Therapeutic Intervention Worker – Children & Families Specialist

Do you want to change the lives and life chances of children and young people in Newport? Are you committed to offering opportunities for healing to children who have experienced trauma? Do you believe that with the right support, families have the strengths and resourcefulness to provide the environments their children need to thrive? Do you work from an attachment focused, ACE aware and trauma informed therapeutic base and want to be part of a team of creative, talented, and passionate individuals committed to making a difference to children's lives? Would you like to be involved in this unique opportunity to support children and young people in a collaborative partnership between Barnardo's Cymru and Newport City Council? Then this is your dream job.

This is a varied role that will see you delivering therapy to children and/or their families as well as providing therapeutic interventions to families. You will work as part of a small team within the Family Support Service specialising in providing therapeutic interventions. Your knowledge, skills, energy, enthusiasm, creativity and experience will allow you to support this team of professionals to work with families in a systemic, relational way. You will work closely with the Therapeutic Lead to help drive an approach that focuses on addressing the holistic needs of families.

The service as a whole supports children and young people on the edge of care/placement breakdown, aiming to stabilise placements and ensure they get the best possible start in life. We are working with increasing effectiveness with other organisations around Newport to promote better opportunities for families, and to deliver improved (including contextual) safeguarding. We have been building our therapeutic offer over the past few years and are now at the point of creating the team you will be part of. The aim of the team will be to offer families in depth and explorative work, addressing the impacts of complex trauma upon family functioning and wellbeing. Additionally the team will provide therapy to children, which will be one of your primary responsibilities.

About the Newport Partnership

This is an established partnership with an innovative vision for the delivery of edge of care support services for children, young people and their families living in Newport. The aim of the service is to provide a continuum of family support including intensive support for families on the brink of care or where the plan is for a child's rehabilitation home as well as placement support for children looked after. The Family Support Service work with families focusing on their strengths to build resilience enabling them to make changes to their lives. The team provide evidence-based intervention centred on the family's individual needs.

The aim of the service is to provide holistic family centred interventions for children, young people and their parents or carers arising from an assessment of need. The team contributes to the following objectives:

- To diminish the need for unplanned admissions to the ‘Looked After” system.
- To safeguard and promote the well-being of children.
- To support parents and carers so that they are able to meet the needs of their children.

Job Role

To provide therapeutic interventions to families on the edge of care at risk of becoming looked after. This may involve support to families during evenings and weekends. Your initial responsibilities will include:

- Utilising effective communication skills to engage families, build collaborative relationships and ensure their views are included.
- Providing therapy to children and/or their families.
- Assisting the Therapeutic Lead with the development of the Therapeutic Team.
- Offering consultation to the Family Support Service and Children's Services staff with a particular focus on increasing understanding of children and young people.
- Assisting in the delivery of training to the Family Support Service and Children's Services staff.
- Supporting the wider service in the application of trauma informed practice.
- Taking part in, and facilitating reflective practice and formulation.
- Providing longer term interventions to families, exploring complex trauma histories with the view of improving their self-understanding and functioning.
- Delivering therapeutic groups.
- Gathering, analysing, evaluating and summarising information from children, families and other agencies to undertake a holistic assessment of the family's needs.
- Taking responsibility for and giving primary consideration to the needs of children with particular regard to child protection procedures and safeguarding.
- Empowering and supporting the family in creating a safe environment.
- Enabling service users to participate in the evaluation and development of the service.
- Preparing reports, including for court and child protection conferences.
- Establishing, developing and maintaining productive working relationships, through liaison and joint work with other agencies, organisations, groups and individuals within the team's operational remit.
- Recording and collating information- including utilising outcome measures- to contribute to the monitoring and evaluation of the service.
- Supporting trainee therapists.

You will have (essential):

- A level 6 or above professional qualification in psychotherapy, experience of delivering therapy to children and relevant professional registration. Examples of appropriate trainings are: Play Therapy, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, Family Therapy & Systemic Practice & Art Psychotherapy.
- Experience of working with children and their families in a therapeutic way.
- Experience of applying psychological theory to your work with children and their families.
- Experience of delivering group interventions.
- Experience of working intensively with people in crisis and need of immediate intervention and those reluctant to engage with professionals.
- Knowledge of child development and attachment.
- Knowledge of safeguarding and procedure.
- Ability to prioritise, organise, self-motivate and work on own initiative.
- Ability to work flexibly including some evenings and weekends.
- Ability to travel throughout Newport in order to meet the requirements of the post.

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which should be in place by 1st April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a key pillar of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to grow and develop in their career at Barnardo's.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

For further details please contact Natalie Hardy (Therapeutic Lead) via email at natalie.hardy@newport.gov.uk

WORKPLACE OFFER: WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.
Benefits

- Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
- 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing after 5 years service
- The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
- A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
- Service related sick pay from day 1
- Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
- Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
- Cycle2work scheme
- Interest free season ticket loans
- Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
- Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
- Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
- Access to Barnardo's Corporate University

*T&C's apply based on contract
About Barnardo's

At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Barnardo's is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce for staff and volunteers. We actively encourage applications from disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates as they are under-represented within Barnardo's.