Job Information
Achieving for Children is a Community Interest Company that has a public sector ethos, combined with the freedom to innovate enabling us to do things differently. As a not-for-profit social enterprise owned by three local authorities (Windsor & Maidenhead, Kingston and Richmond), we offer the freedoms of a social enterprise with the employment benefits of local government. To find out more about us .
Therapeutic Counsellor (Systemic Practitioner)
Join a team that’s making a real impact. Achieving for Children’s Windsor and Maidenhead services have been rated Good by Ofsted, reflecting our strong leadership, commitment to children, and a culture of learning and improvement.
We’re proud of our supportive environment, where passionate professionals are trusted to do their best work. If you’re ready to make a difference in a team that values progress and purpose, we’d love to hear from you. Find out and join us today.
We are seeking a highly motivated and dynamic therapeutic counsellor who has experience, skills and training in working in the community with vulnerable CYP with a range of complex mental health, neurodevelopmental, developmental trauma and attachment needs and their families (parents/carers) working as part of the families together multi-disciplinary team.
The role will be line managed within the systemic wellbeing team and supervised by the senior consultant psychotherapist with regular reporting to the Head of the families together service.
This is a full time, twelve months fixed term contract position.
Operational area Windsor and Maidenhead Primary place of work Maidenhead Town Hall, SL6 1LF Appointment type Fixed Term Length of contract 12 months Business area Children's Social Care Full time/Part time Full-time Salary from £44,799 (G8.49) Salary to £48,932 (G8.52) Hours 37 Estimated Interview date/s 10/11/2025 or 11/11/2025 Closing Date 30/10/2025 Job Reference 2156 Documents
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About the role
This is a hybrid position within the systemic wellbeing service in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, working directly with the "families together" social care team.
The role focuses on maintaining placement stability for children and young people (CYP) by supporting families at the edge of care, managing reunification, and assisting with step-downs from residential care.
Key responsibilities include:
2. Conducting systemic therapeutic assessments of CYP and families.
3. Providing direct therapeutic interventions.
4. Consulting with practitioners on care plans.
5. Facilitating reflective practice groups.
6. Delivering training to staff on attachment, developmental trauma, and neurodiversity.
For an informal discussion about the role please contact Rebecca Askew at
About you
The successful candidate will possess the following:
7. Ability (developed through clinical placements) to undertake clinical family assessments and family work to inform the case/care plan to support placement stability and build trusting and effective therapeutic relationships with CYP, and their parents/carers.
8. Experience in delivering one-to-one therapeutic interventions for CYP (5-25 years), using trauma informed, humanistic, systemic and psychodynamic interventions to help them express themselves, make sense of and process their experiences within their family, school and community contexts.
9. Ability to think holistically about a CYP’s needs and differences, understanding them within the context of their culture, family, school, and community systems.
10. A solid understanding of safeguarding principles and experience in identifying, assessing, and responding to risks to children's welfare and mental health in a social care and health context.
11. Experience working alongside (co-production) and building strong relationships with clear communication of one’s role with other professionals, such as social workers, school and educational staff, and health practitioners, to ensure a coordinated support plan for the family.
12. Systemic consultation skills that provides advice, guidance, holistic and a psychological formulation to other professionals at all levels working with the families and CYP to understand the interacting factors of context, culture, social graces, values, beliefs and relationships impacting on the family systems.
13. Contribute to the evaluation and monitoring of the impact of the therapeutic and consultation interventions and work.
14. Ability to effectively use data, intelligence and evidence to create meaningful insight and to inform own decision making.
About our benefits
We are focused on creating a positive supportive environment, where you will have access to a really wide range of resources, as well as a competitive salary and all the perks to enable hybrid working. In AfC you will also have access to:
15. 29 days annual leave, increasing to 33 days after 2 years and 35 days after 4 years with an additional day off in your birthday month (Or for term-time workers, your leave entitlement consists of the non-working periods in your contract)
16. Tailored induction sessions commencing on the date you start working for AfC
17. Local Government salary and pension scheme (LGPS or Teachers Pension)
18. Flexible working options - helping to keep a good work life balance
19. A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
20. A range of staff benefits and discounts
21. An excellent learning and development offer to support your career pathway
To find out about all of the breadth of benefits of working for Achieving for Children. For our social work offer. For our Recruitment Journey,
Important Information
Start dates: Achieving for Children have meaning successful candidates join on a set date in each month. Candidates are advised to prepare for this should a job offer be accepted to ensure eligible continuous service is not affected.
Right to work: The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the for right to work guidance.
Equality: We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams. Achieving for Children are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.
Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
For more information about AfC: Drop in and meet Regina on the first Wednesday of every month at Civic Centre, Twickenham.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.