Psychotherapist-Counsellor

Job responsibilities

The post-holder will offer culturally sensitive emotional, educational and social support to meet the varying and complex needs of patients/family members, and to clinical staff who are involved in caring for patients/carers:

To support the Director of Clinical Services and Quality in the delivery of a holistic and systemic approach to referrals/casework for patients/clients and relatives of all ages who are facing loss or who have been bereaved. To participate in monitoring the Service performance frameworks. To deputise for the Director of Clinical Services and Quality as requested.

To work as part of a team to deliver a holistic and systemic approach to our initial assessments and triage of referrals for patients/clients and relatives of all ages, who are facing or who have experienced bereavement. This includes initial telephone support to discuss concerns and queries, as well as to highlight strengths and resources. The process will incorporate the use of our assessment framework to work in collaboration with clients, to ensure a match with appropriate support available in the community and/or within the St Giles FST team. The post-holder will manage their own caseload of referral/triage support.

To manage a caseload of individuals, couples and families of all ages who have complex psychosocial needs (NICE Level 3-4), with reference to the agreed framework used by the FST Team.

To be involved in raising awareness of the psychological needs of staff caring for patients/carers, and in the development and provision of supervision/support for clinical staff across the organisation

To be available to offer care advice and consultation to the MDT in relation to the psychological/ emotional needs of patients/families, and regarding psychological support for physical distress/pain.

To be involved in provision of psychosocial training within the FST Team, across the Hospice and for external students.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Clinical Practice

Clinical supervision is with an independent supervisor, with appropriate qualifications/experience.

The post holder will work in active collaboration with other members of the Family Support Team to:

Co-ordinate in-coming referrals and any follow-up contact before allocation.

Participate in multi-professional meetings as requested.

Undertake pre and post-bereavement assessments across all ages in a holistic and systemic way, considering strengths/resources and vulnerabilities/risks and identifying psychological, social, cultural, spiritual and physical needs in line with the NICE guidelines (2004), with a view to providing guidance, signposting, ad hoc support and making on-going referrals as appropriate.

Identify areas of concern, risk or safeguarding and work with the Director of Clinical Services and Quality with regard to these.

Manage a caseload of telephone support to clients.

Establish and maintain a network of relationships within the Hospice, in order to liaise, as appropriate, regarding referrals and caseload.

Develop and maintain appropriate organisational liaison with external agencies, such as GPs, hospitals, community social workers, schools, CAMHS and other voluntary organisations, with a view to empowering patients and families through knowledgeable sign-posting

Actively participate in team clinical meetings, debrief reflections and processes

Support the Director of Clinical Services and Quality in the co-ordination and delegation within the Family Support Team.

Maintain up-to-date confidential and accurate records using electronic systems, and fulfil any administrative requirements, including the collection of statistics.

The post holder will work under supervision to:

Deliver a therapeutic menu of clinical services to patients/clients, couples and family members who have been allocated through the FST Referral and Triage processes. Clients will be of all ages and have complex psychosocial needs, and a holistic and flexible systemic approach will be maintained. This will include working face to face, on-line and via the telephone to provide assessments and subsequent therapeutic sessions. Our supportive approach also involves offering psycho-educational information and signposting advice.

Use FST theoretical framework and outcome measures.

Ensuring up-to-date confidential and accurate records are maintained using electronic systems.

To demonstrate self-reflexivity through the ability to reflect on, and keep alert to, personal limitations within their scope of practice, discussing this within clinical meetings and supervision.

This post is based at Whittington; however, it may be appropriate to offer sessions at other hospice sites and/or in a school.

Supervision

To be involved in raising awareness of the psychological needs of staff caring for patients/carers and in the development and provision of supervision/support for clinical staff across the organisation.

To offer care advice and consultation to the MDT re psychological/emotional needs of patients/families.

Be available to provide coaching/support/supervision to volunteers within the FST.

