Join to apply for the Band 7 High Intensity Counsellor role at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
Job Overview
Our Service seeks a Band 7 High Intensity IAPT Counsellor with a particular interest, experience and firm commitment to working at pace to deliver effective brief treatments. The service works across 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 IAPT Service, and to be qualified and experienced in at least one IAPT approved modality. A supervision qualification is desirable.
Banding Options
Band 7: We seek an experienced clinician who has 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 be 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 IAPT modality within an agreed time‑frame.
Accreditation
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 and Responsibilities
* Provide specialist psychotherapeutic assessment of patients referred to the CNWL Talking Therapies IAPT 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 range of severity.
* Be responsible for implementing a range of specialist High Intensity Counselling, and other IAPT 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 IAPT modality framework/s to maintain a clinical individualized focus whilst maintaining ethical and legal standards.
* Comply with caseload and set activity requirements which include number of contacts and recovery rates, for a High Intensity post as per IAPT national guidelines and local IAPT 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.
* 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 taking into account 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.
* 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 Talking Therapies IAPT Service and other relevant teams and agencies.
Person Specification
Previous Experience
Essential Criteria
* Experience of working as an Accredited High Intensity Counsellor with highly specialist post‑qualification experience of assessment and brief counselling treatment of adult patients in a primary care mental health setting or similar and presenting with problems that reflect a wide range of clinical severity.
* Experience of working in the NHS or an IAPT service or other primary care setting, providing specialist expertise in the field of brief Counselling interventions.
* Experience of assessing clinical risk in the context of common mental health problems.
Desirable Criteria
* Specialist psychotherapeutic working experience.
* Experience of teaching, training and supervision, and providing specialist expertise.
* Experience of the application of psychotherapy in different cultural and diversity context.
* Experience of managing an independent and specialist caseload.
* Research skills and knowledge and aptitude.
Education and Qualifications
Essential Criteria
* Qualification from a BACP/UKCP/BPC approved Diploma in Counselling or Psychotherapy.
* 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.
* OR [Band 6 Developmental Entry]: Readiness to train and obtain qualification in an accredited IAPT modality (DIT, IPT, PCE CfD, CTfD).
* Critical understanding of the relevance of studies of human development, psychopathology, psychology, social issues and evidence‑based practice.
Desirable Criteria
* Supervisor qualification from a substantial Counselling and/or IAPT modality supervision course, as a supervisor for Counselling, DIT, IPT, CTfD, PCE CfD.
* Additional training in specialist areas related to primary care mental health e.g. LTC, Perinatal, group facilitation, clinical risk assessment.
* Qualified/Registered Mental Health Professional.
Skills and Knowledge
Essential Criteria
* Competency in working within a recognised theoretical framework.
* Skills in psychological assessment for High Intensity Counselling and other treatments.
* Experience of working as an Accredited High Intensity Counsellor with highly specialist post‑qualification experience of assessment and brief counselling treatment of adult patients in a primary care mental health setting or similar, and presenting with problems that reflect a wide range of clinical severity.
Desirable Criteria
* Knowledge of more than one model of Counselling or High Intensity therapy and the ability to choose and apply different interventions.
* Experience in the theory and practice of assessment of specific groups (e.g. complex needs, personality disorder, somatoform disorders, persons with additional disabilities etc).
* Ability to provide clinical interventions in mother tongue language/s other than English.
* Knowledge of the academic literature of the specialty.
* Knowledge of issues around clinical and information governance.
Working Hours
The Service is open Monday – Thursday 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and Friday 8:00 am – 5:00 pm. Post is offered with working 22.5 hours per week, one day of which must be a Wednesday and one evening shift to 8 pm 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 (subject to review).
Harrow Talking Therapies is located at 12-14 Station Road, Harrow, HA12SL. The Service forms part of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
Seniority Level
Mid‑Senior level
Employment Type
Part‑time
Job Function
Management and Manufacturing
Hospitals and Health Care
#J-18808-Ljbffr