that a conviction may not exclude candidates from appointment but will be considered as part of the recruitment process. Travel is an essential part of this job and therefore it would be extremely difficult for you to do your job effectively if you did not use a car for all or most of the time. It is essential that you hold a full and valid driving licence, and it is expected that you will either use a council vehicle or your own car. (Exceptions may be made for disabled applicants.)

Desirable

• Experience in the use of psychological assessment, formulation, intervention, and management.

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details

Employer name

Kirklees Council

Address

High Street Buildings

High Street

Huddersfield

West Yorkshire

HD1 2ND

Employer's website

https://www.kirklees.gov.uk/beta/default.aspx (Opens in a new tab)