Volunteer occupational therapist jobs
About Shooting Star Children’s Hospices
We have an exciting opportunity for a qualified Complementary Therapist to join our team at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices as Complementary Therapies Lead.
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices provides specialist care to families who have a baby, child or young person with a life-limiting condition, or who have been bereaved. Rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission, we support families across Surrey, north-west London and south-west London from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement with a range of nursing, practical, psychological and medical care.
At the heart of what we do are our dedicated staff; their exceptional commitment and professionalism means every family has the opportunity to make every moment count.
It’s a great time to join Shooting Star Children’s Hospices as we have a growing therapies team, supporting families through complementary therapies, arts therapies and EMDR therapy.
About the role
As Complementary Therapies Lead, you will lead the delivery of high-quality complementary therapies to children, parents and families of Shooting Star Children’s Hospices. This includes families affected by a child’s life-limiting condition, and families who experience the sudden and unexpected death of their child. The Complementary Therapies service includes individual treatments and therapeutic support groups, to help ease physical discomfort, reduce anxiety, and promote emotional wellbeing in a safe and nurturing environment.
About you
This role requires a minimum of two years post qualification experience as a Complementary Therapist practicing aromatherapy and holistic massage. You may have additional qualification in reflexology, Indian head massage, or acupuncture.
We are looking for someone with experience of working with individuals of different ages and those who have experienced trauma or significant mental health struggles You will be passionate about utilising the complementary therapies for easing a wide range of difficulties, including helping children with medical conditions, carers struggling with the emotional and physical difficulties that arise in caring for their life-limited child and families who have experienced the death of their child.
You must be registered with the Complementary and National Healthcare Council or other professional body (or able to apply and confirm membership ahead of appointment).
Please see the attached job description for more information about this opportunity at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.
What we offer
In return you will receive a competitive salary along with a range of benefits, which include:
Pension scheme
- NHS Pension Scheme (for eligible employees) or our stakeholder pension scheme, with up to 7% employer contributions
Annual leave
- 27 days plus Bank Holidays rising with length of service
- 2 weeks paid sabbatical leave after 5, 10 and 15 years’ service
Contractual benefits
- Generous sick pay scheme
- Enhanced maternity, adoption, and paternity leave pay
- Flexible working arrangements
- Death in service benefits
- Reimbursed professional membership fees
- Eye care
- Employee referral scheme
- Blue Light discount card
Health and wellbeing
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Occupational Health
- Mindfulness sessions
- Cycle to work scheme
- Mental Health First Aiders
Anticipated Start Date: 04/05/2026
Closing Date: 28/02/2026
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Contract: Maternity Leave Cover, Part-Time
Hours: 21
Location: Glasgow
Starting salary: £22,146 per annum (FTE £36,910 Per Annum)
Closing Date: 5th March 5pm
Expected date of interviews: 18th March 2026
Job reference: VA779
Join a powerful and passionate human rights organisation and winner of the UK charities 2023 Overall Award for Excellence. This included successfully challenging the UK government on the lawfulness of the Rwanda scheme for people seeking asylum and leading a multichannel, survivor- led campaign to directly compel 4 out of the 6 airlines to rule themselves out of flying refugees to Rwanda, including survivors of torture.
We have an exciting opportunity for a Care Coordinator to support in our clinical service delivery. Many of our clients have complex needs and this role ensures that clients receive mental health assessment and important aspects of the clinical pathway as well as liaison with other internal and external services as needed.
About the role
The role involves assessment, care planning and provision of stabilisation and reintegration to clients with the most complex needs receiving our services. Working together with our therapists, and legal and welfare staff, the ideal candidate will be a Registered Mental Health Nurse, Occupational Therapist or Social Worker with significant experience of working in the mental health sector with complex mental health presentations and will have a passion for working with asylum seekers, refugees and survivors of torture.
We are currently finalising our strategy re-fresh and the Glasgow team will be piloting new models of service delivery. This is an exciting development within the organisation and so we envisage the post holder contributing to implementation of the national strategy as well as shaping the delivery within Scotland.
In return, we offer a competitive package, with a generous 30-day annual leave entitlement, and 6% employer pension contribution (minimum 1% employee contribution).
Freedom from Torture is committed to showing the salary for all advertised roles and not negotiating salaries for roles, in light of evidence that this contributes to structural inequality.
Our policy is that all appointments will be at the start of the salary range but successful candidates will have the opportunity to move up the scale over time. The progression up the salary range is reviewed on an annual basis and subject to affordability. For this role, the salary range is £36,910 - £42,816
To view the Job Description and Person Specification, please find the attached file.
Please note a CV and a cover letter addressing the job description and person specification of the role , with specific examples, are mandatory to be considered for the position.
