Clinical Lead - Compass Recovery College

7.4 Hours per week (1 Day per week) - Part Time - Permanent

Are you an experienced Occupational Therapist with a passion for mental health, recovery and meaningful participation?

Would you welcome the opportunity to use your professional expertise to help shape a service that puts co-production, lived experience and shared learning at its heart?

Compass Recovery College is looking for a Clinical Lead to provide professional and clinical oversight to our innovative Recovery College on a part-time basis.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity and inclusion is the key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.

About The Role:
To find out more about Compass Recovery College visit: https://www.compassrecoverycollege.uk/

Compass Recovery College provides free mental health and wellbeing workshops for residents across Reading. Our workshops are co-produced with people with lived experience and provide an educational route to recovery, helping people develop knowledge and skills for coping, self-management and wellbeing in a safe and inclusive environment.

As Clinical Lead, you will provide specialist clinical advice while helping us maintain the non-clinical, educational ethos that is central to the Recovery College model.

You will work closely with the Compass Recovery College Manager, Recovery Workers, peer support workers, tutors and partner organisations, using your professional expertise to support safe, inclusive and recovery-focused delivery.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Providing professional and clinical advice to support the safe delivery of Recovery College workshops.
• Advising on risk management, safeguarding, professional boundaries and complex or sensitive issues.
• Applying an occupational therapy perspective to recovery, participation, wellbeing and meaningful activity.
• Supporting trauma-informed, strengths-based and recovery-oriented practice.
• Advising on course content and approaches that promote self-management, resilience and social inclusion.
• Supporting and upholding the principles of co-production and lived experience.
• Contributing to service evaluation, outcomes monitoring and quality improvement.
• Providing professional input into relevant policies, procedures and guidance.
• Working with voluntary and community organisations, Council services and health partners where required.
• Supporting alignment between Compass Recovery College and wider prevention, wellbeing and community mental health priorities.

About You:
You will be an HCPC-registered Occupational Therapist with relevant post-registration training in mental health, recovery or a related field.

You'll bring experience of working within mental health, wellbeing or community-based services, together with experience of providing clinical advice, supervision or professional guidance.

You will have a strong understanding of recovery models and co-production, and the ability to balance clinical governance and safe practice with an educational, non-clinical approach.

We're looking for someone who can communicate effectively, advise and influence others, and build positive relationships with a wide range of colleagues and partners, including voluntary and community sector organisations.

You will also need to be comfortable working autonomously, prioritising effectively within a limited number of hours, and adapting your approach to meet the needs of the service.

You’ll be part of a team that relies on each individual to play their part to the best of their ability. As well as the colleagues that you work closely with every day, you’ll also be part of Team Reading, playing your personal part in making Reading a successful and vibrant place.

Our vision is to ensure that Reading realises its potential as a great place to live, work and play, and that everyone shares the benefits of this success. Our values and behaviours guide how we will achieve this:
Work Together as one team - work collaboratively, with each other and with our partners, and demonstrate the Team Reading values in everything we do
Drive Efficiency - show initiative, be adaptable to change and put forward ideas to help improve delivery and efficiency. Take responsibility for our own learning and development and for reaching our potential.
Be Ambitious - be demanding of our own performance – striving to be even better – and be prepared to engage with and challenge leaders in a constructive and positive way.
Make a Difference to Reading - maintain the highest levels of customer service and be flexible and willing to provide the services needed at the time they are needed.

Our offer:
We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition are strongly encouraged, and you’ll get a great feel for that working in our friendly and collaborative environment.

A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:

• Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays - rising to 30 days after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years' service, with the option to buy additional leave
• A wide range of flexible working opportunities
• Modern working environment at the Civic Offices in the heart of Reading
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Life Assurance - three times your annual salary (for members of the LGPS)
• On-site day nursery (Kennet Day nursery) rated outstanding by Ofsted
• Season Ticket Loan - a loan to help with the cost of your rail or bus journey, to and from work
• Lease car salary sacrifice scheme allowing you to lease a brand new, greener car for three years. The monthly fee includes insurance, servicing and road tax

For more information on this position please contact Lara Stavrinou, Compass Recovery College at Lara.Stavrinou@reading.gov.uk

Closing Date: Monday 5th October 2026
Interview Date: Thursday 15th October 2026
Interview Setup: In person at the Civic Offices, Bridge Street, Reading, RG1 2LU