Mountbatten Isle of Wight

Experienced Counsellor/Social Worker

The closing date is 05 December 2025

Job summary

We are excited to offer this new opportunity, in which you will hold a clinical caseload in palliative care and bereavement; including working with children, young people and adults.

Ideally, the successful candidate will have experience and qualifications in counselling and social work in order to provide a range of support to patients and families.

Experience of supervising team members and students is essential for this role.

Part-time - 30 hours a week.

*Please note: we are not part of the NHS and therefore do not hold a licence to enable visa sponsorship*

Main duties of the job

Working alongside our existing Social Worker and Counselling team this role will provide additional capacity and skills to enhance our services. We will also consider applications from qualified counsellors with the role focusing on this aspect of the service.

Additionally, you will maintain expert and up to date knowledge and skills in the field of palliative and bereavement care to inform the service developments in line with professional best practice and research.

You will coordinate an efficient and effective bereavement service dedicated to the provisions of high-quality support to bereaved families and carers.

Youll also develop and oversee the administrative process and procedures enabling timely management of all referrals, assessments and allocations, and provide supervision to team members and students.

About us

At Mountbatten, making our employees feel valued is as important to us as making sure that our patients are safe. We are looking for people that live our values to help us make a difference to the thousands of patients and their families who come to us for help and support every year.

Our vision at Mountbatten is of a world where all dying people and those close to them, have access to expert care of the highest quality, provided by compassionate and professional teams.

Our Values

We care about what we do. We appreciate that people are different and we are kind and compassionate to our patients and families, to our local community and to each other

We are experts in our field. We are professional at all times, aspiring to be the best that we can be in everything that we do

We are innovative and bold. We respond quickly and creatively to the changing needs of our society within the scope of our human and financial resources

We respect our community. We exist for our local population, now and into the future, and we believe that we can achieve more together by working in partnership with others

Date posted

21 November 2025

Pay scheme

Other

Salary

£29,453 a year (£36,817 per annum FTE)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

B0508-VC344

Job locations

Earl Mountbatten Hospice

Halberry Lane

Newport

Isle Of Wight

PO30 2ER

Job description

Job responsibilities

KEY TASKS

Conduct comprehensive holistic assessments of the patient and their families and ensure their needs are met appropriately

To hold and effectively manage a clinical caseload to demonstrate best practice in line with professional guidelines and research.

Ensure that patient records on SystmOne of are maintained to a high standard.

Ensure that a range of emotional and social support strategies are available to meet the needs of individuals and their families including information, 1-1 support and counselling, group work and family work.

Ensure that up to date, relevant information is provided to facilitate access to appropriate psychosocial support.

As a member of multi-professional and psychosocial teams, attend MDTs and other meetings to ensure that the needs of family members and carers are considered.

Act as an advocate for patients and where conflict arises with family members sign post families to external advocacy agencies.

To be familiar with and work within Mountbattens Safeguarding policies and procedures to ensure patient safety.

Provide support and guidance to staff to promote understanding of families/carers/individuals coping with psychological and social impact of living with a palliative diagnosis, as well as, pre-bereavement and bereavement.

Participate in regular professional supervision for yourself and provide supervision to team members.

To effectively manage the referrals and assessment processes in a timely manner.

Conduct assessments of individuals for suitability of other services provided including; befriending/visiting service or groups, or referral on to another appropriate service, e.g. psychiatry or social service.

Research, develop, implement groups for bereaved people to meet identified need including social support and for therapeutic purposes.

PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

To maintain knowledge of current best practice and research in palliative care psychology and bereavement care and evaluate how this can be effectively implemented at Mountbatten.

Constructively contribute to current thinking and service evaluation on best practice in bereavement care at Mountbatten.

Collaborate with external researchers and develop research activities in consultation with the Director of Psychosocial Care and the Head of Education and Research.

Disseminate knowledge of best practice and research within the psychosocial service and more widely by participating in and providing consultancy, education and training.

To monitor and gain regular feedback from service users to ensure the service develops to meet patients needs.

Ensure high quality psychosocial and bereavement care is offered in line with the national care service standards, benchmarking with other services, identifying gaps in service provision and developing strategies to develop the service.

Develop and maintain an understanding of Mountbatten and local psychosocial care provision, assessing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to inform service developments.

Develop and maintain a critical analysis of the national picture of psychosocial care and the different models of service provision.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES

Provide education and training in relation to grief, bereavement and psychosocial issues in palliative care.

To engage with agreed external requests for training.

To maintain personal knowledge and skills in supervision and psychosocial support and interventions. Identify areas that may need personal development and suggest a training plan to address need.

RESEARCH, AUDIT AND SERVICE EVALUATION RESPONSIBILITIES

Volunteers

Ensure sufficient volunteers are recruited to sustain the work of the bereavement service alongside the Volunteer Service and participate in the training of volunteers.

Governance

Participate in governance activities including audits.

At all times, to respect the confidentiality of all data and information held by Mountbatten including electronically stored information and written data, whether this relates to patients, families or professionals. Ensure that the bereavement service keeps records in accordance with policy and best practice in data protection.

Personal Development:

Adhere at all times to professional body code of practice.

Take responsibility for own professional development, including keeping up to date with relevant professional and developments in the care of the bereaved at local and national levels.

Identify own learning and development needs in order to meet the key requirements of the post.

Take responsibility for linking own professional development needs to Mountbatten's appraisal and objective setting process.

Engage in own supervision to support personal and professional development.

*PLEASE REFER TO THE ATTACHED JOB DESCRIPTION AND PERSON SPECIFICATION FOR THE FULL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THIS ROLE*