Trauma-Informed Arts Outreach Practitioner in Halifax

Community Practitioners work directly with children and young people who are dealing with trauma, stemming from exposure to domestic abuse, delivering trauma-informed and relational support across community settings. While practitioners may predominantly deliver within specific programmes, this is a whole‑organisation role, requiring flexibility, collaboration, and a willingness to contribute across areas of work.

This work involves supporting children who have lived with fear, harm, and instability. There are moments where practitioners will hold complex and distressing material, and this requires emotional resilience, professional self‑awareness, and clear boundaries. At the same time, much of the day‑to‑day work is grounded, creative, and connective. Practitioners often spend time sitting alongside children, drawing, making, talking, playing, and exploring, using arts‑based tools as an alternative and accessible gateway for children to express their thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

Community Practitioners carry a “Mary Poppins bag” of creative resources into sessions, materials such as clay, sand, gems, and art tools, which help create spaces of curiosity, joy, imagination, and trust. These ordinary, relational moments are central to the work and are often where connection, regulation, and change begin.

EdShift is explicit about both the challenges and the support structures within this role. We have robust frameworks in place, including:

• Line management
• Reflective practice
• Clinical supervision
• Case management
• Weekly safeguarding and case discussion meetings

These frameworks are designed to support safe, ethical, and sustainable practice. They enable practitioners to engage meaningfully with the work, reflect on complexity, and maintain professional accountability, while recognising that the emotional responsibility of the role remains real.

We are seeking Community Practitioners who:

• Are drawn to arts-based practice as a way of building connection and supporting children’s expression and healing
• Understand the impact of trauma on children and young people and can work thoughtfully with complexity
• Are able to hold challenging material while remaining grounded, regulated, and boundaried
• Use supervision and reflective spaces proactively as professional tools
• Value creativity, play, and imagination alongside safety, structure, and accountability

Resilience in this role means being able to hold both the joy and the difficulty of the work and to do so within a supportive organisational framework.

Key Purpose of Post: To deliver high-quality, arts-based, trauma-informed 1:1 support to children and young people aged 4–21 who have been affected by domestic abuse, promoting emotional wellbeing, safety, and connection. The role also includes contributing to low-level group work, including In Touch Youth Club, providing opportunities for children and young people who wish to remain connected to EdShift to engage in safe, creative, and relational group spaces. All work is undertaken in line with EdShift CIO’s policies, procedures, and values.

Responsibilities of the Post:

• Hold and manage a caseload of children and young people, delivering 1:1 arts-based, trauma-informed support across community settings following referrals from partner agencies.
• Plan, deliver, and review creative, relational sessions that respond to the individual needs, experiences, and developmental stages of children and young people affected by domestic abuse.
• Contribute to low-level group work where appropriate, supporting safe spaces for connection, creativity, and ongoing engagement with EdShift.
• Work within clear professional boundaries, taking responsibility for emotional regulation, reflective practice, and the appropriate use of supervision.
• Assess risk and need on an ongoing basis, undertaking safety planning with children and young people and sharing information appropriately with relevant agencies.
• Maintain a strong awareness of safeguarding and child protection concerns, taking prompt and appropriate action in line with EdShift policies and statutory guidance, including making referrals to children’s social care when required.
• Liaise effectively with families/carers and professionals across statutory and voluntary sector services, contributing to multi-agency meetings and processes as appropriate.
• Act as an advocate for children and young people within professional forums, including Child in Need meetings or child protection conferences, when required.
• Maintain accurate, timely, and professional records, including session notes, evaluations, risk logs, and safeguarding documentation, in line with information-sharing procedures.
• Attend and contribute to case management, safeguarding, supervision, and reflective practice meetings, arriving prepared and open to challenge and learning.
• Engage in mandatory training, continuous professional development, and annual appraisal, maintaining up-to-date knowledge of domestic abuse, safeguarding, and relevant national and local policy.
• Contribute to the wider life of the organisation, including participation in organisational development, fundraising activities, corporate social responsibility events, Shift networking, and team events.
• Work collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary team, supporting colleagues and, where appropriate, offering guidance to volunteers.
• Work flexibly to meet service need, including occasional unsociable hours, and undertake other reasonable duties consistent with the role.