This is an exciting time to join Venture Trust as we continue to develop, embed and grow our new multidisciplinary locality teams and apply our developmental approach in communities, in greenspaces and across Scotland’s wilder places.

Venture Trust supports people facing challenging life circumstances to overcome barriers and realise their potential. We work alongside people who have been impacted by trauma, and together we build the programme they need to move forwards in their journey, utilising in communities, greenspaces and wild places across Scotland.

The Venture Trust Outdoor Therapy Service is an important service aimed at reaching clients who can sometimes have difficulty accessing traditional clinical settings. Our service is highly committed to maintaining an ethical therapeutic practice in which safety and risk are given careful consideration.

Our accredited counsellors and therapists meet with clients in their local outdoor spaces; and for our clients, who have often experienced severe adversity and trauma, meeting them in their own community may be what allows them to take the step to engage in therapy. Furthermore, working outdoors allows them to access the varied benefits of working therapeutically in nature, with the metaphors, embodied experiences and regulating effects that can occur.

About this role

The Clinical Practice Manager role is a pivotal role in the Operational Leadership team at Venture Trust. It contributes to maintaining and fostering physical and psychological safety within the organisation, its staff and in work with participants. The Clinical Practice Manager holds an integral role within the organisation, through holding a therapeutic stance and reflective thinking with Operational Leads and the Senior Leadership Team.

They will hold a knowledge and understanding of organisational dynamics, as well as group and unconscious processes. They will bring this on behalf of the organisation to support and develop staff and practice with participants. They will facilitate Reflective Practice Groups alongside the Outdoor Practice and Development Manager for inter-disciplinary Locality Teams and undertake periodic reviews.

The Clinical Practice Manager provides a framework of clinical governance throughout service areas in line with best practice. This includes creating and reviewing relevant processes and policies. The Clinical Practice Manager holds joint responsibility for overseeing and maintaining practice standards across operational staff. This includes considering the practice of clinical staff, such as Outdoor Therapists, as well as operational staff, such as, Outreach Support Workers or Senior Outdoor Practitioners.

We are recruiting for fixed-term maternity cover, and during this period we would like the Clinical Practice Manager to prioritise leading on:

• Working closely with the Outdoor Practice and Development Manager to maintain a therapeutic stance within Leadership Teams within the organisation

• Supporting and maintaining safe ethical practice across operations

• Maintaining robust clinical governance and oversight of processes and policies

• Facilitating Reflective Practice Groups for inter-disciplinary Locality Teams

• Overseeing the Outdoor Therapy Service and its staff, including periodic 1:1 meetings with staff

• Organising and Leading Outdoor Therapy Service Meetings and Supervision

• Arranging quarterly Development Days for Outdoor Therapy staff

• Working alongside the Senior Outdoor Therapist to manage the delivery of the Outdoor Therapy Service for Younger People (10-24 year olds)

• Maintaining and building relationships with key stakeholders

Key relationships:

• Reporting to Director of Operations.

• Part of Operational Leadership team, alongside Outdoor Practice and Development Manager and Head of Operations

• Senior Outdoor Therapist / Outdoor Therapists / Senior Field Therapist

• Senior Outdoor Practitioners

• Senior Leadership Team

• External Clinical Supervisors, who provide 1:1 or group supervision for colleagues

About you

Essential

During this maternity cover, we need someone who can bring a robust and deep understanding of providing therapy and therapeutic services to our client group and is able to support multidisciplinary staff across the organisation.

You will have:

• Significant experience overseeing practice of staff and managing services

• Significant experience of working therapeutically in an organisational context.

• Experience of working with Venture Trust’s client group and, preferably, young people

• Experience supervising staff, preferably qualified to offer clinical supervision.

• Ability to articulate a rationale for integrating therapy work into natural environments, and its theoretical foundations.

• Experience of participating in and an understanding of reflective practice groups

• Personal competence in outdoor environments

Desirable:

You will have:

• Experience of facilitating reflective practice groups

• Experience of facilitating trainings to professionals

• An ability to understand outdoor safety management systems when working in dynamic outdoor environments with support from Head of Operations and Outdoor Practice and Development Manager

• An understanding of and willingness to operate in the 3rd sector

• Experience of building and fostering relationships with key stakeholders

• Professional experience of working in outdoor environments

Working at Venture Trust

We are looking for someone who can work 22.5 – 30 hours a week, including Mondays. The role will be hybrid working, with some time spent working from home and some time spent with colleagues in the Locality Teams and at our Head Office in Stirling.

We offer a range of generous benefits including:

• a generous annual leave entitlement (28 days annual leave plus 8 public holidays and 3 Christmas holidays)

• an employee benefits package

• flexible and hybrid working

• a joint contributory pension scheme

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