Residential Therapeutic Practitioner

Location: Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire

Salary: Up to £23,794.80

Department: Therapeutic Services / Residential Care

Contract: Full-Time, Permanent

Working Hours: 37.5 hours per week (Two days 09:00–17:00, and one late shift 12:00–20:00 during the week)

Are you ready to shape the future of therapeutic care? At Compass Community, we pride ourselves on attending to the social, emotional, cognitive, and sensorial needs of nearly 2,000 young people. Through our highly successful, evidence-based Assessing and Healing Complex Trauma (AHCT) approach, we don't just care for children—we help them heal.

We are seeking an enthusiastic, dedicated Therapeutic Practitioner based in or around Cottingham. In this collaborative role, you will bridge the gap between Therapeutic Services and our Residential Children's Homes, predominantly focusing on guiding, training, and supporting our residential staff teams in therapeutic practice.

The Role: What You Will Do

As a key multi-disciplinary link, you will help embed our therapeutic ethos across our residential services and enable staff to recognize and respond to the impacts of complex trauma on child development.

Staff Training & Guidance: Train staff in therapeutic ideologies, develop their clinical understanding, and facilitate regular therapeutic reflective groups for carers and managers.
Assessment & Development: Help facilitate our Social and Emotional Welfare (SEW) Assessments for young people and guide staff through their professional therapeutic development.
Regional Collaboration: Connect and reflect with Therapeutic Practitioners in other regions to expand our clinical approach and maintain a unified national ethos.
Therapeutic Communities: Where applicable, participate in developing therapeutic communities within the Community of Communities programme, guided by the Royal College of Psychiatry.
Compliance & Values: Ensure services run in line with statutory legislation, regulations, and inspection standards, while championing anti-discriminatory practice.

About You (Criteria)

Essential Criteria:

Experience: Minimum of 2 years' hands-on experience working with children within the Child in Care sector (Fostering or Residential).
Trauma Informed: A robust understanding of the presentations of Complex and Developmental Trauma, and a professional background underpinned by theories of trauma, attachment, and loss.
Qualifications: Evidence of therapeutic training or qualifications (candidates with qualifications actively underway will be considered).
Skills: Strong communication skills (written and verbal) with literary ability equivalent to Level 5/A-Level standard.
Attributes: Confident, resilient, energetic, creative, and highly empathic.
Logistics: Possession of a full driving license and the ability to travel away for work 4 times per year (for national conferences/training).

Desirable Criteria:

Experience in group work facilitation, clinical assessment, and targeted interventions.
Excellent organisation and professional report-writing skills.
Possession of a Level 5 in Management or equivalent.

Why Work for Compass Therapeutic Services?

Premium Training & CPD: Access to ongoing free training and therapeutic workshops yielding high CPD hours, including Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) training and competitive funding for external qualifications.
Clinical Supervision: Continuous individual and peer-group supervision to support your clinical growth.
Wellbeing Support: Access to confidential internal therapeutic wellbeing sessions.
Team Belonging: Attend two fully funded national engagement conferences per year with the wider Therapeutic Services team (accommodation & dinner/bed/breakfast provided).
Generous Leave & Perks: An additional 2.5 days of leave (for your Birthday, a Health & Wellbeing day, and a festive half-day), plus a Blue Light Card for thousands of retail discounts.
Healthcare Support: Cashback for healthcare and wellbeing appointments via our MediCash scheme.
Financial Rewards: Monthly REACH awards (up to £150 in vouchers), milestone loyalty bonuses up to £600, and a massive employee referral scheme (up to £3,250 for foster carers / £1,000 for staff).

Safeguarding & Inclusion

The successful applicant will be appointed subject to satisfactory references and an Enhanced DBS check.

Compass is an equal-opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We know that having a team with diverse backgrounds, cultures, and experiences allows us to provide the highest standard of substitute parenting and clinical care.