Job summary
Our Service seeks High Intensity NHS Talking Therapies Counsellors (Band 7) with an interest, experience and firm commitment to working at pace to deliver effective treatments. The service works with diverse patient groups presenting with a wide range of psychological difficulties.
Applicants are likely to have at least two years recent experience of working with adults in an NHS TT Service (formerly IAPT), and to be qualified and experienced in at least one NHS TT approved modality. A supervision qualification is desirable.
The posts can be recruited to at two bandings, dependent on experience and qualifications:
Band 7: We seek experienced clinicians who have an interest in applying clinical practice in a variety of other ways to develop the service performance and clinical outcomes. The post offers a range of developmental opportunities including Screening, Supervision, lead areas, waiting list/pathway management, audit & research. Experience is highly desirable, however training can be provided.
Band 6: Where Band 7 criteria have not yet been fully met, it may possible to consider suitable candidates to join the service at Band 6. The retention of the post will be conditional on achieving qualification in an additional NHS TT modality within an agreed time-frame.
You should be an Accredited or Registered Counsellor or Psychotherapist with the BACP, UKCP, BPC or an equivalent professional body.PLEASE ENTER YOUR ACCREDITATION/REGISTRATION STATUS IN YOUR APPLICATION.
Main duties of the job
Band 7 Counsellor posts include a range of Service related duties alongside provision of clinical sessions. Duties may include Screening, Triage supervision, clinical supervision, championing lead areas, wait list and pathway management and audit & research. Experience in these areas is highly desirable, however training can be provided.
About us
The Counselling Team is a friendly, highly experienced and supportive team of clinicians. The post holder will receive regular supervision and support from the senior management team, as well as benefit from support and guidance from colleagues, regular reflective practice, and highly specialist CPD. Clinicians work collaboratively across the wider Service which has close links with our Community Mental Health Hub and local organisations and charities.
Our Counselling team provides assessment and treatments in brief counselling and NHS TT modalities: DIT, PCE CfD and CTfD. The team is substantially psychodynamic or integrative in approach.
The Service is open Monday - Thursday 8.00am to 8.00pm and Friday 8.00am - 5.00pm. Posts are offered with a minimum of 3 days (22.5hrs) per week, one day of which must be a Thursday and one evening shift to 8pm is required. The Service offers telephone, video and face-to-face sessions dependent on patient need. Clinicians currently work with a balance of office and home-based practice.
CLW NHS Talking Therapies works across two main Hubs at St Charles Centre for Health & Wellbeing in the north of the borough and Gertrude Street in the south. The Service forms part of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Overview of Main Responsibilities
CLINICAL
- Provide specialist psychotherapeutic assessment of patients referred to the CNWL NHS TT Service for High Intensity Counselling, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of quantitative and qualitative sources including self-report measures, rating scales, assessing for suitability of the treatment. Ensure the outcome of assessment is communicated to the referring agent and other professionals involved. Determine suitability of the approach and refer on unsuitable individuals to appropriate agencies and/or provide advice, including psycho-education, as appropriate.
- Formulate and implement plans for the specialist psychotherapeutic treatment and/or management of patients mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of those problems derived from a broad theoretical knowledge of counselling, and employing methods based upon evidence of proven efficacy within modality. It is expected that the postholder will treat patients across the mild-to-moderate range of severity.
- Be responsible for implementing a range of specialist High Intensity Counselling, and other NHS TT modalities interventions for individual patients, couples and groups, adjusting and refining psychotherapeutic formulations as practice and experience demand, and drawing upon different explanatory models and objective NHS TT modality framework/s to maintain a clinical individualised focus whilst maintaining ethical and legal standards.
- 4 Comply with agreed target activity requirements in terms of caseload, productivity, recovery outcomes, in line with a High Intensity post as per NHS TT national guidelines and local NHS TT implementation board.
- Regular and prompt entry of clinical data relating to patients on caseload and make it available for supervision and for the patient as required. Make good use of individual and group supervision through case contribution and mutual learning in the interests of maintaining high standards of clinical care.
