Affinity Practitioner - Mid Essex

HCRG Care Group; Chelmsford; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking organization dedicated to transforming the lives of children and young people. As an Affinity Practitioner, you will play a crucial role in fostering inclusive educational environments across the Mid Essex area. This full-time position offers the opportunity to empower schools with trauma-informed support, helping students feel safe and understood. You will collaborate with school leadership, coach young people, and implement innovative strategies that promote positive outcomes. With a commitment to professional development and a supportive team culture, this role is perfect for those passionate about making a difference in the community.

Benefits

Group Pension

Access to My Reward Hub

Access to wages as earned

Mental and physical wellbeing support

Online and face-to-face career coaching

Professional development opportunities

Innovation funding for ideas

Qualifications

• Relevant qualification in social work, youth development, or education.
• Experience working with youth and leading initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Build relationships within school communities to support emotional regulation.
• Deliver professional development sessions for staff and students.

Skills

Empathy

Communication Skills

Leadership

Coaching

Organizational Skills

Adaptability

Education

Qualification in Social Work

Qualification in Youth Development

Qualification in Education

Job description

Are you passionate about making a meaningful difference in the lives of children and young people?

We are looking for a dedicated Affinity Practitioner to join our team, specialising in trauma-informed support within educational settings across the Mid Essex area.

In this vital role, you will champion system change by helping schools rebuild connections with their students - creating inclusive environments where young people feel safe, supported, and understood. You will empower schools to adopt compassionate, holistic approaches to well-being and behaviour, encourage co-regulation, and support staff in developing consistent, relationship-based strategies that minimise risk and promote positive outcomes for all.

This is a full time fixed term position for 12 months, based at our Chelmsford County Hall Family Hub and covering the Mid Essex area. Your work will be flexible and responsive to the evolving needs of the children and young people we serve.

Main Responsibility

• Build and maintain trusted relationships as a valued partner within school communities.
• Work collaboratively with school leadership teams and Healthy Schools Engagement workers to deliver targeted emotional regulation support.
• Support schools in developing consistent, relationship-focused approaches to behaviour management and crisis care.
• Promote effective recording, reporting, and evaluation of incidents involving positive handling.
• Coach children, young people, and families to co-create and implement action plans that enhance emotional regulation skills.
• Deliver professional development sessions for school staff, students, and educators.
• Provide classroom coaching and support in the use of emotion coaching strategies.
• Apply Non-Violent Resistance techniques to support adults caring for young people with challenging behaviours.

For a full list of job responsibilities please see the attached job description.

The Ideal Candidate

• A relevant qualification in social work, youth development, public health, education, or a related field.
• A genuine passion for creating positive social change and improving the health and well-being of young people.
• Strong empathy and understanding of the challenges faced by children and young people in today’s society.
• Adaptability to respond to evolving program needs and dynamic working environments.
• Proven experience working with youth, including leading youth-led initiatives and campaigns.
• Strong leadership skills to inspire and motivate young people toward positive change.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills for engaging with young people, colleagues, and partners.
• Effective mentoring and coaching abilities to support and empower young changemakers.
• Exceptional organisational skills for planning programs, coordinating events, and managing activities.
• Flexibility to work occasional evenings and weekends as required.
• Afull UK driving licence and access to a vehicle for travel to schools and partner organisations.

Package Description

As an Affinity Practitioner, you’ll be part of our amazing team in Mid Essex.

You will feel valued as a within HCRG Care Group, receiving access to exclusive rewards and benefits including:

• £30,607.50 with group pension
• Membership of My Reward Hub, giving you access to discounts on every day purchases like grocery shopping as well as cashback and voucher offers for treats for you and those special to you
• Access to your wages as you earn them to help cover life’s emergencies and avoid overdraft fees or high interest rates
• Online and face to face help with your mental and physical wellbeing – from healthy recipes and activity challenges through to post trauma support, legal, debt and life management help, as well career coaching and counselling
• Access to eLearning, bespoke career pathways and opportunities for continuing professional development through our ‘Outstanding’ learning and development team, The Learning Enterprise
• An open, just culture where you’re encouraged to have and implement ideas which can help us deliver our purpose: changing lives through transforming health and care – backed up by at least £100,000 of ringfenced innovation funding each year
• The pride of working for an organisation committed to the highest clinical and quality standards: with a majority of our rated services holding “good” or “outstanding” ratings from the Care Quality Commission

About the Company

We change lives by transforming health and care.
Established in 2006, we are one of the UK's leading independent providers of community health and care services, working with health and care commissioners and communities to transform services with a focus on experience, efficiency and improved outcomes. We deliver and transform adult and children community health services, primary care services including urgent care, sexual health, dermatology and MSK services as well as adult social care and wellbeing services.Across England, we support communities of many millions and directly help more than half a million people each year - guided by our simple values: we care, we think, we do.

We're committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from a broad, diverse range of people who want to join our team. We’re a Disability Confident Committed company, so we work to provide facilities, work environment adjustments and technical solutions to be as inclusive of everyone.

While it doesn’t happen often, sometimes a role is very popular, and we’ll need to close it earlier than the date we’ve shown here. If you’re keen to join our team, we’d love to hear from you so please apply as soon as you can.

As you’d expect, safeguarding and protecting the children, young people and vulnerable adults that we work with is of the utmost importance so we have policies and procedures in place to promote safeguarding and safer working practices and everyone who joins the team is subject to a safer recruitment process, including the disclosure of criminal records and vetting checks.

Finally, we need to let you know that the company you’ll work for is part of HCRG Care Group Holdings Limited and by applying for this job we’ll need to process and hold information about you. If you would like to know a little more about how we use your information, please see our website's privacy policy.

• Salary Starting Salary from £30,607.50 plus group pension
• Frequency Annual
• Job Reference HCRGCG/TP/25229/15287
• Contract Type Fixed Term - Full Time
• Closing Date 18 May, 2025
• Job Category HCRG - Additional Clinical Services