Accolade Families – West Midlands (Associate / Session-Based Roles)
Company Description
Accolade Families West Midlands is a specialist social care and therapeutic service supporting looked after children, adopted children, special guardianship families, and those subject to permanence planning.
We are committed to providing trauma-informed, attachment-focused, and neurodevelopmentally sensitive interventions that promote healing, stability, and long-term outcomes for children and families.
Our multidisciplinary model brings together social workers, therapists, assessors, and family support practitioners to deliver high-quality, relationship-based services to Local Authorities, courts, and private clients.
We value integrity, reflective practice, collaboration, and professional autonomy, ensuring our associates feel supported while delivering meaningful, life-changing work.
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Role Description
We are expanding our associate network and are seeking experienced, self-employed therapeutic practitioners to work with:
• Looked After Children
• Adopted children and adoptive families
• Special Guardianship families
• Children subject to Child in Need / Child Protection plans
• Care-experienced young people
This is a flexible, associate-based role (sessional / part-time), delivering therapeutic services across the West Midlands (with some remote elements where appropriate).
You will:
• Provide specialist therapeutic interventions tailored to children with developmental trauma and attachment difficulties
• Undertake assessments and formulate trauma-informed care plans
• Deliver direct therapy (individual, dyadic, family or group work)
• Contribute to multi-agency meetings and professional reports where required
• Maintain accurate, GDPR-compliant case records
• Work collaboratively with social workers, carers, and Local Authority professionals
• Practice within professional and ethical frameworks
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We Are Particularly Interested In
Professionals trained or experienced in:
• Life Story Work
• Play Therapy
• DDP (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy)
• Sensory Integration Therapy
• Art Therapy
• Mentalisation-Based Therapy
• Music Therapy
• EMDR
• Trauma-Focused CBT
• Integrative or Attachment-Based Psychotherapy
Practitioners with experience supporting children affected by:
• Developmental trauma
• Abuse and neglect
• Placement breakdown
• Adoption disruption risk
• Emotional regulation difficulties
• Neurodiversity (ASC / ADHD)
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Essential Requirements
• Relevant postgraduate qualification (Psychotherapy, Psychology, Social Work, Play Therapy, Arts Therapy or related field)
• Registration or accreditation with appropriate professional body (e.g. HCPC, UKCP, BACP, BABCP, PTUK, ACP, etc.)
• Experience working with looked after or adopted children
• Knowledge of attachment theory and trauma-informed practice
• Enhanced DBS (or willingness to obtain)
• Professional indemnity insurance
• Ability to produce high-quality written reports where required
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Desirable
• DDP Level 1 or above
• EMDR accredited or working towards
• Experience working within adoption support fund (ASF) frameworks
• Experience contributing to court-directed assessments
• Experience working within multidisciplinary teams
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What We Offer
• Flexible associate working arrangements
• Competitive sessional rates
• Professional autonomy
• Clinical reflection and peer support opportunities
• Opportunity to be part of a growing specialist therapeutic network
• Meaningful work that genuinely impacts children’s life trajectories
If you are passionate about working with care-experienced children and believe in relational, trauma-informed, child-centred practice, we would love to hear from you.