Senior Therapeutic Social Worker

Job title: Senior Therapeutic Social Worker

Salary: PO3 £42,893 - £46,142

Hours: 37 (would consider part time hours)

Contract: Permanent

Location: Leeds

As a Therapeutic Social Worker, you'll thrive supporting service wide social workers on making a meaningful impact in the lives of children and families. Your passion for helping professionals and families become trauma informed will drive you to excel in this role. You'll find fulfilment in working collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team, using your expertise to deliver therapeutic interventions and support. Your motivation to continuously learn and grow will be nurtured in an environment that values professional development and innovation.

It's not about just managing cases or ticking boxes; it's about making a real difference in the lives of children and families. As a Therapeutic Social Worker, you'll be at the heart of transformative change, providing the support and interventions that help adoptive families thrive. This is your opportunity to be part of a dynamic team that values innovation, professional growth, and the profound impact of your work.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions .

About you

As a Therapeutic Social Worker you will bring to the role:

• Appropriate social work professional qualification and registration (BSc, BA, MA, DipSW, CQSW, or equivalent).
• Additional knowledge, training or experience in relation to therapeutic interventions (examples include: Therapeutic Parenting, Developmental Dyadic Psychotherapy, Theraplay, Therapeutic life story work, Play Therapy, Creative Therapies, EMDR etc) as well as experience and knowledge in working with families living with neurodevelopmental conditions (FASD, ASD, ADHD)
• Experience or transferable skills in delivering therapeutic training and groups, multi-agency therapeutic consultations, as well as attachment and trauma informed therapeutic interventions.
• Have experience in working within Social Care, therapeutic teams or multi-disciplinary teams and able to devise, implement, review and evaluate therapeutic plans support that offer a multi-disciplinary formulation.

About the role

The One adoption multi-disciplinary team is a Health and Local Authority partnership Therapeutic team offering support to West Yorkshire adoptive families. The team consists of Clinical Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Therapeutic Social Workers, Early years and Education Specialists and Business support. We are embedded within One Adoption West Yorkshire and work closely with our partner agencies. The team works systemically using a Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC) approach, offering a therapeutic lens to networks around a family, helping to consider the impact of developmental trauma as well as the wider needs of the child and family. The team also offers high quality therapeutic interventions to adoptive families, through training, therapeutic groups, parental support and family-based interventions.

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Therapeutic Social Worker to join our team. The MDT is an innovative team, and you will have the opportunity to develop further skills and knowledge from your health and Local Authority peers, as well as internal clinical supervision and external Developmental Dyadic Psychotherapy Group Supervision.

In the role of Therapeutic Social Worker, you will have the opportunity to deliver therapeutic training, courses and groups for professionals and families. You will actively be involved in multi-agency therapeutic consultations and support with assessing therapeutic need and formulating therapeutic plans, using a multi-disciplinary approach. You will work closely with our OAWY Social Care staff and offer therapeutic supervision and support. As a Therapeutic Social Worker, you will work directly with adoptive parents and adoptive children delivering high quality therapeutic interventions that are informed by developmental trauma theories, that also consider neurodevelopmental and wider needs.

We are looking for a Social Worker who has knowledge and experience in attachment and trauma theory and is passionate in supporting adoptive families and their wider networks to become trauma informed. This role will offer the opportunity to develop therapeutic skills further.

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

• a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
• membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
• flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
• a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
• a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

How to apply

Application form

Read our guidance for further advice. Please check your information carefully and ensure you complete all sections before submitting your application.

If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role please contact Katy Graves, Team Manager ([email protected]).

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy .

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children's or Adults' barred list as applicable will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy .

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visa route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job Description

Responsibilities

• To carry a caseload of therapeutic cases to support adoptive families to thrive. These therapeutic cases may include therapeutic parenting support or dyadic therapeutic interventions such as DDP, Theraplay, Therapeutic life story work or other therapeutic interventions.
• Work within a multi-disciplinary team, to ensure a wide lens of a child and family's needs is considered as well as the early trauma experiences.
• Devise therapeutic plans that consider the multi-faceted needs of adopted child/ren / young people, their families and carers.
• Support with the delivery of inhouse therapeutic training and therapeutic groups for professionals and families.
• To provide therapeutic consultation, advice, support and guidance to staff within OAWY and partner agencies and to parents.
• Provide written and verbal reports which are concise, informative and based on analysis of complex attachment and trauma histories.
• Maintain and update case notes and other records and write reports as required, using the electronic management information systems within the requirements of data protection.
• Be compliant with relevant governance, policy and procedures.
• Participate in training and development activities that ensure up to date knowledge, skills, and continuous professional development.
• To comply with the requirements of all Leeds City Council and Directorate policies and procedures and staff instructions, including responsibilities under Health and Safety policy and procedures
• To actively promote and support Leeds City Council's and Directorate policies on Equality and Diversity.
• To undertake any other duties and ...