Play Therapist - Children's Residential Social Care
- Salary
- €45K–€65K
- Hiring from
- Ireland
- Work type
- Hybrid
- Posted
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Are you passionate about supporting children and young people through therapeutic, relationship-based care? Odyssey Social Care is seeking a Play Therapist to join our Integrated Care Services team and provide play-based therapeutic support to children and young people living in residential care.
Location
Hybrid role with a Dublin or Kilkenny office base, depending on the successful candidate's location. The role involves supporting residential services across relevant regions and travel to services as required.
Contract Details
The Play Therapist will work as part of Odyssey Social Care's Integrated Care Services team, providing therapeutic support to children and young people in residential care. Using play-based, creative and relational approaches, the successful candidate will support emotional expression, development, co-regulation and recovery.
The role will focus on helping young people express feelings, process experiences, develop coping strategies and strengthen relationships through therapeutic play. The successful candidate will also work closely with residential teams, modelling therapeutic approaches and supporting staff to embed play-informed, trauma-aware practice into everyday care.
Key Responsibilities
Odyssey Social Care is a children’s residential care provider in Ireland. We support young people by providing secure and safe homes and by building trusting and meaningful relationships with our teams.
We work therapeutically with our young people to support them through past hurts and traumas.
We go on the journey with our young people, empowering them to be the best version of themselves.
Required Criteria
Desired Criteria
Skills you'll need
Location
Hybrid role with a Dublin or Kilkenny office base, depending on the successful candidate's location. The role involves supporting residential services across relevant regions and travel to services as required.
Contract Details
- Part-Time, Permanent
- 16 hours per week (2 days per week)
- Flexible working days to be agreed
- Salary: €45,000 - €65,000 pro rata (DOE)
- Annual Leave: Pro rata in line with contracted hours
The Play Therapist will work as part of Odyssey Social Care's Integrated Care Services team, providing therapeutic support to children and young people in residential care. Using play-based, creative and relational approaches, the successful candidate will support emotional expression, development, co-regulation and recovery.
The role will focus on helping young people express feelings, process experiences, develop coping strategies and strengthen relationships through therapeutic play. The successful candidate will also work closely with residential teams, modelling therapeutic approaches and supporting staff to embed play-informed, trauma-aware practice into everyday care.
Key Responsibilities
- Deliver play therapy and play-informed therapeutic interventions to children and young people.
- Complete therapeutic assessments, intervention planning and reviews.
- Develop therapeutic goals and monitor progress in collaboration with young people and multidisciplinary teams.
- Use play, creativity and developmentally appropriate approaches to support emotional wellbeing and resilience.
- Contribute to care planning, placement support and multidisciplinary meetings.
- Provide consultation, coaching and modelling to residential care teams.
- Maintain accurate records and reports in line with professional standards.
- Promote trauma-informed, attachment-informed and child-centred practice across services.
- Support service development and contribute to outcome monitoring initiatives.
- A recognised professional qualification in Play Therapy.
- Membership, registration or accreditation with an appropriate professional body where applicable.
- Experience working therapeutically with children and young people who have experienced trauma, adversity, disrupted attachments or complex care histories.
- Strong knowledge of child development, trauma, attachment and safeguarding.
- Experience completing therapeutic assessments, planning and interventions.
- Excellent communication, coaching and report-writing skills.
- Ability to build trusting relationships and work collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams.
- Understanding of child protection, confidentiality and professional boundaries.
- Full clean driving licence and access to a vehicle.
- Experience working within children's residential care services.
- Knowledge of HIQA National Standards for Children's Residential Centres.
- Experience in disability services, CAMHS, fostering, family support or child welfare settings.
- Additional training in trauma-informed practice, attachment-informed practice, DDP, sensory regulation, creative therapies, reflective practice or therapeutic residential care.
- Experience contributing to service development, governance or outcomes monitoring.
- Competitive salary package.
- Hybrid working model.
- Internal individual supervision and external peer/clinical supervision.
- Ongoing professional development opportunities.
- Opportunity to work as part of a multidisciplinary therapeutic team.
- Meaningful work supporting children and young people to achieve positive outcomes.
Odyssey Social Care is a children’s residential care provider in Ireland. We support young people by providing secure and safe homes and by building trusting and meaningful relationships with our teams.
We work therapeutically with our young people to support them through past hurts and traumas.
We go on the journey with our young people, empowering them to be the best version of themselves.
Required Criteria
Desired Criteria
Skills you'll need