A therapist’s role is varied and interesting. They get to meet people at each level of the organisation as well as working directly with children, young people and adults. This requires them to be organised, flexible and dynamic in our calendars and to use our social skills well.
Some appointments are arranged and fixed, such as starting the day with a briefing in the schools or college and running regular reflective practice, training, and therapy sessions. We are also responsive to service needs, available for Team Members, consulting, and doing admin and preparation work. The days go by quickly and are fast paced.
Our therapists have an impact beyond the session, as they help create a therapeutic and healthy system around an individual to promote growth. This is often done after school with teaching teams and delivering training.
So much of this role is about communication and working as part of a multidisciplinary team. Regardless of your specialism, a therapist needs to be able to work with others to identify the strengths and needs of the children, young people, and adults who are within our services.
As therapy is a specialist business area, you need to have specific qualifications. For example, Creative Arts Therapists need postgraduate qualifications in art/drama/music therapy, and Speech and Language Therapists need a Degree/Master/Post-grad diploma in speech and language therapy. All our therapists are HCPC registered. The qualifications you need can be found in our job adverts.
Every day is different! They may be out in a children’s home doing an assessment for a child who has recently moved in, delivering training, working at home completing reports for our outcome measures system, or attending reflective practice shadowing a psychologist. They could also be supporting a team in the children’s homes by delivering psychoeducation to their children.
They are also responsive to service needs and are available for Team Members and consulting.
Communication is key. You need to be able to work with others to be able to identify the strengths and needs of the children and young people who are within our services.
As this is a specialist role, the main requirement is that you have a degree in Psychology and membership with the BPS.
We take an individual approach to development, so you can set development targets with your manager and create a plan to achieve them. You’ll also have regular peer and clinical supervision.
We fully support continuous personal development (CPD) through skill sharing in team meetings, training, and learning days. We also offer funding towards specific CPD where needed.