Counsellor HMP Littlehey

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen within the Mental Health In-Reach at HMP Littlehey. Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team with prisoners convicted of a sexually related offence, the role will primarily focus on providing person centred counselling. A second aspect of the post will be to support the team through providing more general mental health support work.

Please note this post is subject to security vetting. To be considered for this post you will need to have continuously resided in the UK without any breaks for a minimum of 3 years prior to this application and be able to evidence your years of residency. Please note without sufficient evidence your application may not progress.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work with clients who may be in significant distress, many of whom will have complex histories of trauma, and who are negotiating very difficult life circumstances. This work will sometimes involve exposure to details of serious sexual offences.

The successful candidate will be registered with the BACP, UKCP, or equivalent, and be either accredited or nearing accreditation. They will have an understanding, and ideally experience of, working within secured services or custodial settings.

The post holder will work in a compassionate and trauma informed way with a forensic population which faces significant stigmatization. They will demonstrate a clear understanding of risk assessment and management as it relates to possible harm to self and others as well as to security within a custodial setting. The ability to set and maintain clear boundaries is of essential importance.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The provision of counselling sessions is expected to be around twelve sessions in length rather than long term; however, there is some scope to adjust this according to client need.

More general work within the mental health service in-reach service will include conducting mental health assessments and co-facilitating psychoeducational groups; these currently include trauma groups and a more general mental health skills programme.

For further information on the advertised role, please refer to the job description located under the Supporting Documents heading. The full person specification can be accessed under the ‘About You’ Section of the document.