- Regularly monitor and evaluate therapy programmes and progress, using objective measures where appropriate, and communicate this to referring agent and other professionals involved as appropriate.
- Evaluate and make decisions about treatment options considering both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical, developmental and cultural processes and systems, which have shaped the individual.
- Include family members and others involved in clients problems in therapy programmes, where and if necessary and with patient consent.
- Assess and deliver therapy programmes in the community or GP Surgery and other settings within the service, as necessary.
- Discharge patients as appropriate and arrange follow-up as appropriate on completion of therapy. Ensure outcome and follow-up of treatment is communicated to the referring agent and other professional involved as appropriate.
- Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment, discharge and onward referral of patients whose problems are managed by psychotherapeutic interventions.
- Assess and manage clinical risk to self and others. Involve other agencies as appropriate.
- Adhere to relevant professional codes of conduct, policy and guidance of Accreditation requirements for individual registrants on the Professional Standards Authority register of Accredited Counsellors including UKCP, BACP, BPC etc.
- Maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data-entry and recording, report writing for the purposes of personally generated clinical, audit, teaching and research information.
- Exercise responsibility for professional self-governance in accordance with the HCPC, BPC and BACP and other relevant professional codes of practice and conduct and Trust policies and procedures.
- Develop and maintain knowledge of local resources and relationships with relevant statutory, voluntary and community groups and organisations.
- Develop and propose innovative responses to identified needs of the diverse and multi- cultural community the service serves in collaboration and consultation with colleagues from CNWL NHS TT Service and other relevant teams and agencies.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Overview of Main Responsibilities
CLINICAL
- Provide specialist psychotherapeutic assessment of patients referred to the CNWL NHS TT Service for High Intensity Counselling, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of quantitative and qualitative sources including self-report measures, rating scales, assessing for suitability of the treatment. Ensure the outcome of assessment is communicated to the referring agent and other professionals involved. Determine suitability of the approach and refer on unsuitable individuals to appropriate agencies and/or provide advice, including psycho-education, as appropriate.
- Formulate and implement plans for the specialist psychotherapeutic treatment and/or management of patients mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of those problems derived from a broad theoretical knowledge of counselling, and employing methods based upon evidence of proven efficacy within modality. It is expected that the postholder will treat patients across the mild-to-moderate range of severity.
- Be responsible for implementing a range of specialist High Intensity Counselling, and other NHS TT modalities interventions for individual patients, couples and groups, adjusting and refining psychotherapeutic formulations as practice and experience demand, and drawing upon different explanatory models and objective NHS TT modality framework/s to maintain a clinical individualised focus whilst maintaining ethical and legal standards.
- 4 Comply with agreed target activity requirements in terms of caseload, productivity, recovery outcomes, in line with a High Intensity post as per NHS TT national guidelines and local NHS TT implementation board.
- Regular and prompt entry of clinical data relating to patients on caseload and make it available for supervision and for the patient as required. Make good use of individual and group supervision through case contribution and mutual learning in the interests of maintaining high standards of clinical care.
- Regularly monitor and evaluate therapy programmes and progress, using objective measures where appropriate, and communicate this to referring agent and other professionals involved as appropriate.
- Evaluate and make decisions about treatment options considering both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical, developmental and cultural processes and systems, which have shaped the individual.
- Include family members and others involved in clients problems in therapy programmes, where and if necessary and with patient consent.
- Assess and deliver therapy programmes in the community or GP Surgery and other settings within the service, as necessary.
- Discharge patients as appropriate and arrange follow-up as appropriate on completion of therapy. Ensure outcome and follow-up of treatment is communicated to the referring agent and other professional involved as appropriate.
- Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment, discharge and onward referral of patients whose problems are managed by psychotherapeutic interventions.
- Assess and manage clinical risk to self and others. Involve other agencies as appropriate.
