Counsellor/Support Officer

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a qualified and experienced counsellor to join the Staff Support and Counselling Service as a Counsellor Support Officer.

Part time, 15 hours per week covering Thursdays and Fridays.

Band 5, £29,970 - £36,483 per annum pro rata.

This is a busy, highly effective and respected department offering short term brief therapy/counselling and coaching support to staff across the North Staffordshire area, as well as other contracts outside of the area. In addition, the service provides training, group support, team building, mediation, stress management (including Work Related Stress Audits) and critical incident stress management (CISM) support.

You will be expected to be involved in all aspects of the service delivery as outlined above.

Main duties of the job

You will also need to have an interest in the activity of the service and how this can be presented to our customer base in a meaningful and productive manner.

The service also supports a full commitment to the health and wellbeing of NHS staff; therefore, you will also be expected to be able to deliver programmes to meet the needs of the staff ensuring topics such as mindfulness, loss, stress and other supportive programmes.

Working for our organisation

As a Trust we remain bold and ambitious with plans for both service and system collaborative transformation over the coming years to improve the health and wellbeing of our local people through high quality care.

We pride ourselves on ensuring our team has their wellbeing put first and as such provide a range of wellness opportunities including flexible working.

As a Trust, you can be assured that we will commit to supporting you in working towards our net zero ambitions, set out in our Green Plan, through our sustainability programme”.

The Trust is committed to ensuring that a diverse workforce is representative and inclusive at all levels. We would very much welcome applications from all under-represented groups including women, people with disabilities, people from global majority backgrounds, and those from the lesbian, gay, bi and trans communities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Staff Support and Counselling Service is a busy department offering short term counselling/coaching support to staff across the North and South Staffordshire area as well as other contracts outside of these areas.

The service also provides training, group support, team building, mediation, stress management (including Work Related Stress Audits) and critical incident stress management support.

The service supports placements to counselling/therapy students, volunteers and as and when associate staff and the post holder will be significantly involved in supporting those roles, this will involve professional support and also administration and documentation support.

The post holder will be expected to have the confidence to be able to work unsupervised at times and will also have a level of experience to be able to complete and deliver counselling for a range of issues to both individuals and groups.

The post holder will also need to have a good range of communication skills as well as a sound knowledge of Microsoft Office and in particular the maintenance and/or development of information databases around student activity and recruitment.

1. To conduct an Initial Assessment (using CORE 34 outcome measures) with new clients to ascertain their suitability for short-term counselling (between 6 to 8 sessions) and to develop therapy plans to support their needs. To provide appropriate client reports to support referrals from organisations and Occupational Health Services as required and in line with Service Level Agreements.
2. Provide professional counselling and psychotherapeutic service to clients accessing the service in accordance with need and within the protocols and procedures established for the service. The nature of presenting issues vary according to the reason for the referral but there is an expectation that there will be times when clients will present highly distressed, emotionally charged and potentially expressing suicide or self-harming intentions. The range of issues are not wholly limited to but can include stress, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, work place issues, bullying, self-harm, loss and past life experiences i.e. abuse etc. It is therefore expected that the post holder will have the resilience and professionalism to manage the impact of this and to seek appropriate support via supervision and/or case management.

• Be responsible for effectively managing their own workload, with an expectation to remain intensely focussed during each client assessment. The post holder will work collaboratively as a member of the Clinical team, managing all aspects of the counselling waiting list, including decisions around prioritising clients.
• Co-ordinate the waiting list and appointment system for other counsellors and provide support, regular in-house supervision and mentoring when needed.

1. To assist clients to find alternative sources of help through either their GP or through the voluntary sector if it is judged the Staff Counselling Service is not appropriate to meet their needs or they have longer term therapy needs. This will require excellent communication skills from the post holder in order to process highly complex, distressing and sensitive information and to suggest therapies that the client may be resistant to.
2. To work with clients in ways which respect their values, personal circumstances and resources.
3. To adhere to the BACP Code of Ethics.
4. To ensure that they attend Supervision in line with the BACP recommendation but as an absolute minimum of 1 ½ hours per month.
5. To maintain accurate records and administrative procedures including on-line records and Risk Assessments using CORE Net, in-house databases, student records, student and management pathways
6. To read and abide by the At Risk Protocol for Clients issued by the Service. To ensure robust action plans for clients presenting with Risk Issues and to refer to appropriate agencies where appropriate.
7. To ensure that counselling support is provided in line with the Staff Support & Counselling Procedures

