Therapist

An exciting opportunity has arisen in the Northwest region of England which means that Barnardo's are recruiting to the Emotional Health and Wellbeing Specialist Fostering Service (EHWBSFS). Are you motivated by new challenges and inspired by the growth of new services supporting children, young people and families to achieve their potential? If so, you could be interested in this post.

The Service:

The service supports children, young people and their foster families by providing therapeutic support within a specialist fostering placement within Lancashire, Cumbria, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and occasionally in neighbouring localities.

We are looking for people who are passionate about:

• Children's and Young People's emotional health and wellbeing
• Improving outcomes for children and young people and their foster families.

The Service provides outreach support and while clerical duties can be carried out when home-based there is an expectation to attend the Barnardo's locality hubs when required.

We have 2 full-time roles available:

• Each working 37 hours per week.
• Covering Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Lancashire and Cumbria.

There may be an expectation to work with a family outside of this area, and an adjustment to your caseload will accommodate this. The size of caseloads will reflect the travel expectations and time spent in consultations and report writing.

The Role: Therapist

We are looking to recruit 2 full-time therapists (37 hours per week each) with the following qualifications / experience.

We are looking for skills in one or more of the therapy modalities below:

• • Person Centred Therapy
• Play Therapy / Creative expressive arts therapy
• Theraplay / Filial Therapy
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Integrative Therapy
• Behavioural Therapy (DBT, DDT, Filial)
• EMDR

Your professional qualification will be at a minimum diploma level, with evidence of continuing professional development in a field relevant to child and young people mental health. You must be registered with a Professional Body such as BACP, BABCP, BAAT, HCPC, PTUK, UKCP, or equivalent, and committed to maintaining this registration.

Because this is a specialist therapeutic role you will have at least two years post-qualification experience of delivering support to carers, counselling to children and young people, and have an awareness of emotional challenges and how these impact the lives of children and young people.

It is desirable that you have completed the AIM3 assessment training and have experience of and a willingness to work therapeutically with young people displaying harmful sexual behaviours.

You will have a knowledge of child development and the role of the family in supporting children and young people's emotional well-being.

You will have comprehensive understanding of children's safeguarding.

You will be willing to be adaptable and deliver support via multiple methods, e.g., face to face, telephone or video call.

It is essential that you have case management experience and a clear understanding of the requirement for professional and accurate case notes.

Are you able to demonstrate in your application that you currently use the skills outlined above, and in the Job Description/Person Specifications, or have used them previously in employment, education, training, volunteering etc?

Need more information?

If you require any further information about this opportunity, please contact Annette MacKinley on

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.

Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support

• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

• T&C's apply based on contract

About Barnardo's

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

Our basis and values

• Reference number:

22076
- Job Title:

Therapist
- Location:

Leyland
- Locality:

Lancashire
- Contract type:

Permanent
- Hours:

37
- Salary:

£35,564 - £43,906
- Closing Date:

2 December 2025
- Interview Date:

05 December 2025

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Employee suggestion scheme

Company pension

Employee Assistance Programme