Occupational Therapist – do you want to bring your professional expertise fully into the children's everyday life?

New children are moving into Søhuset, and therefore we are expanding our staff. We are many pedagogues – now we are looking for an occupational therapist.

Do you want to apply your occupational therapy expertise in a specialized area? And are you motivated by working closely with children and young people, where relationship, presence, activity and participation in everyday life are at the center?

Then you might be our new colleague at Søhuset.

At Søhuset, children and young people from 0–18 years with significant physical and cognitive disabilities live. They need extensive support for care, well-being and development – around the clock.

As an occupational therapist you will become part of the daily staffing and the children's everyday life in the same way as your colleagues. Your occupational therapy expertise will become part of the joint task solution rather than a separate treatment function. We would like to actively involve the special perspective and the knowledge you bring.

When we, in team meetings, examine a child’s needs, set goals and jointly decide the professional direction, we need different perspectives. Here your occupational-therapeutic view on e.g. activity and participation, sensory processing, motor skills, functional ability and surroundings can contribute to our shared understanding of the child.

We are therefore looking for someone who both wants to be very close to the children's everyday life and to bring their own professional knowledge into a multidisciplinary community. You do not have to be a pedagogue – but you should want to solve the core task together with pedagogues and other professions.

Everyday life at Søhuset For us care, well-being and development go hand in hand.

A large part of the children communicate without spoken language and need us to be curious about their signals and try to understand what their behavior tells us. Some have extensive physical disabilities, epilepsy or need help with almost all everyday activities. Others may respond outwardly or self-harm when their surroundings or demands become too difficult to handle.

This means that a workday can include personal care, meals, play and activities, medication, practical tasks, documentation and professional reflections with colleagues.

At Søhuset we are typically 6 staff members together with about 8 children and young people. You often have a particular focus on 1–2 children at a time. This makes it possible to be close to the individual child, build strong relationships and tailor support to the child’s needs and daily form.

Sometimes the pace is high, and other times you must be able to be in the slow pace and wait for a small initiative or signal from a child. It requires presence, patience and the ability to adapt to the individual child.

You will become part of a professional community We work from a shared professional direction with among other things neuropedagogy and Low Arousal as a starting point.

This does not mean that we always see the same. On the contrary, we need different observations and perspectives when we need to understand a child and figure out what works.

We use among other things team meetings, supervision, documentation and ongoing sparring in daily practice to examine our practice. We do not expect you to have all the answers. But we expect you to be curious, to reflect on your own practice and to dare bring what you see into the shared professional discussion.

As an occupational therapist we also hope that you will help make us wiser about what you see through your professional lens – just as you should be curious about the perspectives your colleagues bring.

We offer A workplace with a complex target group, where professionalism is not only something we talk about – it must be translated into what we do together with the children.

You will have experienced colleagues with diverse competencies and opportunities for sparring and supervision. At the same time you will have the opportunity to bring in a different professional background into a staff group where pedagogy today plays a large role.

You will become part of a safe and supportive community, where we support each other in tasks and share responsibility in daily life. As a new colleague you will be warmly welcomed and given time, support and sparring to settle well into the job.

We also offer

• A thorough induction program
• Training in transfers, medication management and conflict resolution
• Mentor scheme and supervision, so you always have someone to consult

“It is important that new staff are welcomed well and have time to settle into the house, and that there is follow-up on how things go – that they are taken under the wings. It is not expected that you can do everything after one week.”

• Pedagogue, Søhuset

We are looking for an occupational therapist who…

• is trained as an occupational therapist
• wants to work with children and young people with significant and lasting disabilities
• sees care and well-being as a natural and important part of the job
• wants to use their occupational therapy expertise in a new way in a specialized environment
• can notice development opportunities – even when progress is small
• has knowledge of neuropedagogy and Low Arousal – or is willing to learn it
• is curious about what lies behind a child’s reactions and behavior
• can stay calm and adapt when a child is having a hard time
• wants professional reflection and to bring their own professional perspective into play
• can participate in a close collegial collaboration, where we depend on each other
• has a driving license.

You do not need experience from the specialized area. The most important is that you are interested in the target group and curious about how your occupational therapy can make a difference in the children’s everyday lives.

Working hours are also part of the job Søhuset is the children’s home, and therefore we are here around the clock – every day of the year.

You must therefore be able to work at different times and be willing to do day, evening and weekend work every other weekend.

In exchange you get a job where you get to know the children well and become an important part of the everyday life in which they should be able to thrive and develop.

About Søhuset Søhuset is one of the Region Nordjylland’s special children’s homes. Here live children and young people with various and complex physical and cognitive disabilities.

At Søhuset there are currently 6 resident children, and 5 children come for respite care. The children have different needs for support in daily life – some need support with most things, others with almost everything.

We work closely in a multidisciplinary team with one common goal: to give the children and young people a safe, predictable and developmental everyday life.

The children and young people may have autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and attachment disorders. Several have little or no verbal language, and therefore we also work with alternative and augmentative communication.

Everyone needs an individually tailored, recognizable and structured daily life. Our professional work is based, among other things, on the professional relationship, neuropedagogy and Low Arousal.

Want to know more?

You are welcome to contact department head Lise Vestergaard Larsen at tel. 2244 6028 (weekdays 8.00–15.00).

You can read more about the Special Children’s Homes on our website specialbornehjem.rn.dk and Make a career (rn.dk)

Come inside the everyday life at the Special Children’s Homes on Facebook: Special Children’s Homes, Special Sector, Region Nordjylland and on Instagram: Special Children’s Homes, Special Sector, Region Nordjylland (@specialboernehjemmene)

The practical

This is a permanent position and a temporary position of 30-37 hours on average per week depending on the number of hours you want, starting 1 December 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter . The position involves rotating work hours – day and evening – as well as on-call weekend duty every other weekend . Night work may occur, for example during holidays or illness.

• Application deadline: 2 November 2026
• Employment start: 1 December 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter
• Interview: Interviews will be held on a rolling basis and no later than 6 November
• When employed, a child and criminal record check will be obtained.

Salary and employment terms according to the applicable collective agreement for non-managerial occupational therapists, etc., entered into with the Danish Association of Occupational Therapists