Counsellor

**North Staffs Mind has an exciting opportunity for you to join our adult counselling team The role is for a fully qualified Counsellor to work predominantly in our adult service delivering therapeutic interventions to clients, with the opportunity to work flexibly across a broad range of our services to suit client demand/your experience. A supervisor qualification would be an added bonus**

**Benefits**
- **5 weeks annual leave per annum (pro rata) plus bank holidays**
- **Gifted the days between Christmas Day and New Year plus your birthday as additional annual leave**
- **Flexible approach to working**
- **Discounted gym membership**
- **5% contributory pension scheme**

**Salary**:£22,768 - £26,639 gross per annum - £11,348 - £13,320 pro rata gross per annum (dependent on experience) **(PAY AWARD PENDING FROM APRIL)**

**About Us**

We may be a bit biased, but we think North Staffs Mind is a wonderful place to work We are a local charity supporting local people but can offer the support and opportunities that come with being part of the national Mind federation.

We have been delivering a range of services for adults, children, and young people in North Staffordshire for over 45 years. We pride ourselves on our relaxed and friendly atmosphere and our commitment to delivering high quality, client focused, respected, professional services.

We have an ambitious People Plan that focuses on our values of being **Open, Together, Responsive, Independent and Unstoppable**.

**About the Service**

You would join the team at a really exciting time We are continually building our paid for service which includes providing therapeutic intervention for individual clients, corporate clients and ad-hoc sessions alongside the development of a free at the point of access counselling service for people in our local community.

We provide 1:1 therapy, group work, clinical supervision, a de-brief service, resilience workshops and much more. We deliver all of this both face to face and remotely.

**About You**

We are looking for a fully qualified Counsellor with a real passion for supporting people experiencing mental health issues. You must have 2+ years post qualification counselling experience, as there is an expectation for you to be either working towards a supervision qualification, or be enrolled on it in the near future, if you are not already qualified.

You will work proactively, as part of a team, to establish a flexible and dynamic service that meets the needs of our local community.

You should be willing to work flexibly, have confidence to be part of new projects or ad-hoc work and have an enthusiastic approach to new challenges. You should be committed to working with the team in order to achieve the best possible outcome for every person you work with.

**The Details**

In return we offer a varied and rewarding role in a people-focused organisation that strives to improve the mental health and wellbeing of our local communities.

**Core Duties**
- Offer a professional one to one counselling service (including face to face, remote and telephone counselling, where required) to adult clients presenting with a broad range of common mental health issues.
- Offer Supervision to both internal and external supervisees (if qualified).
- Work in line with North Staffs Mind’s current practices, policies and ethos, including confidentiality and safeguarding.
- Demonstrate that you are working in accordance with the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions at all times. This document can be found on bacp.co.uk in the ‘Events and Resources’ section.
- Work flexibly to allow us to offer the best service possible to clients - this will involve working at least one evening session per week and providing staff cover for absence/annual leave.
- Be prepared to work in a variety of ways (not always counselling) across a range of internal services, both corporate and core.
- Work in a time limited, but appropriate way with clients to help them identify, understand and resolve or manage the issues which have brought them to counselling.
- Maintain up to date knowledge of issues which affect the mental health of individuals, families and communities. Maintain knowledge base by attending relevant training and undertaking relevant reading.
- Use evaluation measures as required at beginning, review stage and end of contact.
- Ensure session notes are recorded appropriately and in line with GDPR on Charity Log.
- Ensure all relevant information is communicated to administration staff.
- Undertake own counselling supervision of 1.5 minimum hours per month.
- Attend staff meetings, team meetings, training etc as required by North Staffs Mind
- Undertake any duties as required by North Staffs Mind to maintain an efficient and client friendly service.

**Person Specification**

**Essential**

Diploma in Counselling (or equivalent)

Willing to enrol on supervision course, if not yet qualified

A wide range of