Specialist Counsellor

We are looking for a Specialist Counsellors and Clinical/Counselling Psychologists with experience of working with adults with a range of mental health difficulties to join our successful, and supportive team. You will be providing assessment and high intensity psychological interventions.As a CBT therapist/Psychologist, you will work with adults with a range of anxiety and depression disorders using CBT.As a counsellor, qualified in a Talking Therapies approved modality to support the provision of high quality evidenced based counselling. Counsellors should have a core training in Counselling and have specialist training in Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy/Interpersonal Therapy/Counselling for Depression or short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy to provide specialist counselling for clients presenting with depression.You will have training and experience of providing supervision is also required as Band 7 Counsellors will undertake a range of activities alongside providing high quality one-to-one specialist counselling interventions. You may also be providing professional/clinical supervision to, act as a professional lead for trainee counsellors.CBT therapists will also offer (or work towards offering) supervision to trainees, and advice, consultation, and training within the service, as well as having the opportunity to contribute towards shaping and developing by taking the lead in a specific area of interest.

• Accept referrals via agreed protocols within the service
• Assess clients for suitability for Counselling using one the of Talking Therapies approved Counselling models. Where the problems appear to be too complex or severe to be appropriate for the Talking Therapies service, to refer to manager/supervisor for advice on how to manage the case.
• Contribute to diagnostic decisions and advise on the suitability of new referrals, adhering to the departments referral protocols, and refer unsuitable clients on to the relevant service or back to the referral agent as necessary.
• Formulate, implement and evaluate therapy programmes for clients. IAPT modalities include Counselling for Depression (CfD), Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depression (IPT), Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) and Couple Therapy for Depression (CTFD) and short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy.
• To make an assessment of risk for patient and others and take appropriate action when necessary.
• Educate and involve family members and others in treatment as necessary, conveying Counselling formulations with sensitivity in easily understood language.
• Adhere to an agreed activity contract relating to the number of client contacts offered and clinical sessions carried out per week in order to minimise waiting times and ensure treatment delivery remains accessible and convenient.
• Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or clients in treatment, where appropriate.

Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trustbelieves that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.

Essential: - Completed a PG Diploma in CBT or in High Intensity (IAPT Pathway) and be accredited with the BABCP or a registered doctoral level qualification in clinical or counselling psychology, with PG level training in CBT with BABCP accreditation

Desirable: - Qualification to provide clinical supervision to counsellors and psychotherapists (e.g. Certificate or Diploma in Supervision)

Essential: - Ability to evaluate and put in place the effect of training; - Computer literate; - Excellent verbal and written communication skills; - Has received training in, and carried out, risk assessments within scope of practice; - Able to develop good therapeutic relationships with clients

Desirable: - Experience supervising other CBT clinicians.

Essential: - Demonstrable experience of working in mental health services; - Ability to meet agreed/specified service targets; - Ability to manage own caseload and time; - Demonstrates high standards in written communication; - Able to write clear reports and letters to referrers; - Experience of providing evidence based psychological interventions (in particular CBT); - Experience with routine outcome monitoring; - Demonstrates an understanding (and formal training) of anxiety and depression and how it may present in Primary Care; - Demonstrates a knowledge of the issues surrounding work and the impact it can have on mental health; - Knowledge of medication used in anxiety and depression and other common mental health problems; - Demonstrates an understanding for the need to use evidence based psychological therapies and how it relates to this post

Desirable: - Experience of working in Primary Care Services; - Experience in teaching and liaising with other professionals; - Experience in establishing diagnoses; - Experience in using IAPTUS; - Experience of working in a service where agreed targets in place demonstrating clinical outcomes

Essential: - Ability to work within a team and foster good working relationships; - Ability to be self-reflective, whilst working with service users, in own personal and professional development and in supervision

Desirable: - Fluent in languages other than English, in particular common languages in Haringey such as Turkish and Spanish; - Able to integrate training into practice