Child Therapeutic Assistant

Tailor Your Resume for this Job

Child Therapeutic Assistant

Organization: S.T.A.R.S. Children’s Home
Location: Fredericton, New Brunswick
Employment Type: Full-Time
Schedule: Shift work required (days, evenings, overnights, weekends, and holidays)

Organizational Overview

S.T.A.R.S. Children’s Home is a charitable, non-profit organization providing stabilization, assessment, and therapeutic care for infants and young children (birth to 8 years) who have experienced significant trauma, maltreatment, neglect, prenatal substance exposure, and complex early life adversity. Services are grounded in trauma integration, attachment-based practice, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Position Summary

The Child Therapeutic Assistant (CTA) works very closely and directly with infants, babies, and young children to support stabilization, safety, and emotional regulation while contributing actively to ongoing clinical assessment. This role requires advanced hands-on therapeutic skill, continuous observation, and the ability to interpret child behaviour through a developmental and trauma-integrated lens.

The CTA plays a critical role in helping children stabilize sufficiently to participate in formal assessments and treatment planning. This is not an entry-level position and requires demonstrated competency in infant and early childhood therapeutic care.

Key Responsibilities

Stabilization and Close Therapeutic Care

• Provide continuous, close, hands-on care to infants and young children to support emotional and physiological stabilization
• Support co-regulation, attachment formation, and safety through consistent, nurturing caregiving
• Respond skillfully to distress, trauma-related stress responses, and developmental regression
• Implement individualized therapeutic support plans rather than standardized behavioural programs

Assessment and Observational Skills

• Conduct detailed, ongoing observation of children’s emotional states, behaviour, developmental functioning, and relational patterns
• Apply assessment skills to identify signs of trauma, developmental delay, attachment disruption, and sensory regulation challenges
• Accurately document observations to inform child development assessments, family assessments, and clinical decision-making
• Communicate assessment findings clearly to the interdisciplinary team

Trauma-Integrated and Developmentally Informed Practice

• Utilize developmentally appropriate, play-based, and relational approaches in daily interactions
• Support children affected by prenatal substance exposure, including neonatal abstinence syndrome, under clinical and nursing guidance
• Maintain therapeutic environments that promote predictability, safety, and healing

Interdisciplinary and Family Collaboration

• Work closely with Child Therapeutic Coordinators, nurses, therapists, physicians, and educators
• Participate actively in case reviews, clinical meetings, and shift handovers
• Support family engagement and visitation as directed by the clinical team

Health, Safety, and Professional Practice

• Ensure physical, emotional, and developmental safety at all times
• Follow child protection legislation, organizational policies, and health and safety standards
• Maintain accurate, timely, and confidential documentation
• Participate in supervision, specialized training, and ongoing professional development
• Practice cultural humility and equity-focused care, including respect for Indigenous children and families

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (required) in
• Early Childhood
• Social Work
• Psychology or a closely related equivalent discipline
• To be Registered in New Brunswick.
• Extensive, demonstrated skill set in working closely with babies and young children, including infants and toddlers
• Demonstrated ability to support stabilization and apply assessment skills in a therapeutic care setting
• Strong knowledge of early childhood development, attachment theory, and trauma-related presentations
• Experience working with children impacted by prenatal substance exposure and neonatal abstinence syndrome is an asset
• Experience working with Indigenous children, families, or communities is required
• Excellent observational, analytical, communication, and documentation skills

Additional Requirements

• Ability and willingness to work rotating shift work, including evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays
• Criminal record check with vulnerable sector clearance
• Child abuse registry check
• Must maintain all required clearances throughout employment
• CPR and First Aid certification

Compensation and Benefits

• Competitive compensation commensurate with education, experience, and level of specialization
• Health spending account available after successful completeion of probabtionary period
• Ongoing advanced training in infant and early childhood trauma-integrated care

Equity and Reconciliation Statement

S.T.A.R.S. Children’s Home is committed to equity, inclusion, and reconciliation. We strongly encourage applications from Indigenous peoples and individuals with experience supporting Indigenous children and communities.

Pay: $27.50-$30.00 per hour

Work Location: In person