About Freedom From Torture
Freedom from Torture is dedicated to healing and protecting people who have survived torture. We provide therapies to improve physical and mental health, we medically document torture, and we provide legal and welfare help. We expose torture globally, we fight to hold torturing states to account and we campaign for fairer treatment of torture survivors in the UK.
We campaign for national and global change, using evidence from our services and survivor voices to protect and promote survivors' rights and hold torturing states to account. We are proud to play a significant role in the global anti-torture movement. Survivors, active and empowered, are at the centre of all of our work.
Freedom from Torture is committed to its responsibilities under safeguarding, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is subject to a satisfactory DBS disclosure, as well as a need for full employment history and up to date employment references.
Freedom from Torture is an equal opportunity employer. People with lived experience of torture or asylum, from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ individuals and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications.
Job Title: West London Family Support Worker
Salary: £25,353.06
Team: Family Support Team
Hours: 30
Location: Based at Shooting Star House (Hampton), This role will be working across sites and in the community
About Shooting Star Children’s Hospices
We have an exciting opportunity to join our Family Support Team at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices provides specialist care and support to families who have a baby, child or young person with a life-limiting condition, or whose child has died. Rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission, our teams support families across Surrey, north-west London and south-west London from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement with a range of nursing, practical, emotional and medical care.
About the role
Family Support Workers (FSW) are the frontline of our care. Each FSW holds a caseload of end-of-life and bereaved families. They get to know their families, and check-in regularly with phone calls and home visits and can provide enhanced emotional support where required through more regular contact and interventions. Our FSWs tell families about the many services they can access at Shooting Star, assess their needs and make recommendations to our multi-disciplinary team. They support families of different ethnicities and families living in poverty, helping our service be as accessible as possible.
Our FSWs work closely with our Therapists, Counsellors, Social Workers, Transition Team and our Care Events Team. Weekly MDT meetings bring the team together to think of ways to help families in crisis. The work is varied and creative, taking place at the hospices, in family homes and hospitals, allowing the support to be where the families need it. Our Family Support Workers are hugely appreciated by the families we support.
The ambition of our strategy is to ensure every family affected by a life-limiting condition, or the sudden death of a child, has access to the specialist care that they need. Day to day duties are:
- Being the on-site duty FSW, welcoming families on site, monitoring email inboxes and answering the Family Support Line.
- Helping with support groups and family events
- Providing on the spot emotional support, sometimes in a crisis where a calm and supportive response is required.
- Visiting newly bereaved families in their homes.
- Supporting families staying at our Christopher’s hospice (booked stays and end of life).
- Attending various locations over the course of a week: hospice, hospital, family homes.
- Building connections with families from different backgrounds, delivering culturally sensitive care.
- Helping safeguard families at risk of harm.
- Acting as an ambassador for Shooting Star’s Specialist Bereavement Service, supporting other care team members with their learning and delivery of the bereavement pathway, and continually seeking ways to improve what we offer families.
The post holder will need to have a UK driving license.
The hours are predominantly worked 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Once a month, the FSW will work a weekend day (with advance notice). This is in place of a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday that week.
About you
This role requires experience of working with children and families who have experienced hardship, or those with complex needs. You should have a calm, positive manner, conveying empathy whilst maintaining professional boundaries. We are looking for someone passionate about supporting children and families.
Please see the attached job description for more information about this opportunity at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.
What we offer
In return you will receive a competitive salary along with a range of benefits, which include:
Pension scheme
- NHS Pension Scheme (for eligible employees) or our stakeholder pension scheme, with up to 7% employer contributions
Annual leave
- 27 days plus Bank Holidays rising with length of service
- 2 weeks paid sabbatical leave after 5, 10 and 15 years’ service
Contractual benefits
- Generous sick pay scheme
- Enhanced maternity, adoption, and paternity leave pay
- Flexible working arrangements
- Death in service benefits
- Reimbursed professional membership fees
- Eye care
- Employee referral scheme
- Blue Light discount card
Health and wellbeing
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Occupational Health
- Mindfulness sessions
- Cycle to work scheme
- Mental Health First Aiders
Safeguarding
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all our staff to share this commitment. Also, we are committed to equal opportunities and consider all applicants to be in line with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Employment is subject to receipt of satisfactory references and a DBS check.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices is committed to inclusion and diversity in everything we do. We know that getting things right is critical for us to live our organisation’s values: Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Diversity and Excellence.
We are always trying to improve our way of working to be more inclusive and equal. Our vision is for Shooting Star Children’s Hospices to be a place where people of all backgrounds, groups and communities feel welcomed to work and volunteer.
Anticipated Start Date: 06/04/2026
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.


