High intensity counsellor
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
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Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust is recruiting a High Intensity Accredited Counsellor for Harrow Talking Therapies. The role requires Band 7 experience with IAPT modalities and supervision knowledge.
Posts can be Band 7 or Band 6 depending on qualifications and experience. You will provide specialist psychotherapeutic assessment and treatment for patients, develop and implement treatment plans, and monitor progress within an NHS primary care mental health setting.
Qualifications
- Accredited/Registered Counsellor or Psychotherapist with BACP/UKCP/BPC or equivalent.
- Accredited IAPT modality training (DIT, PCE-CfD, IPT, CTfD).
- Experience in NHS/IAPT or primary care mental health settings preferred.
Responsibilities
- Provide specialist psychotherapeutic assessment and treatment.
- Formulate and implement treatment plans for mental health problems.
- Deliver High Intensity Counselling and other IAPT modalities for individuals, couples and groups.
- Maintain caseload and activity targets including contacts and recovery rates.
- Enter clinical data promptly and accurately.
- Monitor and evaluate therapy progress and outcomes.
Skills
Education
Job description
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
The closing date is 25 November 2026
Our Service seeks a High Intensity Accredited Counsellor (Band 7) with a particular interest, experience and firm commitment to working to deliver effective brief treatments. The service works across diverse patient groups presenting with a wide range of psychological difficulties.
To qualify for Band 7 applicants would need qualification in at least one IAPT approved modality. A supervision qualification is desirable.
The posts can be recruited to at two bandings, dependent on experience and qualifications:
Band 7: We seek experienced clinicians who have an interest in applying clinical practice in a variety of other ways to develop the service performance and clinical outcomes.
The postoffers a range of developmental opportunities includingScreening, Supervision, lead areas, waiting list/pathway management, audit & research. Experience is highly desirable; however, training can be provided.
Band 6: Where Band 7 criteria have not yet been fully met, it may possible to consider suitable candidates to join the service at Band 6. The retention of the post will be conditional on achieving qualification in an additional IAPT modality within an agreed time-frame.
You should be an Accredited or Registered Counsellor or Psychotherapist with the BACP, UKCP, BPC or an equivalent professional body.
Provide specialist psychotherapeutic assessment and treatment of patients referred to Harrow Talking Therapies for High Intensity Counselling.
Formulate and implement plans for the specialist psychotherapeutic treatment and/or management of patients' mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of those problems derived from a broad theoretical knowledge of counselling.
Be responsible for implementing a range of specialist High Intensity Counselling, and other IAPT modalities interventions for individual patients, couples and groups.
Comply with caseload and set activity requirements which include number of contacts and recovery rates.
Regular and prompt entry of clinical data relating to patients on caseload.
Regularly monitor and evaluate therapy programmes and progress.
Evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors.
The Counselling Team is a friendly, highly experienced and supportive team of clinicians. The post holder will receive regular supervision and support from the senior management team, as well as benefit from support and guidance from colleagues, regular reflective practice, and highly specialist CPD. Clinicians work collaboratively across the wider Service which has close links with our Community Mental Health Hub and local organisations and charities.
Our Counselling team provides assessment and treatments in brief counselling and IAPT modalities: DIT, IPT, PCE-CfD and CTfD. The team is substantially psychodynamic or integrative in approach.
The Service is open Monday - Wednesday 8.00am to 8.00pm and Friday 8.00am - 5.00pm. Posts are offered with 5 days (37.5hrs) per week, one day of which must be a Wednesday and the required office day is Thursday and one evening shift to 8pm is required. The Service offers telephone, video and face-to-face sessions dependent on patient need. Staff currently work with a balance of office and home-based practice, with a generous allowance made for home-based working
Harrow Talking Therapies is based in Harrow Weald, an easy walk from the Underground Station. The Service forms part of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
Provide specialist psychotherapeutic assessment and treatment of patients referred to Harrow Talking Therapies for High Intensity Counselling.
Formulate and implement plans for the specialist psychotherapeutic treatment and/or management of patients' mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of those problems derived from a broad theoretical knowledge of counselling.
Be responsible for implementing a range of specialist High Intensity Counselling, and other IAPT modalities interventions for individual patients, couples and groups.
Comply with caseload and set activity requirements which include number of contacts and recovery rates.
