Senior Family Practitioner

Senior Family Practitioner
Salary: £33,000 per annum
Service:
Residential Family Assessment Centre

Reports to:

Lead Practitioner / Deputy Manager

Role Purpose

The Senior Practitioner is a key leadership role within the organisations therapeutic residential family centre. The post holder provides consistent, values-led leadership on the floor, ensuring that high-quality, trauma-informed practice is delivered at all times and that assessment activity remains robust, ethical, and defensible.

Senior Practitioners are responsible for supervising and supporting less experienced staff, leading complex assessment interactions, and exercising advanced safeguarding judgement. The role requires the ability to manage emotionally complex and high-risk situations while maintaining a calm, reflective, and therapeutic approach.

This role directly supports the organisations commitment to safeguarding babies, promoting secure early attachment, and delivering high-quality, evidence-based assessments that inform multi-agency decision-making.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership and Practice Oversight

Provide strong, consistent leadership during shifts, ensuring safe staffing, effective routines, and high practice standards
Act as a visible role model for trauma-informed, reflective, and ethical practice
Support and guide staff during challenging situations, including complex parental behaviours and emotional dysregulation
Promote a culture of learning, reflection, and accountability within the staff team Supervision, Coaching and Staff Development

Provide day-to-day supervision, coaching, and mentoring to junior practitioners
Support the development of staff competence in observation, recording, and safeguarding practice
Contribute to the induction and training of new staff members
Identify learning needs within the team and escalate development requirements appropriately

Assessment and Therapeutic Practice

Lead and support complex assessment sessions involving parenting capacity, emotional availability, and capacity to change
Support staff to balance therapeutic engagement with appropriate professional challenge
Ensure assessment practice remains child-focused, ethically sound, and evidence-based
Contribute to the consistency and integrity of assessment evidence across the service

Safeguarding and Risk Management

Exercise advanced safeguarding judgement in line with the organisation policies and statutory guidance
Act as a key decision-maker during safeguarding incidents or emerging risk situations
Ensure safeguarding actions are implemented, recorded, and followed through appropriately
Support staff to understand thresholds and respond proportionately to risk Recording, Quality Assurance and Governance

Review and quality-check records, observations, and assessment evidence produced by the team
Contribute to audits, quality assurance activity, and service improvement planning
Support senior leaders in identifying themes, patterns, and learning from practice

Multi-Disciplinary and Professional Working

Liaise with external professionals as required, under the guidance of senior management
Support effective information sharing and professional communication
Contribute to meetings and discussions that support assessment and safeguarding outcomes

Professional Standards and Conduct

Adhere to all the organisation policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements
Maintain high standards of professional conduct, boundaries, and confidentiality
Uphold the organisation's values, ethos, and therapeutic model in all aspects of leadership and practice

Essential Requirements

Substantial experience within residential, assessment-based, or child and family services
Advanced safeguarding knowledge and professional judgement
Demonstrated ability to supervise, coach, and support staff
Strong decision-making skills and emotional resilience
Ability to lead complex practice confidently and calmly
High standards of written and verbal communication

Desirable Requirements

Formal supervisory or leadership training
Experience contributing to formal assessment reports
Advanced training in trauma-informed or therapeutic practice

Additional Information

This role requires flexibility to work shifts, including evenings, weekends, and bank holidays
All appointments are subject to enhanced DBS clearance and safer recruitment checks
Ongoing professional development, supervision, and leadership training are integral to this role