Education

Work as part of a team delivering educational programmes for hospice staff, volunteers and other professionals.

Support trainee positions in the Family Support Team.

Research and audit

Work with the Director of Clinical Services and Quality to develop and embed a robust quality assurance framework, which ensures high standards of service provision and productivity.

Participate in audit and research.

Professional

Ensure that personal clinical supervision, mandatory training, continuing professional development and an annual appraisal are all undertaken.

To ensure safeguarding policies are adhered to at all times.

Act as an ambassador for St Giles Hospice, and support the fundraising and community work of the department.

Be pro-active in maintaining the standards of professional accountability in practice as determined by HCPC, BACP and any other relevant professional body.

Be conversant and compliant with the policies and procedures of St Giles Hospice.

Just so you know:

We may review applications before the application review date, however, if you apply after the application review date, your application may not be considered. We will accept applications until we have successfully filled the role, this may be earlier than the closing date.

If you have not heard within 14 days of the application close date, then please consider that your application has been unsuccessful at this time.

As part of your application your data will be managed in line with St Giles Hospice Privacy Policy and kept for 6 months. If you would like to see this in full, please visit https://www.stgileshospice.com/privacy-policy/

Qualifications

Essential

• Relevant professional qualification and registration/accreditation with relevant professional body, e.g. BACP, UKCP, AFT, BPS
• Minimum of 3 years post-qualification experience with evidence of continued professional development
• Substantial supervisory experience.

Desirable

• Qualification/training in systemic practice/ family practice
• Supervision qualification
• Additional relevant qualifications (e.g. RGN/CQSW)
• Working with volunteers
• Understanding/experience of psychological support for physical symptoms/pain.

Skills

Essential

• Transferable skills/experience to effectively manage a therapeutic caseload of clients with complex psycho-social needs (i.e. social and emotional needs, family dynamics, understanding relevance of mental health history, understanding of social care systems and practical issues)
• Demonstrable computer literacy skills and ability to work with accuracy (Word, excel, outlook or equivalent) and an aptitude to learn computer packages that are essential to the role
• Experience in providing professional supervision, consultation and support
• Teaching, assessment and presentation skills
• Delegation skills and experience of motivating others

Personal Attributes

Essential

• Empathetic
• Team player
• Able to work under pressure
• Collaborative
• Ambassador for St Giles Hospice
• Eligibility to work in the UK
• Valid driving licence

Experience

Essential

• Evidence of experience in managing a complex caseload, requiring flexibility, time-management and organisational skills.
• Ability to operate in a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) environment raising awareness of holistic needs of patients/families
• Evidence of sound clinical practice knowledge reflective of current practice and research in counselling, systemic practice and bereavement support
• Excellent interpersonal skills, in particular self-reflexivity, and the ability to effectively communicate in writing, person, on the telephone and on-line
• Demonstrable understanding and experience of holistic and systemic assessment of the needs of individuals, couples and families (all ages) and ability to collaborate with them and/or with referring professionals to match their needs with appropriate interventions.
• Competence in risk assessment, which includes understanding of mental health problems and the ability to work appropriately with clients where risk is identified.
• Working knowledge of safeguarding policies and procedures for adults and children and willingness to undertake on-going training
• Skills and/or experience of working with individuals, couples and family groups who are experiencing grief and loss.
• Experience of working effectively both independently and on own initiative AND as part of a team and extended teams
• Experience and competence in working with individuals and family groups who are experiencing grief and loss/bereavement
• Effective skills/experience presenting to/ working with groups
• Personal and professional imperative to maintain the highest ethical standards across relationships and practice.
• Willingness to learn and develop individually and as part of the team
• Positive attitude towards embracing developments and change
• A strong commitment to and respect for equality and diversity
• Confidence and self-awareness of own limitations, and of professional boundaries
• Professional resilience, as a practitioner with the ability to work flexibly and where necessary under pressure
• Ability to travel independently throughout the locality and access to suitable vehicle for business purposes

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).