Regular and prompt entry of clinical data relating to patients on caseload.
Regularly monitor and evaluate therapy programmes and progress.
Evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors.
Discharge patients as appropriate and arrange follow-up as appropriate on completion of therapy.
Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment,treatment, discharge and onward referral.
Assess and manage clinical risk to self and others. Involve other agencies as appropriate.
"Comply with relevant professional standards and guidelines.
Maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping.
Exercise responsibility for professional self-governance.
Develop and maintain knowledge of local resources.
Develop and propose innovative responses to identified needs of the diverse and multi- cultural community.
- Qualification from a BACP approved Diploma in Counselling or equivalent, or qualified as a Counselling Psychologist, or qualified as a Psychodynamic psychotherapist or counsellor, with substantial specialist knowledge, theory and skills of Counselling acquired through diploma / degrees with professional Accreditation.
- Professional Accreditation on the Professional Standards Authority register of Accredited Counsellors (MBACP [Accred], UKCP,BACP BPC, HCPC, UKAHPP, National Counselling Society Professional Accreditation) Or Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the HCPC
- Practitioner qualification in an accredited IAPT modality "Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT), Person Centred Experiential Counselling for Depression(PCE-CfD), Interpersonal Psychotherapy(IPT), Couples Therapy for Depression(CTfD)
- Critical understanding of the relevance of studies of human development, psychopathology, psychology, social issues and evidence-based practice.
- Supervisor qualification from a substantial Counselling and/or IAPT modality supervision course, as a supervisor for Counselling, DIT, IPT, CTfD, PCE CfD
- Additional training in specialist areas related to primary care mental health e.g. LTC, Perinatal, group facilitation, clinical risk assessment
- Qualified/Registered Mental Health Professional
- Experience of working as an Accredited High Intensity Counsellor with highly specialist post-qualification experience of assessment and brief counselling treatment of adult patients in a primary care mental health setting or similar and presenting with problems that reflect a wide range of clinical severity.
- Experience of working in the NHS or an IAPT service or other primary care setting, providing specialist expertise in the field of brief Counselling interventions.
- Experience of assessing clinical risk in the context of common mental health problems.
- Specialist psychotherapeutic working experience
- Experience of teaching, training and supervision, and providing specialist expertise
- Experience of the application of psychotherapy in difference cultural and diversity contexts.
- Experience of managing an independent and specialist caseload.
- Research skills and knowledge and aptitude.
- Competency in working within a recognised theoretical framework.
- Ability to draw on an evidence base in the choice of clinical interventions.
- Well-developed skills in the effective communication of highly complex and/or clinically sensitive information to a wide variety of recipients in a range of settings within and/or outside the NHS, including the ability to produce comprehensive and coherent letters, reports and associated documentation.
- Knowledge of the psychotherapeutic role, ability to take clinical decisions about patient care, within professional expertise.
- Skills in providing advice and consultation to other professional and non professional groups.
- Competence in basic IT systems including keyboard skills.
- Ability to manage effectively frequent exposure to highly distressing/emotional circumstances
- Experience in the theory and practice of assessment of specific groups (e.g. complex needs, personality disorder, somatoform disorders, persons with additional disabilities etc).
- Knowledge of more than one model of Counselling or High Intensity therapy and the ability to choose and apply different interventions
- Working knowledge of the practices and approaches of other key disciplines, professions and agencies involved in the care and management network, including medical, employment, social, educational and criminal justice systems.
- Ability to provide clinical interventions in mother tongue language/s other than English
- An interest in developing expertise and skills across a range of theoretical models and interventions, appropriate to primary care counselling.
- Ability to identify difficulties in clinical practice and to seek and use supervision constructively in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
- To demonstrate emotional resilience and stability.
- Ability to establish and maintain working relationships under pressure.
- Ability to travel between localities and administrative offices. Offer flexibility in terms of time and attitude.
- Personal psychotherapy undertaken or current.
- Ability to work creatively, co- operatively, reliably and consistently both as an independent practitioner and in multi-disciplinary and team settings.
- Demonstrably respectful approach to patients, carers, colleagues, other professional contacts with the ability to understand and implement the Equal Opportunities Policy at a level appropriate to the post
- Willingness to negotiate and ability to handle confrontation effectively and professionally.
- Knowledge of local languages and ability to deliver therapy in other languages.
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.
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
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