Active Recovery Practitioner

The Southmead Project 

Job Description - Active Recovery Practitioner

Title: Active Recovery Practitioner

Employer:  The Southmead Project 

Accountable to: Head of Active Recovery

Place of Work: The Southmead Project, Southmead, Bristol, BS10 6AS and Somerset

Hours:  4 days per week - (12 months fixed term contract, subject to funding with potential for further extension)

Salary: £27,816.00 p/a pro rata 

The Southmead Project:

The Southmead Project is an equal opportunities employer providing free specialist trauma counselling and support for adult survivors of abuse across Bristol and surrounding areas. Our recruitment is done in line with safer recruitment practices.

We value our team very highly and pride ourselves on being a supportive employer. We provide the following benefits to encourage every staff member to have a supported, well-rounded and enriched working experience:

Paid supervision for 1.5 hours per month, with an external clinical supervisor 
Line management for 1 hour per month
Training budget of £500 per year to spend on relevant training of that person’s choice 
Optional private counselling for up to twelve sessions per year with an external counsellor of that person’s choice
Employer pension contribution of 5%  

We also support employees with reasonable adjustments through the Access to Work scheme. 

The Active Recovery Project gives adult survivors of abuse the opportunity to take part in community-based activities. It provides a safe and supportive space for clients from The Sexual Violence Alliance organisations (The Southmead Project, SARSAS, Kinergy and Womankind) to participate in a variety of group activities with others who share or understand their experience and develop peer relationships, resulting in increasing confidence and reduced isolation. 

The activities are based on ideas from our members and include water-based activities (such as rowing, canoeing, sailing and kayaking), surfing, trips to community spaces and creative sessions (such as arts and crafts). Activities take place every week. Each activity will last approximately 2.5 hours each. Members can attend the group sessions for up to 18 months. 

Job Purpose: 

We are looking for a warm, caring and organised person to come and join the Active Recovery Service.

The Practitioner role requires working as part of a small team in the Active Recovery Service.  The Active Recovery practitioner will help prepare and deliver two Active Recovery sessions per week, in Bristol and Somerset. During the sessions, the Active Recovery Practitioner will be responsible for using a trauma-informed approach to support clients who become dysregulated or need emotional support. 

Principal Tasks:

Together with the rest of the Active Recovery team, to provide initial trauma-informed assessment phone calls and/or meetings with potential members as part of the registration process for Active Recovery. This includes assessing need, risk and suitability for the service using a trauma-informed approach. 
To support the Active Recovery Lead in creating safety plans and tailoring activity sessions where appropriate. These will be informed through relationships with members and the initial assessment phone calls.
Support the Active Recovery Lead in planning trauma-informed sessions for members.
Support the setting up, delivering and debriefing about activity sessions with members and volunteers. Ensuring members are clear on each session's ground rules and safeguarding processes, using the Member’s Agreement.
Provide trauma-informed face-to-face support to members at sessions who may become overwhelmed or require help dealing with flashbacks and dissociation.
To support volunteers with safeguarding queries and ensure safeguarding procedures are followed, including being the Safeguarding Lead at activity sessions if the Active Recovery Lead is not there and escalating any onward safeguarding referrals and queries to the Southmead Project Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Support the Active Recovery Lead with management of volunteers for the project. 
Develop and maintain an Active Recovery community through email, phone calls, texts and in person.
Be the key person in ensuring that members have all the information and resources needed to get to the sessions - building a relationship of trust with members, using Spond, email, texts and calls, creating Canvas, figuring out transport logistics.
Support the project’s aim to have the members’ voices at the heart of the project.
Contribute to the development of outcome processes in line with the Southmead Project and its funders’ requirements.
Maintain positive relationships with partnership organisations for the project.
The practitioner will not have budget responsibility but will ensure that their own personal expenses (mileage/parking) is within the budget for the project, keeping accurate records.
Record data accurately and in a timely manner on Oasis.
Attend monthly one-to-one line management meetings with the Head of Active Recovery.
To attend monthly one-to-one clinical supervision with a Supervisor who is approved by the Southmead Project. Supervision is a requirement of this charity as an organisational member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy. 
To work within the framework, spirit and ethos of the Southmead Project’s Equal Opportunities Policy, and actively engage in promoting the policy within the charity and in all dealings with clients and other agencies.
Follow the Southmead Project policies, procedures and professional code of conduct as outlined in the Staff Handbook.  
All members of staff, paid and unpaid, are required to undergo the   enhanced level of Disclosure and Barring Service check.

Person Specification

ESSENTIAL

Full drivers licence and access to own transport.
Professional qualification, such as a Diploma or degree in Counselling or in other relevant fields of work, such as; social work, psychology, mental health, education, support work or similar: or extensive experience in any of these fields.
Knowledge of local activity based organisations in Bristol/Somerset.
A sound understanding of the issues affecting members who have experienced trauma and abuse.
Experience of providing face-to-face support for survivors of abuse, including experience of helping to support people who experience panic attacks, dissociation and flashbacks. 
At least a year’s experience of supporting / facilitating groups. 
The ability to arrange group activities and liaise with other local organisations to help plan them. 
Very organised with the ability to accurately and reliably keep on top of who is coming to which groups, using systems such as Oasis and Spond.
Excellent attention to detail to ensure that all resources that are needed to meet members’ needs are accessible at sessions.
The ability to plan sessions in detail to ensure that they are trauma-informed and the experience and confidence to ‘hold’ groups when things do not go to plan, working within the safe boundaries of the Member’s Agreement.
The ability to respond to and support multiple different needs within the group. 
Ability to remain calm and grounded and to continue providing support to the group during a crisis or emergency. 
The ability to work flexibly within a team. 
Knowledge and awareness of how particular activities and social situations could improve people’s self-esteem, self-confidence, build friendships and reduce their isolation. 
A sound understanding of safeguarding.
To be able to attend monthly one-to-one line management meetings and monthly clinical supervision.
To work within the framework, spirit and ethos of the Southmead Project’s Equal Opportunities Policy, and actively engage in promoting the policy within the charity and in all dealings with clients and other agencies.

DESIRABLE:

Experience of building and maintaining positive partnerships in the community.
Experience of delivering activity based group sessions in the community.
Experience in using case management systems
Experience contributing to outcomes processes and collecting outcomes data.
Experience of supporting volunteers. 
Experience of managing expenses within a budget.

We anticipate that the training for this role will take place in Bristol, with the Practitioner starting working for us in January 2025. There is a delay between the interviews and starting training because we need to obtain a DBS check (which can often take a few weeks) and check references.  Please note that there must be at least 12 months between receiving support from the Southmead Project as a client/member and starting this role. 

We welcome applications from people of any gender, of all backgrounds, cultures, dis/abilities and lived experiences. If you are invited to interview for this role and you require any reasonable adjustments please let us know. We will provide all applicants invited to interview with the interview questions 30 minutes prior to your interview time.  

The closing date for applications is Monday the 2nd of December 2025 at 9am, please note: we will close the application process earlier if we reach capacity with applications prior to the closing date. Interviews will be held on Wednesday the 11th of December. To apply for this role please send the completed application form and Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form to: admin@southmeadproject.com  

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this position further please contact Amy Derrick, Head of Active Recovery, at amy.derrick@southmeadproject.com