Therapeutic Services Manager

The Role

This is a management position, known internally as Head of Therapeutic Services, with both strategic and clinical responsibility. As Therapeutic Services Manager, you will drive and develop our therapeutic offer, ensuring that our young people receive high-quality, evidence-based, and culturally responsive care. You will lead our team of multi disciplinary  therapists, providing clinical oversight and operational support, and  hold a small caseload of clients. You will also manage and oversee our weekly group therapy sessions on Tuesday afternoons in Croydon.

As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, the Therapeutic Services Manager will contribute to organisational strategy, safeguarding, service development and build strong working processes across the different strands of Play for Progress. You will work closely with the Executive Director and senior leadership team to shape the organisation’s Therapy Department.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership and Service Development 

• Provide strategic leadership for all therapeutic services, including individual therapy, group work, and psychosocial support programmes

• Develop and implement the clinical strategy aligned with the charity’s mission and the specific needs of traumatised young refugees

• Represent therapeutic services within the Senior Leadership Team.

• Contribute to organisational planning, annual reports and funding reports.

Clinical Practice

• Maintain overall responsibility for clinical quality and standards of practice (clinical and non-clinical) to multi-disciplinary colleagues. 

• Ensure all therapeutic work is grounded in trauma-informed and culturally sensitive, anti-racist practices.

• Provide clinical supervision to therapists and frontline staff.

• Maintain a small therapeutic caseload, modelling excellent trauma-informed practice.

• Support therapists with complex clinical work and risk management.

Safeguarding 

• Act as one of the Designated Safeguarding Leads.

• Provide safeguarding support and oversight to the therapy team.

• Respond to safeguarding concerns arising from therapeutic work.

Operational Management 

• Oversee referrals and allocation of one-to-one therapy.

• Monitor and manage therapy waiting lists and service capacity.

• Coordinate delivery of weekly Creative Arts Therapy programmes.

Team Leadership 

• Line manage and support a small team of therapists and therapeutic support workers

• Foster a reflective, compassionate, trauma-informed and well-supervised working culture

• Provide day-to-day support on clinical and operational matters.

For detailed job description see attached Job Pack.

Who You Are

Essential

• Qualified therapist (e.g. BACP, UKCP, BPS, or equivalent accreditation) with substantial post-qualification experience

• Demonstrable experience working therapeutically with children and young people who have experienced trauma, ideally including refugee or forced migration contexts

• Strong understanding of complex trauma, PTSD, loss, grief, and the psychosocial impacts of displacement and persecution

• Good skill or ability to provide clinical supervision

• Knowledge of safeguarding legislation and practice in the UK

• Cultural humility and experience working across cultural and linguistic differences

• Experience managing or leading a small team

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills

What We Offer

• A flexible, supportive and genuinely values-driven working environment

• The chance to be part of an organisation doing vital and meaningful work with young people

• 20 days annual leave pro rata, plus bank holidays

• Pension - 5% contributory pension scheme with 3% employer contribution 

• Hybrid and flexible working arrangements

• Regular supervision and access to professional development opportunities

• A warm, diverse and inclusive team that reflects the communities we serve

Our Commitment to Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Play for Progress is an equal opportunities employer. We warmly welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, and particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities and from people with direct, generational and/or indirect lived experience of the refugee  or asylum journey. We believe that a team which reflects the diversity of the young people we support makes us stronger and more effective in our work.

If you require any adjustments to support you through the recruitment process, please feel free to contact us.