Family Practitioner

Southampton City Council; Southampton; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 46,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Excellent local government pension

Death in service benefit

Generous holiday 25-31 days

Flexible working options

Family-friendly policies

Training and development

Health and wellbeing support

Armed Forces Covenant

Retail discounts and savings

Discounted memberships

Sustainable travel benefits

Employee volunteering scheme

Job summary

Southampton City Council is seeking a full-time Family Practitioner to work within Building Bridges, supporting families facing complex challenges in Children’s and Adults Social Care. You will provide practical and relational support to strengthen relationships and promote safety.

Through relationship-based and systemic practice, you will help families navigate difficulties, inspire confidence in change, and collaborate with professional networks.

Qualifications

• Experience in Children's and/or Adults Social Care.
• Full-time practitioner role within Building Bridges team.
• Ability to support families with complex challenges using calm, containing approaches.

Responsibilities

• Support families experiencing complex challenges with practical and relational guidance.
• Provide containment and safe interventions during difficulties.
• Inspire confidence and promote lasting change within families and networks.

Skills

Relationship-based practice

Calm contained interventions

Social care experience

Evidence-informed approaches

Job description

Building Bridges is a well-established, committed and successful team who work determinedly and skilfully to create stability and enable more children to remain living safely within their families.

The service is at the forefront of delivering the Council's Building for Brilliance strategy, with key priorities include:

• Maintaining children within their families wherever it is safe to do so
• Increasing placement stability within internal foster placements and kinship care arrangements
• Delivering effective Edge of Care interventions across Children's Services
• Contributing to early help and prevention work across Children's Services

About you:

We are looking for a skilled and motivated full-time Family Practitioner with experience in Children's and/or Adults Social Care. You will be confident supporting families experiencing complex challenges, offering calm and containing interventions at times of difficulty. Through creative and persistent practice, you will provide practical and relational support that strengthens relationships, increases safety and supports lasting change.

Building Bridges works using evidence-informed approaches including Non-Violent Resistance (NVR) and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP). Experience in these models would be advantageous, though not essential, as training and development will be provided.

Southampton is a diverse city with high levels of complexity and demand. Our families, children and young people need practitioners who can remain hopeful and compassionate in their practice. We are looking for someone who can inspire confidence and promote belief in change among families and professional networks.

Why join Southampton City Council?

If you are an experienced practitioner who is committed to relationship-based and systemic practice, we would love to hear from you.

Southampton Children's Services proudly offer high-quality training and development, including formal training in systemic practice. Our practice development offer is widely recognised as one of the strongest in the country.

We are a supportive, restorative and flexible service that places strong value on staff wellbeing. We encourage positive and respectful working relationships and recognise the importance of balance, reflection and enjoyment alongside demanding work.

What we can offer you:

Here at SCC we have a range of different perks and benefits, a few examples can be found below.

• Excellent local government pension with 15.2% employer contribution
• Death in service benefit of x3 salary, and optional salary sacrifice shared cost AVC (additional voluntary contribution)
• Generous holiday 25-31 days, based on role and service
• Flexible working options (role-dependent)
• Family-friendly policies - Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Shared/Unpaid Parental Leave, Time off for Dependents
• Training and development, including coaching and mentoring
• Health and wellbeing support - Employee Assistance Programme, Menopause Pledge, Mental Health First Aiders and access to a variety of staff networks
• Veteran-friendly employer with the Armed Forces Covenant
• Retail discounts and savings through the Southampton City Council benefits platform
• Discounted memberships at local sports and fitness centres
• Sustainable travel benefits - low emission car scheme, cycle to work, season ticket loans
• Employee volunteering scheme with 2 paid days leave to volunteer

For further information on our benefits package please visit: Employee benefits (southampton.gov.uk)

Contact details for informal discussion:

For a further discussion please contact Steph Bollon (Building Bridges Team Manager) – [e-mail] or Steph Amos-Rhodes (Building Bridges Team Manager) – [e-mail].

Interview Information:

Please note that interviews are scheduled for Tuesday 1st December 2026.

Recruitment contact details:

Email: [e-mail]

Tel: [phone]

For more information about SCC please visit Southampton City Council

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