Clinical Lead in Newport

We are the largest sexual violence support provider in Wales, with 30 years’ experience of delivering specialist therapeutic support to adults and children affected by the trauma of rape, sexual assault or sexual abuse. As a charitable organisation, we offer a full range of free specialist crisis, advocacy, wellbeing and counselling services. We are widely regarded throughout the UK as a leading organisation in our field. We support nearly 4,000 people each year. Beyond that, we use our experience and expertise to train and educate others on the wide-ranging impact of rape and sexual abuse, and use our voice to advocate for those who are often silenced by stigma.

PURPOSE OF THE POST

The Clinical Lead plays a pivotal role in ensuring the delivery of high-quality, ethical, and effective therapeutic services for individuals affected by sexual violence. This post provides clinical leadership and strategic oversight to the counselling and therapeutic team, ensuring that all practice is trauma-informed and aligned with the charity’s values and safeguarding responsibilities. The Clinical Lead oversees the work of the team ensuring consistency, quality, and adherence to professional standards. The role also champions continuous improvement and fosters a culture of reflective practice, compassion, and accountability. The post holder will be an accredited member of BACP or equivalent professional body and hold a recognised counselling qualification at level 5 or above.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Strategic clinical leadership & service development
  • Provide senior clinical leadership across counselling and therapeutic services, ensuring delivery of high-quality, ethical, trauma-informed practice.
  • Take proactive responsibility for assessing the effectiveness, safety, and quality of clinical services, using evidence, data, and professional judgement.
  • Identify opportunities for service improvement, development, or redesign and develop evidence-based proposals for change, including recommendations to senior management.
  • Lead or contribute to the development and implementation of new clinical approaches, pathways, or models of delivery in response to identified need, risk, or demand.
• Clinical governance, quality & evaluation
  • Design, implement, and oversee robust clinical governance arrangements, including audit, quality assurance, outcome monitoring, and learning frameworks.
  • Analyse clinical data, audit findings, supervision themes, and service feedback to identify trends, risks, and areas for improvement.
  • Lead on evaluating the impact and effectiveness of services, ensuring learning is embedded into practice and informs future service development.
  • Ensure clinical practice remains compliant with professional standards, organisational policy, safeguarding requirements, and contractual obligations.
• Referral assessment, prioritisation & allocation
  • Lead on the clinical assessment and review of referrals, ensuring robust risk assessment, prioritisation, and determination of suitability for services.
  • Exercise professional judgement in allocating clients to appropriate pathways, balancing clinical need, risk, capacity, and service constraints.
  • Review and refine referral criteria, assessment processes, and allocation frameworks to ensure they remain effective, fair, and responsive to demand.
  • Monitor referral patterns and waiting list data, identifying emerging risks or pressures and proposing solutions to address them.
• Safeguarding & clinical risk
  • Provide senior clinical oversight of safeguarding across services, acting as a point of escalation for complex or high-risk cases.
  • Support decision-making on safeguarding concerns, ensuring appropriate actions, escalation, and learning in line with All Wales safeguarding procedures.
  • Use safeguarding intelligence and case learning to inform service improvements, staff development, and risk mitigation strategies.
• Supervision, workforce & professional standards
  • Provide leadership and oversight staff, ensuring consistency, quality, and adherence to professional and ethical standards.
  • Lead on staff accreditation processes and contribute to the development of clinical capability across staff, sessional counsellors, and volunteers.
  • Use themes from supervision, audits, and practice reviews to identify workforce development needs and inform training or support initiatives.
  • Support managers in addressing clinical performance, capability, or practice concerns.
• Collaboration, projects & organisational contribution
  • Work closely with the Head of Counselling and Therapeutic Services and the Head of Corporate Services to align clinical practice with organisational strategy, governance, and systems.
  • Contribute to cross-organisational planning, ensuring clinical considerations inform operational, safeguarding, and strategic decision-making.
• Reporting, assurance & information governance
  • Produce high-quality clinical reports, analysis, and assurance updates for senior management and other stakeholders, including interpretation of impact and learning.
  • Ensure appropriate oversight of notes requests and clinical information sharing, in line with data protection, confidentiality, and safeguarding requirements.
• Professional responsibilities
  • Maintain own professional registration, accreditation, and CPD in line with regulatory requirements.
  • Attend and actively contribute to line management meetings, appraisals, team meetings, and organisational forums.
  • Promote equality, diversity, and anti-discriminatory practice in all aspects of clinical leadership.
  • Undertake any other duties consistent with the level and responsibilities of the role.