Counsellor on Placement South West London

Place2be; London; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading children's mental health charity committed to improving the emotional wellbeing of young people. As a Counsellor on Placement, you'll provide essential support to children in schools, helping them navigate their challenges. This role offers invaluable experience, professional development, and the chance to make a real difference in the lives of vulnerable children. With a strong emphasis on supervision and training, you'll be part of a dedicated team focused on fostering resilience and mental health in the community. Embrace this rewarding opportunity to grow your skills while positively impacting the future of children and young people.

Benefits

Regular supervision

Tailored training workshops

Comprehensive induction programme

Continuing professional development workshops

Qualifications

• Fully qualified Counsellor or studying towards relevant qualifications.
• Experience working with children is essential.

Responsibilities

• Provide emotional and therapeutic support to children aged 4-18.
• Work one-to-one with up to 3 children weekly in a therapeutic capacity.

Skills

Counselling Skills

Therapeutic Techniques

Communication Skills

Education

Diploma in Counselling (Level 4 or above)

Degree, MSc, or MA in Counselling or Psychotherapy

Job description

Thank you for your interest in a Counselling Placement at a Place2Be partner school!

Click this link to view a map of our placement schools: Placement Map

• Please note that not all schools will have placements available, but we will try our best to match you to a convenient placement.
• We recruit for Counsellors to start in school in January, April or September in line with school term time. Please note the recruitment and onboarding process can take 2-3 months.
• Please only apply for one vacancy as multiple applications are rejected on the system. If successful upon interview, you will have the opportunity to discuss your location preference.
• All successful applicants would need a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) or Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) check that is enhanced, checked for children’s and adult’s barred list, and is registered on the Update Service.

Counsellors on Placement provide emotional and therapeutic support to children and young people aged 4-18 in Place2Be partner schools. As an organisation that has adopted the BACP ethical framework of good practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy, counsellors working within the organisation are dedicated to improving the mental health and well-being of the children they work with.

• Place2Be provides a high level of support to counsellors on placement through regular supervision, tailored training workshops, and offers a well-recognised clinical placement.*
• We provide a comprehensive induction programme and clinical supervision is undertaken at the end of each day.
• We need you to be available for a minimum of one day per week to work in a therapeutic capacity with up to 3 children offering one-to-one counselling.
• Placements are term time only and run for one academic year. There are opportunities for you to stay with us beyond one year.
• You will have the opportunity to attend up to six optional workshops throughout the year, recognized as continuing professional development time.
• Sessions spent with children are accepted as clinical hours towards professional accreditation, and are recognized by the BACP and UKCP.
• A placement is an excellent stepping stone into a job opportunity and career with Place2Be; over two-thirds of our clinical staff were once Counsellors on Placement.
• We have places available in our projects in both primary and secondary schools nationwide.

*Counting your hours

All clinical hours gained on placement can be used towards accreditation with a body such as BACP and UKCP. However, if you need to gain clinical hours for your course, we strongly advise checking with your course tutor whether child hours are accepted before applying. If your course does not accept child hours but you would like to gain counselling experience working with children and young people, you can still apply for a Place2Be placement as a second placement.

Diversity and Inclusion

Place2Be is committed to equal opportunities and anti-discrimination practices, and we positively encourage applications from all sections of the community. We are particularly interested in attracting applications from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

Additionally, for our clinical roles, we are particularly keen to attract male candidates to reflect the diversity of the partner schools and communities we work in.

About You

You will be a fully qualified Counsellor, Therapist, or studying towards one of these professions at the following levels:

• Diploma in Counselling (Level 4 or above). If you are in your first year, you will have completed a full academic year Certificate Course in Counselling or the equivalent of 9-12 months.
• Degree, MSc, or MA in Counselling or Psychotherapy. If you are in your first year, you will have relevant experience of direct work with children.

We are always looking for suitable counsellors on placement. If you believe you have what it takes to thrive in this challenging, rewarding environment, please apply. View/download the full Job Description and Person Specification on our website for further details.

About Us

Place2Be is the leading children's mental health charity providing in-school support and professional development to improve the emotional wellbeing of children and young people, families, teachers, and school staff. The charity currently provides an embedded mental health service in 500 UK primary and secondary schools supporting a school community of around 243,000 children and young people.

Our teams provide a range of services in our partner schools to build resilience early in life through counselling, creative work, and play, supporting a child's ability to engage in school life. Our work, focused on early intervention, is part of the comprehensive CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) system. Through our professional development programme, we train around 1,200 Counsellors on Placement each year, building their mental health and counselling skills through practice in our partner schools. We also offer professional development programmes on mental health and wellbeing for school leaders, teachers, and other professionals working with children and young people, helping to create 'mentally healthy' schools and communities where all children can thrive and flourish.

We continue to pilot, trial, and explore new ways to develop our practice, share learning, expertise, and findings from our research and evaluation. HRH The Princess of Wales is our Royal Patron, and Place2Be is a founding charity partner of Heads Together. We collaborate with various charities and organisations to leverage knowledge and expertise to improve outcomes for the children, families, and schools we support. We ask our staff to embody our core values of perseverance, integrity, compassion, and creativity, and to have the skills and patience to support some of the UK's most vulnerable children and families.

Our values:

We believe that how we approach our work is as important as the work itself. Our four key values shape everything we do:

Compassion – We bring empathy and kindness to all we do to better understand and meet the needs of children, young people, colleagues, and stakeholders.

Integrity – We demonstrate sound ethical values, honesty, transparency, courage, and authenticity.

Perseverance – We continue in the face of adversity with determination to find effective solutions.

Creativity – We approach our work with open-mindedness and flexibility, encouraging others to do the same.