Band 6/7 Trainee Counsellor for Depression - Talking Therapies

at  Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

The Talking Therapies service offers support to patients who may be experiencing common mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and low mood, offering a range of evidence based treatments.
A new and exciting opportunity has arisen to join our team as a Trainee Counsellor for Depression (CfD). This will initially be a band 6 developmental role, moving to band 7 once training, accreditation and clinical hours are successfully completed.
You will need to hold a Diploma in humanistic or person centred counselling and have at least 2 years relevant post qualification experience. You should hold accreditation with the BACP or be working towards this.
The training course starts in January 2025 so we are aiming for a January start date. We have one post available with Wiltshire Talking Therapies (Devizes or Salisbury based) and another with B&NES Talking Therapies (Bath based). We operate a hybrid working arrangement with some work from home.
On completion of the CfD training programme, within an agreed timeframe (normally one year) you can progress to Band 7 as a qualified Counsellor for Depression.
You will provide specialist psychological assessments & therapy whilst completing CfD training with the Metanoia organisation. Course details can be found here: NHS-Recognised Practitioner License in Person-Centred Experiential Counselling for Depression (PCE-CfD) (metanoia.ac.uk)
The Talking Therapies Team recently won the AWP “Team of the Year” award where it was recognised for outstanding service improvements. We place a very strong focus on staff wellbeing and development.
We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust): a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care.
We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.
Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.
At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.
To provide specialist psychological therapy assessments with clients referred to the NHS Talking Therapies service.
To provide at least one NICE recommended psychological therapy for anxiety disorders and/or depression (counselling for depression)
To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy.
To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual.
To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans

Please refer the Job description for details