Head of Therapeutic Services

About Play for Progress

This is an exciting moment for Play for Progress (PFP) as we celebrate our 10th anniversary and reflect on a decade of creative, therapeutic and community-building work with young people navigating the asylum system. Play for Progress is a Croydon-based charity dedicated to supporting unaccompanied young people seeking asylum, aged between 14 and 25. Through creative engagement, education, therapeutic & mental health support and community-building, we provide a space where young people can access opportunities, develop their skills, and find the support they need to navigate the challenges of displacement.

Our mission is simple but profound: to ensure that every young person who comes to us has the community to survive, the space to heal, and the stability to thrive. We are a small, close-knit team driven by a deep commitment to the young people we serve and we are looking for a Head of Therapeutic Services who shares that commitment.

The Role

This is a management position with both strategic and clinical responsibility. As Head of Therapeutic Services, 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 Head of Therapeutic Services 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.

• Oversee clinical record keeping and documentation.

• Oversee clinical risk assessment and risk management across the team.

• Ensure appropriate use of our CRM software, In-Form, for accurate case management and attendance data.

• Keep up to date with developments in refugee mental health and trauma practice.

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.

• Ensure safeguarding records are accurate and appropriately shared across therapy and casework team.

• Work closely with other safeguarding leads and attend safeguarding meetings.

• Promote a strong safeguarding culture across therapeutic services.

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.

• Ensure effective programme logistics, room bookings and resources.

• Monitor attendance, outcomes and service data using In-form.

• Liaise with the Welcome Team to ensure young people are informed about Tuesday sessions.

• Maintain communication with young people through weekly messages and group updates.

• Support visits from funders and external stakeholders if ever required.

Team Leadership

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

• Leading on recruitment, induction and probation.

• Support professional development and CPD for the team.

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

• Lead therapy team meetings and planning days.

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

Partnership Working & External Relationships

• Build strong relationships with CAMHS, social workers, legal representatives and community partners.

• Attend multi-agency meetings where appropriate.

• Advocate for the mental health needs of young refugees.

• Contribute to funding applications and impact reporting.

• Represent Play for Progress externally when required.

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

Desirable

• Specialist training in trauma-focused modalities (e.g. EMDR, TF-CBT, somatic approaches, narrative therapy)

• Understanding of PfP's approach to therapy

• Experience working with interpreters

• Knowledge of the UK asylum system and its impact on mental health

• Experience contributing to fundraising or grant reporting

• Second language relevant to the communities served

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.