School Therapist Roles- Leeds Clusters

**Job summary**

This is an exciting opportunity to make a positive difference to the lives of children, young people and families. We are currently recruiting a number of School Therapist roles to join an established team and work within Leeds Schools in Clusters across the city. Various full and part time hours available across the city.

The therapists will deliver one-to-one short-term therapeutic interventions to primary and secondary school children referred through the clusters.

The exact nature of the therapeutic work will depend on the presenting issues and on the theoretical orientation of the post-holder. Work will normally last for 6 to 8 weekly sessions, but may be extended depending on factors such as the degree of engagement/clinical need/likelihood of CAMHS involvement etc. Any group interventions would also be consistent with the above approaches.

**Main duties of the job**

The duties and responsibilities of the post will include:
1. Delivery of the therapeutic service in the cluster, working with colleagues to promote the service, liaising with school staff and other stakeholders.

2. Building and maintaining good, effective working relationships with management teams and pastoral staff in the schools and venues.

3. Liaising with cluster and school staff on referrals, assessing and determining the need for intervention with children and families referred.

4. Holding a caseload of children and young people (aged 5 to 19) and parents/carers at any one time.

5. Holding a caseload of referrals and gathering information to allow accurate assessment and formulation of emotional and mental health needs for children and young people.

6. Delivery of short-term (normally 6 to 8 sessions), evidence-based individual interventions in various school settings, to children who are referred through the cluster, and where consent and motivation criteria are met.

7. Offering consultation and advice to school staff, cluster and other professionals as and when appropriate.

About us

Northpoint Wellbeing is a charity which provides a range of services to promote emotional wellbeing. We believe that timely access to appropriate support, particularly talking therapies, is an effective way of promoting emotional wellbeing and relieving mental distress, for people of all ages and backgrounds.

Our mission is to improve access to a range of talking therapies, in a timely manner, for everyone.

Our vision is to provide therapeutic & preventative services, which help people experiencing emotional distress to make changes in their life, to as wide a group of people as possible. Our values are to be client-focused, committed, responsive, and supportive

We deliver services which help people to: better understand the issues they are experiencing and consider choices and solutions open to them take steps towards making changes.

**Person Specification**

Qualifications - Essential
- A relevant therapeutic qualification OR a relevant professional qualification (E)
- A relevant therapeutic qualification would include a diploma from a BACP-accredited training (or equivalent) OR a relevant HCPC-registered title (i.e. art therapist, arts psychotherapist, drama therapist, counselling psychologist, clinical psychologist).
- NB Equivalent therapy qualifications from non-accredited courses should be of a level that would be recognised for professional accreditation purposes and sufficient to practise as a counsellor/therapist (i.e. minimum of 450 taught hours over at least 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time, supervised practice within a therapeutic organisation, with teaching which covered elements of theory, skills practice, professional issues and personal development).

Desirable
- Post-registration training in relevant evidence-based/NICE guideline-indicated mental health interventions (e.g. CBT, brief family work, group work) (D)

Experience - Essential
- Experience of working collaboratively with children and young people across different age groups with a range of presenting mental health difficulties
- Experience in the delivery of short-term supportive approaches (e.g. CBT, brief solution-focused therapy, family work, creative/play interventions etc)
- Experience of demonstrating outcomes in client work, and in using monitoring, evaluation, and wellbeing measurement systems (e.g. Goodmans SDQ)
- Experience in carrying out comprehensive mental health assessments including assessment of risk, analysis of strengths and protective factors
- Experience in assessing child protection concerns and the ability to act on these in accordance with relevant safeguarding procedures

Desirable
- A minimum of one years post-qualification experience of working with children and young people with emotional/behavioural issues
- Experience or knowledge of specialist schools/SILCs, AIPs
- Experience of working with children with learning disabilities, complex needs and neurodevelopmental disorders including autism and ADHD
- Exper