Strategic Trauma Informed Practitioner

Purpose of 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 bring develop trauma informed approaches, toolkits and resources into everyday service delivery – based on needs of kinship carers and their families.

Strategic development and organisational culture:   

• 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.   
• Support organisational development to embed trauma-informed values in practice, culture, policy, and leadership, working with Head of People and Culture.   
• Develop reflective practice approach to support managers to staff and volunteer resilience particularly across services. This could include a train the trainer approach.   
• Audit current practices and recommend systems and processes to support trauma-informed service delivery.  

Capacity building and training:   

• 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.  

Practice development and support:   

• Provide and lead expert input into the trauma informed design and delivery of Kinship Connected, Kinship Reach, Advice Service and other one-to-one support programmes.  
• Guide frontline delivery staff to adopt trauma-informed practice, including the use of strengths-based approaches and flexible, family-led planning.  
• Develop and oversee quality assurance frameworks to evaluate trauma-informed interventions and impact.  

Stakeholder influencing and engagement:  

• Represent Kinship at external events and meetings to raise awareness of the services and to influence other organisations, policy and practice.  
• Be the media spokesperson for your subject expert area.   
• Support Kinship’s communications and engagement strategy, such as writing copy and sourcing images for newsletters and local media to promote the service and recruit participants.  
• Contribute practice expertise to the development of policy, services and programmes.    

Team and culture:  

• Act in the best interests of Kinship and the families we support.  
• Deliver effective administration with attention to detail and keeping to deadlines.  
• Take responsibility for your ongoing continued professional development.  
• Work in line with Kinship’s values.  
• Represent the Programmes team at Kinship team meetings.  
• Represent Kinship at external meetings and events as required.  

Experience and knowledge:   

• 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.  
• Experience supporting children and families impacted by trauma, loss, and adversity particularly in the context of social care systems and looked after children.   
• Excellent understanding of kinship care and the impact of trauma on kinship families.  
• Experience manualising trauma-informed approaches across multiple service areas.  
• Knowledge of the mental health and therapeutic support landscape in England and Wales.  

Skills and attributes:  

• Ability to influence and embed systemic change across services and teams.  
• Excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills.  
• Reflective, emotionally resilient, and committed to self-care and team wellbeing.  
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.  
• Skilled in co-production and working inclusively with people with lived experience.  
• Highly organised and confident working independently and flexibly.  
• Strong IT skills, including ability to support digital delivery and develop accessible resources.   

Safeguarding:  

• Excellent understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures focussing on contributing to a culture which values transparency, reflective practice and continuous learning.   

General attributes:  

• Ability and willingness to travel across the UK to represent Kinship at meetings and events.  
• Travel to London office for team meetings and supervision.   
• Knowledge and understanding of kinship care and/or children and families who need support.  
• Knowledge of, or ability to learn quickly, about the regulations and guidance relating to different legal orders relevant to kinship carers.  
• Commitment to the values, aims and objectives of Kinship.  
• Ability to apply Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Principles in all areas of work.  
• Right to work in the UK.  

Desirable, but not essential, criteria include:

• Lived experience of kinship care.  
• In-depth subject knowledge on kinship care and issues affecting kinship carers.  
• Experience using Salesforce within a service environment.  
• Familiarity with Dr Karen Treisman’s trauma-informed models and materials.  
• Experience of service delivery in a charity or voluntary sector setting.