Head of Allied Professional Services

Job Summary
The Head of the Allied Professional Services is responsible for leading and managing a multidisciplinary team of allied professionals, including Occupational Therapists, Speech-Language Therapists, Psychologists, Social Workers and Counsellors, working with the different services at SAAC. The role involves providing strategic direction, fostering collaboration among team members, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based services to beneficiaries with diverse needs. The Head of the AP support will also play a key role in promoting the integration of allied professional services into the educational and care environments in SAAC’s various services to provide a person-centered care to support the holistic development and quality of life of beneficiaries.

Key Responsibilities:
The Head of Allied Professional Services in SAAC plays a pivotal leadership role in SAAC. As the leader of all Allied Professionals in SAAC, he/she is expected to:
• Lead SAAC’s work in providing quality Allied Professional Support to all of SAAC’s services. This will require the Head/AP to work with Heads of Services to implement sound person-centred broad-based strategies (for all beneficiaries) and Case Management processes (for high-needs beneficiaries) to ensure that the Allied Professionals can bring their skillsets to bear to meet the needs of the beneficiaries with moderate to severe autism, and their caregivers.
• Lead the various AP teams in developing training programmes for the 3 services to enhance the core autism-specific skillsets of frontline staff (teachers, teacher aides, coaches, class assistants, care staff and job coaches)
• Develop and implement training roadmaps for all Allied Professional groups to grow the depth and breadth of professional expertise of all Allied Professionals in SAAC
• Lead, supervise, coach and mentor the team leaders in the Unit- Head of Psychology and Positive Behaviour Support, Head of Social Work and Caregiver Support, Head of OT and Head of SLT, and other APs as necessary.
• Manage the unit’s budget, ensuring the efficient allocation of resources to support the work of the Unit in delivering quality services to all services.

Job Specifications
• Strong leadership qualities, with a serving mentality, i.e., a serving leader who is able to inspire fellow Allied Professionals to be the best versions of themselves.
• Demonstrated depth and breadth of expertise and experience in one of the Allied Professions, with suitable qualifications in Speech-Language Pathology, Occupational Therapy, Psychology or Social Work, as well as substantial experience leading in the disability sector (preferably in autism).
• Strategic thinker who can develop key plans to grow SAAC’s capability to deliver person-centred, evidence-based services to persons with autism
• Registered clinical supervisor in one of the allied professions.
• Fair manager and leader who can concurrently hold high professional standards while also developing and growing the staff in the unit.
• Strong team player who is able to work collaboratively and effectively with CEO, Heads of Services, other colleagues and external stakeholders.