1. To maintain diary appointments and administration/student systems within the department as appropriate and to provide additional telephone support to the administration team to cover holidays or busy times within the service.
2. To ensure that client caseloads are manageable and appropriate to the level and experience of the counsellor in line with the BACP Code of Ethics and under the guidance of Service or Deputy Service Managers.
3. To attend case management/group supervision and CPD sessions as appropriate.
4. To attend annual Appraisal.
5. To maintain registration of the BACP and provide annual renewal evidence to the department as appropriate.
6. To input and collate data/statistics on service use and to assist in the input and production of reports using the Core Net Clinical Management Package, including databases and other packages supporting students and client within the placement. To ensure that all Information Governance guidelines are adhered to and that service user records are recorded appropriately and safely in line with Trust Policies.
7. To input, create and present work related stress audits in line with the Health and Safety Executive Management Standards and the Trust’s Work Related Stress Policy and to provide advice and support to Teams on the results.
8. To assess and deliver team support sessions on a range of issues including supporting traumatic or distressing situations and incidents in the form of critical incident stress debrief or defusing skills, conflict, change, relationship restoration, stress etc. Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM – Mitchell/Dyregrov Model) Support sessions often involve exposure to distressing facts in relation to the events particularly involving self-harm, suicide and death.
9. To assist Service Manager in reviewing and producing in-house protocols and standards to ensure that the service maintains high levels of professionalism and operates within appropriate ethics and guidelines.
10. To participate in clinical audits on a range of issues including clinical effectiveness, maintenance of safe practice, waiting and response times, student performances and risk management.
11. To provide in-house training and support to students and volunteers within the service. This will include providing mentoring support to student counsellors/psychotherapists as well as contributing towards supporting students on placement and providing a robust induction programme for them. This includes liaising with education providers to ensure that protocols and procedures stipulated by them is adhered to and maintained by students on placement. Ensuring that appropriate checks and documentation are provided and checked in line with protocols of the service and the Trust.
12. To deliver pre-written training workshops and use knowledge to develop appropriate informative workshops as identified by Service Manager and to develop appropriate training topics e.g. stress, change, resilience.
13. To provide support to the Service Manager for securing, managing and maintaining Service Level Agreements with existing and new potential customer base.
14. To provide support to Trust Health and Wellbeing initiatives e.g. attendance at Health and Wellbeing Meetings, and supportive other Health and Wellbeing events.
15. To provide mediation and facilitated meetings as identified by the service. Mediation involves working with highly charged emotion including anger, aggression and frustration therefore a level of calm and skilled mediation skills are required.
16. Undertake any other duties commensurate with the role as requested by the Service Manager

Specialist/technical requirements

Good communication skills together with an ability to be able to make professional clinical judgements and to recognise Risk Assessment processes and packages to support clients is essential. A knowledge of requirements to fulfil counselling training is considered a key knowledge essential as part of this role.

Person specification

Qualifications and Knowledge

• Diploma In Counselling and/or equivalent e.g. Stress Diploma, CBT qualifications etc. Registered with the BACP or other equivalent professional bodies. Evidence of continued professional development
• Relevant experience of working with clients on a one-to-one sessional basis dealing with a variety of personal and work issues. A knowledge of relevant clinical questionnaires to identify the therapy support required e.g. GAD7, PHQ9, CORE 34, CORE 10 A working knowledge of the Ethical Guidelines as set out by the BACP. Evidence to support that they have received on-going supervision.
• Ability to deliver training workshops on a range of supportive topics e.g. stress, health and wellbeing to teams

• Coaching/Mentoring, Debrief Support etc CISM Training/Knowledge Certificate in Supervision Experience and/or qualification in training or teaching.
• Experience of working in a time-limited (brief therapy) setting. Meets the BACP Accreditation Criteria or is working towards this. Evidence of CPD to support BACP registration A knowledge of supportive measures other than counselling i.e. stress management, assertiveness etc Knowledge of NHS environment. An awareness of Work Related Stress Audits in line with HSE Stress Management Standards. Experience of working in group settings and/or with support groups including Debrief/support to individuals and teams following untoward or traumatic incidents* Knowledge of CORE Net Clinical Management System and/or at Risk Protocols. Knowledge of data collection and record keeping.
• Certificate or equipment in Occupational/Organisational Stress Management or equivalent experience. Certificate and/or equivalent experience in delivering training in related counselling/stress skills/topics Interest in developing skills in mediation

North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust is an equal opportunities employer and values diversity. We offer a variety of flexible working opportunities for both full and part time staff. Job Share applicants will be fully considered and applications are particularly welcomed from current and previous service users

All correspondence at each stage of the process (including any offer packs) will be sent to you via the email address you applied from, please ensure you check your emails regularly.

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• In the event of exceptionally high levels of response, we reserve the right to close the post before the date stated above in order to prevent the number of applications received being unmanageable. You are advised to submit your completed application form as soon as possible to have the best chance of being considered.
• Priority will be given to NHS staff across the region who are at risk of redundancy, where the vacancy is at the same band or one below their current band and candidates meet the essential criteria for this post.
• All employees new to the Trust will be subject to a 6 month probationary period.
• All clinical staff bands 2-4 that are new to the Trust will be required to complete a Care Certificate.

Canvassing of members of the Trust or of any Committee of the Trust directly or indirectly for any appointment under the Trust shall disqualify the candidate for such appointment. The Trust does not pay travel expenses for candidates attending interviews.

ALL POSTS INVOLVING ACCESS TO PERSONS IN RECEIPT OF HEALTH SERVICES WILL BE SUBJECT TO A DISCLOSURE & BARRING SERVICE DISCLOSURE.

Please provide full contact details for all referees, especially their email addresses where possible. Failure to do may result in significant delays in your application. There may also be a requirement to provide additional referee details.