Are you an Accredited Counsellor, Psychotherapist or Counselling Psychologist who wants to join experienced, supportive colleagues delivering brief, relational therapies for adults in the NHS? We are looking for experienced therapists committed to brief therapy, who have or want to train in one of the relational Talking Therapies (IAPT) modalities:Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT), Person Centred Existential Counselling for Depression, Couple Therapy for Depression or Behavioural Couples Therapy. We offer opportunities to train and run short therapy groups or work in a specialist area in our service, in our perinatal, long term conditions, young adult and older adult provisions and in management development, according to your skills and interests.

Applicants should be a fully Accredited Counsellor, Psychotherapist or Counselling Psychologist, on the Accredited register of the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). This covers Accredited Counsellors / Counselling Psychologists registered with the UKCP, BPC, HCPC or an equivalent professional bodies and/or Accredited with the BACP. Please ensure your application provides correct details of your registration to confirm Accreditation by search of number and not name, on the PSA or BACP 'Find an Accredited Therapist', in order to be shortlisted.

Main duties of the job

For appointment to band 7, candidates should have extensive experience of delivering brief therapy to adults, preferably in an NHS IAPT service, over the past two years, and be qualified in an IAPT modality and/or have supervisor training.

We are an innovative and progressive service delivered for Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust. Service hours are between 8am and 6pm and clinicians are expected to provide some later working hours within their week. Our primary hub is at Beaufort House in central Uxbridge. We encourage applicants who may not have worked in the NHS but would like to do so.

We also hope to attract therapists with supervisor training and experience who have a substantial supervision qualification or are qualified supervisors for one of the modalities. Additional support and training will be provided for clinicians to gain supervision experience and qualification within the Talking Therapies framework and commissioned funding.

Posts are offered part- or full-time, with a minimum of 3 days (22.5hrs) per week, one day of which should be a Tuesday. Clinicians are currently working a blend of telephone, video and face to face sessions, dependent on patient need and with a balance of office- and home-based working.

You will join a friendly, highly experienced and supportive team of clinicians, with opportunities to work in innovative areas of the service including our perinatal and post-Covid provisions.

About us

You will work in a well-integrated team with qualified CBT therapists, Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners, assistant psychologists and trainee counsellors. As part of the NHS Talking Therapies (previously called IAPT) national programme, we are well led, have excellent CPD opportunities, work in additional areas such as Perinatal, Long-Term Conditions / Covid, Young Adults, provide community outreach and engagement and promote compassionate leadership and staff wellbeing.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

Job description Job responsibilities

Hillingdon Talking Therapies is committed to providing choice within a range of free NHS psychotherapies that include relational approaches alongside a strong CBT provision. This commitment is reflected in the banding of the post at band 7 for psychotherapists and counsellors who meet the entry requirement to be fully Accredited (details in the Person Specification) and on completion of one of the modality practitioner trainings, which is fully funded. Accredited therapists joining our service without one of these relational therapy qualifications, will join at band 6 until qualification in the additional modality.

The post holder will receive regular supervision and support from experienced, qualified counselling supervisors, as well as benefit from support and guidance from other Hillingdon Talking Therapies Service team members and will work collaboratively with other senior staff within the overall team and we have close links with our Hillingdon Community and Mental Health Services. There are also wider links with other IAPT services within CNWL Foundation Trust and the Trust-wide clinical psychology services.

Person Specification Education and qualifications Essential

• A Counselling Diploma approved by the BACP or equivalent.
• Registered with the UKCP, BPC, HCPC or equivalent professional bodies and/or accredited with BACP

Desirable

• Post-qualification training in one or more additional specialized areas related to primary care mental health eg. DIT, IPT, CfD, mental illness, clinical risk assessment, CBT principles.
• Formal post-qualification supervision training on an accredited course of at least one year's duration.

Previous Experience Essential

• Experience of working as a qualified counsellor with specialist post-qualification experience in the NHS, including substantial post-qualification experience within primary care.
• Specialist level of experience of brief focused counselling, including undertaking assessments, including risk assessment.
• experience of supervising the clinical work of at least two counsellors working in a primary care setting, tested through written verification by at least one referee
• Experience of professional management and supervision of qualified and pre-qualified counsellors in the NHS in a primary care setting.
• Experience of working with a wide range of clients over the age of 16 years and including older adults presenting with mild to moderate degrees of severity of mental illness.

Desirable

• Experience of working within an IAPT service

Skills and Knowledge Essential

• Specialised post-qualification knowledge of a range of specialist therapeutic techniques underpinned by theory, acquired through further substantial training or experience and specialist supervision to Master's degree or equivalent level.
• Ability to work independently and manage a caseload, with freedom to act and take decisions about patient care, under supervision.
• Ability to co-ordinate the recruitment, training and supervision of counsellors on placement.
• Skills in providing professional and clinical supervision, management and training to qualified and pre-qualified counsellors.

Desirable

• Competency in providing brief focused counseling using an evidence based approach eg focal psychodynamic, client centred, solution focused, humanistic etc

Other Essential

• Ability to demonstrate leadership and management skills.
• To demonstrate emotional resilience and stability. Ability to establish and maintain working relationships under pressure

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

333-J-IA-0161