Counsellor

Duration of Contract

Fixed Term, due to end 31 July 2020

Salary

UH7, £33397 to £36914 pro rata pa with potential to progress to £40322 by annual increments on achieving designated skills and experience.

Location

College Lane Campus, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield.

The University has had a Counselling Service for more than 40 years. The Counselling Service responds to the needs of students presenting with a wide variety of concerns. It offers a range of interventions: individual counselling, workshops, and group therapy. The majority of the work is short-term and solution-focused in nature.

Main duties and responsibilities

You will be required to provide one-one, short term therapy/counselling using an a specialised model combined with an integrative and solution focused approach to students of the University, working to the BACP’s Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy and ensure you keep accurate clinical records of sessions in line with requirements and guidelines. You will be required to occasionally give workshops to staff or students on areas of Mental Health. You would also be expected to make appropriate referrals to both internal teams and external agencies where it is appropriate and act appropriately when presented with risk. In addition to this you should also create positive working relationships with members of university staff and contribute to activities in the wider university in order to promote the Counselling Service, Student Wellbeing Department and to promote the students emotional and psychological wellbeing.

Knowledge and Experience

For the role, you must have substantial proven experience in offering one-one short term counselling/therapy and experience when integrating short-term interventions. You will also require proven experience of working with a wide variety of vulnerable clients who may have been in secondary care or assessed by psychological services. In addition to this you will need experience of working with high risk clients, such as those who self-harm or have suicidal thoughts. You must have experience in using different clinical measures and experience of identifying and responding to clients who require further assessment and support. It is important you have knowledge of a range of therapeutic approaches as well as relevant legislation, and an understanding of complex clients and cases.

Qualifications & memberships required

You must hold a minimum of a Master’s or masters equivalent in Counselling or Psychotherapy. In addition to this you will also be required to prove your BACP accreditation, UKCP accreditation, BABCP accreditation or HCPC and BAAT accreditation (you can be a maximum of 6 months away from relevant accreditation/registration). You must also have the required number of clinical hours obtained according to your accrediting body. If you have a BACP or UKCP recognised clinical supervision qualification in psychotherapy or any group facilitation training, this would also be desirable.

Contact Details/Informal Enquiries

Chaitanya Pankhania, Deputy Head of Student Wellbeing (Counselling and Mental Health), 01707 284453 or [email protected]