About Kinship
We are Kinship. The leading kinship care charity in England and Wales. We’re here for kinship carers – friends or family who step up to raise a child when their parents aren’t able to.
Together, let’s commit to change for kinship families.
About the role
Kinship Minds is a transformative programme that enhances the support we provide to kinship carers in England and Wales.
Our goal is to build kinship carers' confidence and equip them with the knowledge and skills to support children in their care—especially in recognising and responding to early signs of mental health issues.
We are at the beginning of our journey to embed therapeutic and trauma-informed approaches across all areas of service delivery. This includes one-to-one support, digital resources and training, and peer support networks.
The Strategic Trauma-Informed Practitioner will lead this transition, helping us move from a trauma-sensitive organisation on a journey that becomes trauma-aware, trauma-informed, and ultimately trauma-responsive.
The type of person we’re looking for:
You will need to be able to step into this role quickly, bringing your experience of building and developing trauma informed approaches in complex services.
You will have strong leadership capabilities, able to work at pace autonomously with creativity and dynamism. You will need to have excellent attention to detail.
What you'll be doing:
This strategic and hands-on role will help Kinship strengthen its therapeutic offer and build the confidence and capacity of staff and kinship carers to understand trauma and the impact it has, and strategies to support. We are particularly interested in experience in developing trauma-informed parenting training and resources.
The postholder will play a key role in developing and manualising our trauma-informed approach across core services: Kinship Connected, Kinship Reach, our Advice Service, and Peer Support Service. It will work with subject matter experts to develop trauma-informed approaches, toolkits, and resources for everyday service delivery, based on the needs of kinship carers and their families.
Key responsibilities:
* Develop and lead Kinship’s trauma-informed strategy, ensuring the implementation of trauma-informed principles across all service delivery (for example using Dr Karen Treisman’s approach).
* Lead the development and manualisation of trauma-informed practice across Kinship Connected, Kinship Reach, the Advice Service, and the Peer Support Service. This includes resources, approach and content.
* Develop and deliver capacity-building approaches and resources for kinship carers to help them identify and respond to trauma and mental health needs in children.
* Work collaboratively with subject matter experts to develop self-guided training, toolkits, and multimedia resources.
* Represent Kinship at external events and meetings to raise awareness of the services and to influence other organisations, policy and practice.
Knowledge, abilities, skills and experience:
* A qualified trauma-informed practitioner with significant experience in delivering or developing trauma-informed services.
* Experience working with kinship carers or in adoption and fostering sector.
* Proven experience applying the principles of trauma-informed care across organisations, preferably in children and family services.
* Qualified or accredited practitioner in Non-Violent Resistance (NVR) or demonstrable experience using the approach in practice.
* Experience in designing and delivering training and coaching for professionals and/or families on trauma and therapeutic approaches.
* Excellent understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures focusing on contributing to a culture which values transparency, reflective practice and continuous learning.