Compass Team Practitioner
The Compass Team
This is an exciting time to join Wokingham Borough Council as we expand our children’s workforce to meet an increase in demand for our services and create innovative new roles, using Systemic Theory and trauma informed approaches alongside Signs of Safety as our practice framework.
This role sits within the Compass Team, which was part of Wokingham’s 2021 focused Ofsted visit and the more recent full inspection in March 2023. The team is dynamic and proactive, believing in supporting each other and valuing each other’s experiences and knowledge base. The team have developed a strong reputation within the Wokingham Borough of approaching difficulties with a solution focus and continue to seek new ways to support the work carried out in Wokingham.
Working in collaboration with the social work teams across Wokingham, the Compass Team delivers “Intensive and impactful interventions provided by skilled, specialist social workers and practitioners in the new Compass Team. This work helps prevent breakdowns in family relationships, reducing the likelihood of children entering public care. A systemic approach, supported by a clinical psychologist, is opening new avenues for families to develop different and more positive ways of talking with each other and resolving their problems and conflicts” (Ofsted, 2021).
The Compass team, set up in 2020, aims to provide additional capacity to support social work teams to deliver and sustain positive outcomes, achieving permanence with children, families, carers and multiagency partners focusing on:
- Children remaining at home or in their connected networks when safe to do so (traditionally referred to as edge of care).
- Children remaining in placements for as long as appropriate and without any unplanned moves (traditionally referred to as placement stability).
- Children returning home or to their connected networks, so that they can safely leave care and build their relationships and resilience in their local communities (traditionally referred to as reunification).
The Compass Team Practitioner role - we are keen to recruit people with a range of skills and backgrounds who have experience of working with children and adults in varying contexts. You will want to develop your skills to work in a relationship-based way using systemic and trauma informed approaches in the signs of safety framework of Wokingham. You will have an ability to work collaboratively and build positive relationships both with families you work with and the professional network surrounding them. You will be required to work flexibly and creatively which may entail out of hours and possible weekend working. In return we will ensure you receive the appropriate training, support and supervision to ensure you can work effectively and develop in your career.
We know that the success of ANY team will be dependent upon the people we employ and are keen to hear from those that are flexible, dynamic and willing to work with safe uncertainty to achieve the best outcomes for our children.
To enable you to work to your best we will develop you in your role and as part of the team; additional training and support will be provided, and you will have an opportunity to develop the range of interventions and skills you bring to make a difference to children.
Closing date: 11:00pm Sunday 4th June
Interviews: w/c 19th June
If you are interested in this role and would like a further discussion, please contact Pj Lewis (Compass Team Manager) at pj.lewis@wokingham.gov.uk
To apply, please follow the link below to complete the online application form.
Wokingham Borough Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff, other workers and volunteers to share this commitment. All successful candidates for this role will be subject to Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks along with other relevant employment checks.
WBC is an equal opportunities employer.