- Adhere to relevant professional codes of conduct, policy and guidance of Accreditation requirements for individual registrants on the Professional Standards Authority register of Accredited Counsellors including UKCP, BACP, BPC etc.
- Maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data-entry and recording, report writing for the purposes of personally generated clinical, audit, teaching and research information.
- Exercise responsibility for professional self-governance in accordance with the HCPC, BPC and BACP and other relevant professional codes of practice and conduct and Trust policies and procedures.
- Develop and maintain knowledge of local resources and relationships with relevant statutory, voluntary and community groups and organisations.
- Develop and propose innovative responses to identified needs of the diverse and multi- cultural community the service serves in collaboration and consultation with colleagues from CNWL NHS TT Service and other relevant teams and agencies.
Person Specification
Education and qualifications
Essential
- Qualification from a BACP approved Diploma in Counselling or equivalent, or qualified as a Counselling Psychologist, or qualified as a Psychodynamic psychotherapist or counsellor, with substantial specialist knowledge, theory and skills of Counselling acquired through diploma / degrees with professional Accreditation.
- Professional Accreditation on the Professional Standards Authority register of Accredited Counsellors (MBACP [Accred], UKCP, BPC, HCPC, UKAHPP, National Counselling Society Professional Accreditation) Or Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the HCPC
- Practitioner qualification in an accredited IAPT modality (Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy, Person Centred Experiential Counselling for Depression, Interpersonal Therapy, Couples Therapy for Depression)
Desirable
- Supervisor qualification from a substantial Counselling and/or IAPT modality supervision course
- Additional training in specialist areas related to primary care mental health eg LTC, Perinatal, group facilitation, clinical risk assessment
Previous Experience
Essential
- Experience of working as a High Intensity qualified counsellor with specialist post-qualification experience in the NHS, including substantial post-qualification experience within primary care.
- Experience of placement/honorary work in the NHS or an NHS TT service or other primary care setting, providing brief Counselling interventions.
Desirable
- Experience of the application of psychological therapy in different cultural and diversity contexts.
- Experience of teaching, training and supervision, and providing specialist expertise
Skills and Knowledge
Essential
- Competency in working within a recognised theoretical framework.
Desirable
- Knowledge of more than one model of Counselling or High Intensity therapy and the ability to choose and apply different interventions
- Ability to provide clinical interventions in mother tongue language/s other than English
Person Specification
Education and qualifications
Essential
- Qualification from a BACP approved Diploma in Counselling or equivalent, or qualified as a Counselling Psychologist, or qualified as a Psychodynamic psychotherapist or counsellor, with substantial specialist knowledge, theory and skills of Counselling acquired through diploma / degrees with professional Accreditation.
- Professional Accreditation on the Professional Standards Authority register of Accredited Counsellors (MBACP [Accred], UKCP, BPC, HCPC, UKAHPP, National Counselling Society Professional Accreditation) Or Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the HCPC
- Practitioner qualification in an accredited IAPT modality (Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy, Person Centred Experiential Counselling for Depression, Interpersonal Therapy, Couples Therapy for Depression)
Desirable
- Supervisor qualification from a substantial Counselling and/or IAPT modality supervision course
- Additional training in specialist areas related to primary care mental health eg LTC, Perinatal, group facilitation, clinical risk assessment
Previous Experience
Essential
- Experience of working as a High Intensity qualified counsellor with specialist post-qualification experience in the NHS, including substantial post-qualification experience within primary care.
- Experience of placement/honorary work in the NHS or an NHS TT service or other primary care setting, providing brief Counselling interventions.
Desirable
- Experience of the application of psychological therapy in different cultural and diversity contexts.
- Experience of teaching, training and supervision, and providing specialist expertise
Skills and Knowledge
Essential
- Competency in working within a recognised theoretical framework.
Desirable
- Knowledge of more than one model of Counselling or High Intensity therapy and the ability to choose and apply different interventions
- Ability to provide clinical interventions in mother tongue language/s other than English
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
