Counsellor

Job overview

We are looking for an experienced an Accredited Counsellor, Psychotherapist or Counselling Psychologist to join our team at CNWL Talking Therapies Service Brent. We are a large, well established service based in a diverse borough of London. Our service provides low and high intensity therapies at Step 2 and Step 3, alongside our Step 3 counselling service. We are passionate about the work we do and care provided to service users, and work by the trust values of compassion, respect, empowerment and partnership. Our team is key in the work we do and service provided to the population of Brent

You will join a team of Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWP), CBT Therapists and Counsellors, with experienced supervisors and colleagues. Candidates should be competent in providing brief focused counselling using an evidence-based approach e.g. focal psychodynamic, client centred, solution focused, humanistic. Ability to deliver therapy in local languages is desirable.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

Main duties of the job

We welcome applicants who:

• Are passionate about the benefits of short-term focused therapy
• Have worked in the past two years with adults with common mental health problems in a primary care/IAPT or NHS setting
• Have extensive experience of assessments & enjoy working independently
• Enjoy working within a fast paced & busy setting with diverse populations
• Want to develop clinical skills & access further training
• The advertised post is full time however, we welcome part time applicants and also support flexible working patterns as long as core service commitments are covered.

IAPT services require all counsellors/psychotherapists to be registrants on the Accredited Register of Counsellors with the Professional Standards Authority. To be shortlisted, recruiters search the PSA Accredited Register for Counsellors of your professional organisation’s register (BACP, BPC, COSCA, NCS, UK AHPP, UKCP, HCPC). Please ensure you provide the correct Registration Number in your application for us to confirm you are an Accredited Counsellor or Psychotherapist with your registering association. Counselling Psychologists are checked against the HCPC Register and would need experience of working within a counselling role.

We would consider applicants who have not yet obtained accreditation but have submitted their applications and are awaiting a decision. This needs to be clearly noted in your supporting statement.

Working for our organisation

The catchment area of the post is the London borough of Brent. The main hub is at Fairfields House in Kingsbury and a satellite hub at Bell House in Willesden Green. You will be required to work across both hubs and in other parts of the borough, e.g. GP surgeries/community settings.

We operate an agile working policy. Staff combine remote working and being on-site to deliver face-to-face appointments and other service commitments that require a hub-based presence. The post-holder may be required to work at any times between 8am and 8pm on weekdays including an evening clinic as required by the service.

Benefits of working for Brent include:

• Wellbeing is important within our service and we are a collaborative and cohesive team.
• 27 days of annual leave, plus bank holidays, with an increase to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS discount
• Opportunities for career progression
• If you would like to see what it's like to work for CNWL please have a look athttps://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/work
• We are committed to professional development, and will support further training in a specialist IAPT modality, i.e. Brief Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, Counselling for Depression and Couples Counselling for Depression. This will enable you to progress to a Band 7 IAPT High Intensity Counsellor with the service on completion of the training.

Job description and main responsibilities

• Provide time-limited assessment and counselling / psychological therapy service to people with defined common mental health difficulties within the primary care setting.
• Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of service users whose problems are managed by psychologically based care plans.
• Provide consultation to referring GPs and the primary and community care teams about psychological therapy aspects of patient care and a range of mental health issues; attend primary care meetings where appropriate.
• When necessary, arrange onward referral of service users to other NHS and non-NHS teams and organizations in consultation with the referring GP.
• Work as part of local mental and physical health services to provide a clear service user care pathway for service users receiving a range of psychological therapies and interventions.
• Provide comprehensive and timely clinical information when referring within and between these teams and services.
• Liaise with voluntary organisations and other mental and physical health agencies over service user care and provide advice around primary care issues; have extensive local knowledge of associated services.
• Constantly consider the role of brief clinical work and to contribute accordingly to care packages and provide advice about services and options, using local knowledge.
• Responsible for keeping clinical records and maintaining clinical records in secure locations across sites; ensure any identifiable data is not carried outside of these NHS premises or between sites.
• Responsible for ensuring a suitable clinical environment within GP surgeries or other community settings.
• Attend regular line management with the Senior Counsellor, in addition to attending clinical supervision.
• Provide appropriate counselling/psychological interventions and undertake Risk Assessment and Management in accordance with the Trust Risk Policy.
• Participate in the CNWL Trust and Brent Talking Therapies Service protocols and guidelines, in line with Clinical Governance.
• Pursue personal development plans in consultation with supervisors/managers along lines of clinical governance and agreed appraisal goals.
• Communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under your care and to monitor and evaluate progress; share all information such as care plans with service users
• Work between sites; be responsible for the provision of administrative and personal resources when there is no work base; and arrange and maintain transport arrangements between sites.
• Communicate to all relevant parties, in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans for service users under your care, particularly where that care remains shared with the Primary Care practitioner.