Counselors - Band 6

Job overview

Part Time Band 6 Counsellor

Tower Hamlets Talking Therapies (THTT) is one of the leading national Talking Therapies services and we are keen to recruit an experienced Counsellor.  The successful candidate will join our dynamic Relational Therapies team and work alongside other therapists who are trained in psychodynamic, systemic, couples, DIT, and integrative therapies.  Other teams of therapists at THTT are trained in a range of therapies including EMDR, Eating Disorders treatment, CBT and a well-established PWP team.

We believe that staff who feel valued by the Trust and who are truly engaged in the organisation deliver better outcomes for our patients. This Trust is clinician-led and provides the highest possible level of clinical expertise throughout its services. We have set ourselves the mission to improve the quality of life of all we serve and have embarked on an ambitious Quality Improvement Programme to transform the culture of the Trust to one of continuous improvement, delivered through participation of all staff and with service users, carers, and families at the heart of our efforts to improve.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will provide individual and group counselling interventions for clients with mild to moderate common mental health problems as appropriate to meet service user needs. They will monitor their performance and outcomes in conjunction with the stream lead.

The post-holder will be BACP/UKCP registered/accredited and is required to be eligible and willing to undertake the NHS Talking Therapies training in Counselling for Depression if requested. The post holder will implement a stepped care approach to clinical practice and will work with clients who present with depression and anxiety for which Counselling is demonstrated to be clinically effective and appropriate.

A percentage of the post-holders’ clinical contact hours will be filled with triage assessments.  The number of triage assessments required per week will be specified by line managers/clinical lead.  Assessments may be face-to-face or via telephone or other communication mediums that are approved by your line manager/clinical lead

The post-holder will work with people from different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and may work in various community settings, including GP surgeries and other community settings.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Offer 1:1 and group brief counselling interventions which may be face-to-face, via telephone or on online using Teams.
• Work their hours flexibly, to include one late night clinic to 7pm, as agreed with the line manager.
• Book 25 hours of clinical contact appointments per week for a 1.0 WTE (37.5 hours per week) with the expectation of a minimum of 20 hours attended clinical contacts per week. Clinical contacts include treatment and triage assessments.
• Collect and record on IAPTus specified NHS Talking Therapies (previously IAPT) outcome measures at assessment and every treatment session.
• Competently use an electronic patient information and recording system such as IAPTus for recording of all assessment, treatment and supervision sessions, to include inputting clinical outcome measures, recording risk assessment and risk management plans, problem descriptors, and all other specified fields as required by the service and your line manager.
• Engage with regular clinical, case-management and line-management supervision as specified by your line manager and clinical lead.  All supervision will be conducted by a suitably qualified and experienced clinician/manager, employed and supplied by East London NHS Foundation Trust.
• Undertake additional tasks as requested by the post-holders’ line manager/clinical lead in connection with the provision of an efficient and efficacious NHS Talking Therapies service to the residents of Tower Hamlets in accordance with National Guidance and Requirements.