Counsellor

at  Devon Partnership NHS Trust

Job Purpose The principal purpose of the job is to improve the psychological health & wellbeing of people within an identified Devon locality. The post holder will work as a member of a TALKWORKS team working in an integrated stepped care NHS Talking Therapies service. The post holder will contribute to increasing the range of therapy choices available to people with depression by providing Person Centred Experiential Counselling for Depression (PCE-CfD) at step 3 within the stepped care model, following NICE guidelines. If required, the post holder will successfully complete a five day course in NICE-recommended PCE-CfD according to the NHS Talking Therapies national curriculum, provided by the Regional Development Centre, including supervised and assessed practice.
The post holder will work with people with different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and will be committed to equal opportunities. Along with colleagues from TALKWORKS, the post holder will act as a representative of the service to primary care and other interests. Duties and Responsibilities Communication and Working Relationships Clients, family and carers: To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner with clients who may have specific difficulties in understanding and/or communicating and who may be hostile, antagonistic or emotionally distressed. Multidisciplinary team colleagues: To work closely with colleagues in the multi-professional TALKWORKS service on a day to day basis.
Health, social care and employment staff: To communicate with a wide range of health, social care and employment staff in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, complex and sensitive information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients. To act at all times as a representative of the service to primary care and other interests. Senior managers & professional staff: To maintain and build good working relationships with senior professional staff and managers. Planning and Organisation TALKWORKS: To plan and prioritise own workload within an agreed activity contract relating to the number of client contacts offered, and clinical sessions carried out per week, balancing the demands of patient care, support and guidance of team colleagues and staff from other teams and agencies, in response to supervision from service managers.
The multidisciplinary service: Provide information on matters related to the practice and delivery of PCE-CfD to individuals/groups across DPT, Primary Care services and other statutory and voluntary agencies. Responsibility for Judgement and Analysis To have significant discretion and work independently within a defined occupational context making use of supervision. The post holder is responsible for their own professional actions, acting within Trust policies and procedures and Professional Practice Guidelines, working within clearly defined occupational procedures. Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment and Therapy 1.
Accept referrals via agreed protocols within TALKWORKS 2. Assess clients for suitability for PCE-CfD. 3. Make decisions on suitability of new referrals, adhering to the TALKWORKS referral protocols, and refer unsuitable clients on to the relevant service or back to the referral agent as necessary.
4. Formulate, implement and evaluate evidence based PCE-CfD for clients. 5. Adhere to an agreed activity contract relating to the number of client contacts offered, and clinical sessions carried out per week in order to minimise waiting times and ensure treatment delivery remains accessible and convenient.
6. Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or clients in treatment, where appropriate. 7. Work closely with other members of the team ensuring appropriate step-up and step-down arrangements are in place to maintain a stepped care approach.
8. Assess and integrate issues surrounding work and employment into the overall counselling process. Policy, Service, Research, Innovation and Improvement Policy & service: To implement policy led changes to own role and to comment on proposed policy changes. To participate in and propose changes to working practice in TALKWORKS R & D: To participate in research and development undertaken by the service as required, and to undertake audit and evaluation of clinical activity Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources Careful use of equipment Responsibility for Supervision, Leadership and Management Leadership & supervision: To contribute to the good functioning of the team and local service under the direction of the team’s Clinical Team Lead and take on delegated task for the team as required.
To supervise counselling trainees and junior counsellors as required. Information Resources and Administrative Duties To complete the requirements relating to data collection within the service. Keep accurate, coherent records of all clinical activity in line with service protocols using IAPTUs, the digital patient record. To be responsible for using an email account to generate, monitor, and respond to the e-mail traffic by which the Trust conducts much of its internal communication.
Any Other Specific Tasks Required To ensure all clinical care and treatment is carried out under appropriate supervision and leadership. To continuously update the skills and techniques relevant to their clinical work. To ensure the maintenance of standards of practice according to the employer and any regulating, professional and accrediting bodies (eg BACP, HPC), and keep up to date with new recommendations/guidelines set by the Department of Health (e.g National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence)

Please refer the Job description for details