Children’s Therapeutic Practitioner in Swindon

Park Blue Homes has an exciting opportunity for a Children’s Therapeutic Practitioner to join our company in the Swindon area. This is a fantastic opportunity to join a progressive, trauma-informed group of children’s homes with a focus on upholding the values and principles of a Therapeutic Community.

The home is a three-bed residential home specialising in providing care for children with learning difficulties, additional needs, and emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD). Some of the children we support may also have physical, health or personal care needs and require additional support to participate fully in everyday life.

The salary is £28,900 per annum, plus pension and other benefits. Staff receive 32 shifts of annual leave plus 3 paid wellness shifts per year. There are other contracts available including 21, 28, and 35-hour weeks, these are paid pro-rata. Paid sleep-ins are £70/night, which included at one per week, gives a gross annual salary of approximately £32,540, excluding overtime. Shift patterns are 730am – 930pm with the role including alternate weekends. The role will include working a mixture of mornings, afternoons, evenings, and nights.

Why choose Park Blue Homes? Park Blue Homes are proud members of The Consortium of Therapeutic Communities (TCTC) and pride ourselves on providing bespoke, trauma-informed loving care to all the children living within our homes. We uphold the core values and principles of a Therapeutic Community, which includes:

• Comprehensive and trauma-informed training for every staff member including progressive leadership skills and community meetings and conferences to reflect and share information and learning.
• An integrated therapeutic support programme, based on the Pillars of Parenting (POP) therapeutic model.
• Beautiful and comfortable, homely homes with an emphasis on providing a safe environment with strength-based care and emotional attachment to all children.
• A culture of Emotional Warmth Parenting.
• Reflective and Progressive Ways of Working for all staff.
• Staff Wellness Programme including wellness Wednesdays, days off for birthdays, wellness shifts and fun wellbeing activities.
• A warm and welcoming environment to all that wish to come on board, we pride ourselves on working as a team to support one another.
• Career development opportunities.
• £250 joining incentive on successful completion of your probation period.
• Takeaway night for new starters.

About the Role: As a Children’s Therapeutic Practitioner, you will play a key role in supporting children and young people with EBD, learning difficulties and a range of additional needs. The children within our care may require varying levels of support with their daily lives. This can include personal care and assistance with personal hygiene, dressing, toileting, and other aspects of day-to-day care, always delivered in a respectful and dignified way that promotes each child’s independence, choice and well-being.

Depending upon the individual needs of the children living within the home, staff may also be required to undertake additional specialist or health-related training. This could potentially include training to support a child with catheter care/catheterisation, where this forms part of an agreed individual care plan. Any specialist healthcare task would only be undertaken following appropriate training, competency assessment and authorisation, and in accordance with the child’s care plan and Park Blue Homes’ policies and procedures.

We therefore welcome applicants who are comfortable supporting children with additional needs and who are willing to develop the skills required to provide safe, compassionate and individualised care. This can be a challenging role, but the rewards are incomparable to many other jobs. You will be working in an environment where the little things you do every day can have life-changing results for the children and young people in our care. Your ambition for the children you support will help them take meaningful steps towards fulfilling their potential, developing independence and enjoying positive experiences.

What are the main duties of a Children’s Therapeutic Practitioner?

• To be involved with the implementation of a range of quality therapeutic services for young people that live at our Home.
• To support children with personal care where required, including personal hygiene, dressing, toileting and continence needs, while maintaining their dignity, privacy, choice and independence.
• Ensuring that all children and staff working within the Home are effectively safeguarded at all times, being proactive and able to recognise times when we may need to protect people around us.
• To ensure the Home exceeds all standards as stated in the Children’s Home Regulations 2015 and all other legislation relevant to the therapeutic care of our children.
• To promote relationships as central to the working practice of our Homes, taking an empathetic and engaging approach to working in partnership with young people, their families, professionals, and other agencies, in order to meet the needs of young people.
• To lead by example and be a role model for the team members and children.
• To promote effective team working.
• To understand the impacts of vicarious trauma and how this can affect the internal workings of the team to be active within the companies staff wellbeing programme.
• Participating in a wide range of innovative and exciting recreational events held within the home and wider community.
• Assisting with practical matters relating to care (cooking, washing, cleaning etc.).
• Meeting the physical, emotional, behavioural and cultural needs of the young people in our care.
• To be involved in reflective practice and engage in reflective supervision sessions to uphold our therapeutic thinking.
• To ensure the paperwork in the Home is accurate, reflective and evidences the progress the children make within the Home.
• To ensure that all Health and Safety Regulations, including fire, medication, vehicles and all premises are followed in accordance with Park Blue Homes’s policies, procedures and practices.
• To ensure that all finance budgets, control, administration and records comply with Park Blue Ltd’s procedures.
• To promote and implement the company’s policies and procedures and ensuring that they are attachment-based and trauma-informed.

Skills and Qualifications:

• Essential experience in Residential Children’s Social Care is an advantage.
• An understanding of Trauma Informed Care and therapeutic background or the willingness to learn.
• A working knowledge of PACE and effective understanding of what a therapeutic placement looks like for children is advantageous or a willingness to learn.
• Effective communication skills with a very nurturing side and strong interpersonal skills.
• Willingness to undertake specialist training and competency assessments for additional healthcare needs, which may include catheter care/catheterisation where required for an individual child.
• A Level 3 NVQ diploma in Residential Childcare or be willing to work towards this.
• UK Driving License.
• Confidence and understanding of The Children’s Home Regulations and all legislation associated with the running of a registered Children’s Home, research prior to interview would be advantageous.
• Confidence when dealing with people, the ability to challenge.
• A clear DBS and positive references from all companies where you have worked with children or vulnerable adults.
• The ability and strength of character to deal with challenging situations in a non-consequential and nurturing way with the confidence to set appropriate boundaries and implement the communities’ policies and procedures.

We welcome applications from people that want to make a difference and those that want to work therapeutically and who are open to change, providing passionate and consistent care for our young people. Due to registration requirements, applicants must be 21 or over.