Alaria CIC – South Lanarkshire
£40 per 50-minute session | Freelance / Self-employed | Saturdays
Alaria CIC is looking for a warm, thoughtful and professionally grounded Play Therapist or Therapeutic Play Practitioner to join our small therapeutic team and work with children on Saturdays.
Alaria is a person-centred, trauma-informed and neuro-affirming therapeutic service based in a beautiful rural setting in South Lanarkshire. Our therapeutic work is relational and child-led, recognising play as one of the natural ways in which children communicate, explore their experiences and work through what is happening in their worlds.
We have a dedicated, fully equipped therapeutic playroom, alongside woodland, outdoor spaces and animals.
The role
You’ll work with a small caseload of children attending regular 50-minute individual therapeutic sessions on Saturdays. You will deliver a maximum of 5 sessions in the one day.
Our children come for a wide range of reasons, including anxiety, difficult life experiences, family change, loss, emotional distress, neurodivergence, relationship difficulties and experiences that may be difficult to express verbally.
Sessions are led by the needs and process of the individual child rather than by a predetermined programme or set of activities.
The role includes:
- providing child-led therapeutic sessions using play and creative media
- developing safe, accepting and consistent therapeutic relationships with children
- maintaining clear and appropriate therapeutic boundaries
- working sensitively with parents and carers while respecting the child’s confidentiality and therapeutic space
- maintaining concise and timely clinical records
- recognising and responding appropriately to safeguarding and risk concerns
- communicating reliably with the wider Alaria team
- working within Alaria’s safeguarding, confidentiality and clinical governance procedures
Who we’re looking for
We would welcome applications from either:
A qualified Play Therapist, with an appropriate professional qualification and registration;
or
A qualified counsellor or psychotherapist who has undertaken additional recognised training in Therapeutic Play and has appropriate experience of therapeutic work with children.
You’ll also need:
- appropriate professional membership/registration for your core therapeutic qualification
- appropriate ongoing clinical supervision
- current PVG Scheme membership, or willingness to complete the appropriate PVG process before beginning work
- current safeguarding/child protection knowledge
- experience of working therapeutically with children
- reliable professional communication and record-keeping
Most importantly, we’re looking for someone whose practice is relational, child-led, person-centred and neuro-affirming.
We value practitioners who can remain alongside a child’s process without rushing to interpret, direct or correct it; who understand behaviour as meaningful communication; and who can combine deep acceptance of the child with calm, clear and consistent therapeutic boundaries.
What Alaria provides
- £40 per 50-minute client session
- an established referral pathway and client caseload
- a spacious, fully equipped therapeutic playroom
- appointment and referral administration
- clinical record-keeping systems
- a supportive therapeutic team
- a distinctive nature-based therapeutic setting
- opportunities to contribute to the wider development of Alaria if this is of interest
This is a self-employed freelance role, initially working on Saturdays but with scope to increase caseload if desired. The number of sessions can be agreed according to practitioner availability and client demand, but is likely to be 4 or 5 clients in the day.
About Alaria
Alaria CIC provides therapeutic services for children, young people and families in South Lanarkshire.
Our work is grounded in person-centred values and informed by therapeutic play, trauma-informed practice, neurodiversity and a deep respect for children’s capacity to communicate and make sense of their experiences in their own ways.
We’re looking for someone who will genuinely enjoy becoming part of that ethos – someone who brings warmth and playfulness to their relationships with children alongside reliability, reflective practice and strong professional boundaries.
To apply, please send your CV together with a short covering statement telling us about your professional training, your experience of therapeutic work with children and the way you understand child-led therapeutic practice.
Pay: £40.00 per hour
Work Location: In person
