Senior Speech and Language Therapist

Job overview

We are seeking a passionate and experienced Senior Speech and Language Therapist to join our integrated healthcare team at HMYOI Feltham A. This is a unique opportunity to develop and deliver a specialist Speech, Language and Communication Therapy service for children and young people in a secure setting, where your work can make a meaningful and lasting difference.

In this senior clinical role, you will work autonomously while contributing to a multidisciplinary approach to care. You will assess, plan and deliver high-quality, trauma-informed interventions for young people with complex communication needs, and support the development of care pathways that improve engagement, rehabilitation and long-term outcomes.

You will play an important role in influencing practice across the service by providing specialist advice, contributing to staff training and helping to promote communication-supportive environments. The role requires confident clinical decision-making, strong organisational skills and the ability to build effective relationships with young people, colleagues and partner agencies.

You will be joining a supportive and forward-thinking team within a Trust that values innovation, collaboration and professional development. This is an opportunity to shape a developing service while building advanced clinical expertise in a rewarding and challenging environment.

Main duties of the job

As Senior Speech and Language Therapist, you will lead and deliver a specialist Speech, Language and Communication Therapy service for children and young people in a secure setting. This autonomous role offers the opportunity to shape how communication needs are identified and supported across the establishment.

You will manage a complex caseload, providing specialist assessment, formulation and intervention for a wide range of communication needs. This includes delivering individual and group therapy, advising staff on effective communication strategies and helping to create environments that support engagement, rehabilitation and emotional wellbeing.

You will contribute specialist expertise to multidisciplinary care planning, deliver training, and support colleagues to understand the links between communication needs, behaviour and mental health. The role also involves developing pathways, prioritising referrals, monitoring outcomes and supporting service evaluation and improvement.

As the sole Speech and Language Therapist within the youth service, you will work autonomously while building strong partnerships with healthcare, education, residential teams and external agencies. There may occasionally be opportunities to support service delivery on the adult side of the estate, agreed in advance through senior clinical leadership.

This is an opportunity to shape a developing service and make a meaningful difference to young people’s life chances.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will be responsible for the operational delivery and ongoing development of Speech and Language Therapy provision for children and young people at HMYOI Feltham A. This includes managing referrals, undertaking specialist assessment, delivering targeted interventions and maintaining clear clinical records and reports in line with professional and Trust standards.

The role involves contributing specialist communication expertise to multidisciplinary care planning, supporting staff through consultation and structured training, and developing practical resources and pathways to improve identification and management of speech, language and communication needs within the establishment.

The post holder will work collaboratively with internal and external partners to support coordinated care and effective transition planning. They will contribute to audit, service evaluation and quality improvement activity.

While flexible working is supported where possible, this is the only Speech and Language Therapy role based at HMYOI Feltham. The post holder will therefore normally be expected to work on site five days per week to ensure consistent clinical presence and service continuity.