Clinical Lead - Children's Wellbeing Service in Exeter

Are you ready to lead a new era of therapeutic practice for children and young people? Devon's Wellbeing Service is transforming how we support children and families. We're looking for an experienced Clinical Lead to join us on this journey, someone who can combine clinical expertise with visionary leadership to make a real difference. This is an opportunity to shape a service that is restorative, relational, and trauma-informed, working alongside a passionate multi-disciplinary team. You'll lead clinical practice across Devon, ensuring that children and young people receive the right support at the right time whether they're on the edge of care, returning home, in care, or leaving care.

Main duties of the job:

• You’ll be at the forefront of a new way of working, embedding psychologically informed approaches and creative therapeutic interventions.
• You’ll influence service design and development, ensuring that children and families are partners in shaping their own futures.
• You’ll lead and inspire clinicians and practitioners, fostering a culture of curiosity, compassion, and continuous learning.

What we’re looking for:

• A qualified psychotherapist or clinician registered with UKCP, BACP, BABCP, HCPC, NMC or equivalent.
• Expertise in trauma recovery, attachment theory, and evidence-based therapeutic approaches.
• Experience of clinical leadership and supervision within multi-disciplinary settings.
• A commitment to relational practice and improving outcomes for children and young people.

About us:

Why join us? You’ll be part of a service that values innovation without losing sight of what works. For those already in the organisation, this is an opportunity to deepen your impact and grow your leadership in a supportive environment. For those joining us, it’s a chance to bring fresh ideas and help shape a service that is ambitious for children and families. Together, we’ll create a culture where every child feels safe, understood, and supported to thrive.

Job Purpose:

We want to improve outcomes for children and young people in Devon, especially for those who have experienced trauma and harm. The Clinical Lead provides clinical leadership and support to the Wellbeing Service Operational Lead in ensuring the right children get the right kind of support at the right time, within Devon's Wellbeing Service. The approach is rooted in our restorative and relational practice framework and is aligned with the strategic objectives of the Growing Futures and Families First programmes. The aim is to transform and improve the experiences of children in care, while enabling more children to live safely within their families and communities whenever possible.

Main duties and responsibilities:

• Support the Wellbeing Service Operational Lead by playing a lead role in service design and development, placing restorative and relational practice at the core of decision making.
• Provide high quality line management and supervision to clinical staff, including professional development and performance management.
• Lead a culture of trauma and psychologically informed practice, which develops capacity within the directorate to support children therapeutically.
• Work with children, young people and families to ensure their involvement in service design and delivery, treating them as partners in finding solutions.
• Develop the use of formulation as a shared approach and language to create consistency for children in the help they receive over time.
• Provide clinical advice to the Growing Futures programme that supports the development of high-quality therapeutic schools and care provision for children.
• Improve access for children and care experienced young people to existing mental health provisions by developing close working relationships with key partners.

Person Specification:

Experience:

• Essential: Experience of working with children with trauma histories, attachment insecurity and emotional/behavioural difficulties.
• Essential: Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for children's therapeutic care and treatment in a multi-disciplinary setting.
• Essential: Experience of clinical supervision.
• Essential: Good understanding of attachment theory and trauma recovery approaches.
• Desirable: Experience of working within or with children's services where there are safeguarding concerns for vulnerable adolescents and their families.

Qualifications:

• Essential: Therapeutic qualification providing registration with one of the following registering bodies - UKCP, BACP, BABCP, NMC, HCPC.
• Desirable: Additional training in one or more specialised areas of psychological practice.

This document outlines the duties for the time being to indicate the level of responsibility. It is not a comprehensive or exclusive list, and the duties may be varied from time to time which do not change the general character to the job or the level of responsibility entailed.