Therapy Assistant

About the Young Person

• A smart, kind, gentle 12 year old girl who lives at home with her mum and cat.
• Currently not accessing a school but has a team of supporters supporting an Education Other Than School Package.
• School and education have been very tricky in the past and so it\’s important to build up confidence and wellbeing and take time to recover and make connections.
• This person loves Taylor Swift, Melaine Martinez and K-Pop. Animals are very important to this person, especially their cat and dogs are a favourite too!
• This person is very skilled at video editing and technology.
• Current activities which are enjoyable are; shopping, crafts, lots of play, listening to music, gaming, making/watching videos, skateboarding and spending time with animals.
• This person is autistic and has ADHD. She has a positive self-identify around these diagnoses and celebrates being neurodivergent and being part of the neurodivergent community.
• This person has additional anxiety disorders that make her distressed by demands or feeling forced to do things, and this anxiety can lead to her not being able to communicate when she wants and needs to.

Responsibilities

Under the direction from an advisory teacher with input from the Psychology, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy teams you will develop programmes of activity and provide these according to the young person\’s needs under the guidance of the team professionals. You will provide advice, support and coaching for the young person and their family, under the guidance of the Therapy and Specialist Support (TSS) professionals. In addition you will attend meetings including MDT as required contributing to the young person\’s risk assessment and management plans ensuring that the young person is involved in their support planning wherever possible to facilitate their meaningful involvement in their progress.

Qualifications

• You have experience of supporting therapy programmes (as an assistant or other relevant role).
• You have experience of Continuing Professional Development.
• You have experience of working in specialist education.
• You have the ability to relate well to parents and carers.
• You are funny, energetic and have similar interests to this person.
• You like to be active and keep fit as a lot of the activities we do include running, jumping and climbing.
• You are understanding and accepting of people\’s difference.
• You have patience and understanding when engagement is not possible.
• You are open to approaching things differently and taking the lead of the person.
• You are patient when it comes to building a connection, taking things slowly and learning from others in the team. This may take some time and that\’s ok.
• You have Internet access skills and basic knowledge of Microsoft office applications such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
• You can drive and have access to a vehicle so lots of activities can be accessed.

Preferred Qualifications

• You have experiences and training relevant to work with neurodivergent children who experience anxieties.
• You are good with technology including video editing, gaming and digital art.

Company

As one of UK\’s best employers, Together we make a difference, develop and learn, and support each other. Every day with us is different, but our mission remains the same: To champion the rights, needs and ambitions of the people we support – they are at the heart of everything we do. We stand by them and we work together for change.

Benefits

• Annual Leave 27 days holiday plus 8 days bank holidays rising to 30 after 5 years, 33 days after 10 years.
• Generous pension scheme and death in service benefit, up to 7% company pension contributions initially rising with length of service and up to 6 x basic salary death in service benefit.
• Occupational sick pay and family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, paternity and adoptive leave.
• Reward and discount platform offering discounts at high street shops, travel, insurances etc.
• Cycle to work scheme.