Psychotherapist/Counsellor

Assistance Dogs; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 37,000 - 40,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave 25–30 days + bank hols

Pension contributions up to 6%

Flexible working

Enhanced sick leave & family leave

Job summary

Family Action is seeking a Psychotherapist/Counsellor for the Off Centre service in Hackney, London. The role involves initial assessments, risk, and co‑designed treatment plans for young adults with mental health needs.

You will carry a caseload for individual counselling, maintain records, and participate in the weekly Drop‑In and safeguarding processes. Hybrid working with at least one in‑person day is expected.

Qualifications

• UK recognised Psychotherapy/Counselling qualification (MA desirable) or equivalent with substantial post‑qualifying clinical experience.
• Accredited to a relevant psychotherapy/counselling body (BACP/UKCP/HCPC).
• Evidence of continued professional development and advanced post‑qualification training (e.g., DBT, Systemic, Mindfulness, EMDR).
• Appointments subject to enhanced DBS disclosure.

Responsibilities

• Carry out clinical and holistic initial assessments of service users’ needs, including risk and safeguarding, co‑design outcome‑focused treatment plans.
• Maintain a caseload of service users receiving individual counselling/psychotherapy, with associated case management and admin work.
• Keep accurate, up‑to‑date records and share information securely in line with safeguarding.
• Liaise with external partners to support mental health needs and contribute to service development and collaboration.

Skills

Psychotherapy/Counselling

Clinical experience with young people

Continued professional development

Education

MA in Psychotherapy/Counselling

Tools

DBT

EMDR

Mindfulness

Job description

ID: 1868 Psychotherapist/Counsellor

Service: Off Centre

Salary: Grade 3 (upper) 24-28:£36,501 - £40,024 FTE per annum, Inclusive of Inner London Weighting

Location: Off Centre, The Textile Building, Hackney, London, E9.

We are predominantly office based but there may be an option for staff to work one day a week remotely. Our office space is wheelchair accessible. All staff are required to work on Wednesdays and one evening up to 8pm on either Monday or Thursday.

Hours: Full-time (37 hours per week) or open to job share.

We offer flexible working arrangements - please see below for more details.

Contract: Temporary (1 year)

Family Action & the Role’s Impact:

At Family Action we support people through change, challenge or crisis. It’s what we’ve done for over 150 years. We protect children, support young people and adults and offer direct, practical help to families and communities.

We see first‑hand the power of family to shape lives, for better or worse, so we speak up for the

importance of family in national and local policymaking, amplify family voices and represent the changing needs of families in the UK today.

Main Responsibilities:

• To carry out clinical and holistic, initial assessments of service users’ needs and suitability for service, including assessing risk and safeguarding issues, co‑design outcome focussed treatment plan with young adult, utilizing agreed assessment and outcome tools such as CORE 10, PHQ 9 and GAD 7.
• To carry and maintain a caseload of service users receiving individual counselling / psychotherapy applying specialist knowledge and techniques of counselling / psychotherapy where appropriate during interventions. In addition, undertake the associated case management and administrative work in accordance with clinical and funding requirements. You will also co‑facilitate the weekly Drop In on Thursday evenings.
• To keep excellent and up‑to‑date records of work with service users at all times, adhering to confidentiality and information sharing protocols in conjunction with safeguarding requirements.
• To advise and liaise with external partners involved in the mental health and wellbeing needs of clients. Contribute locally as well as regionally, to strategic planning discussions and ensure collaborative working with statutory and voluntary agencies and service providers to ensure a high quality unified service. Ensure that service‑users’ views are heard and understood and inform and influence the development of local mental health services’ provision and practice.

Main Requirements (for details check the job description and person specification):

• UK recognised Psychotherapy/Counselling (MA desirable) or equivalent qualification with substantial post‑qualifying clinical experience in delivering evidence based psychotherapies with young people or young adults (ideally both) with moderate to severe mental health issues, and with a focus on quality and effectiveness.
• Accredited to a relevant professional Psychotherapy/Counselling body (BACP/UKCP/HCPC).
• You will be able to demonstrate continued professional development and advanced post qualification training in relevant areas which could include areas such DBT, Systemic, Mindfulness and/or EMDR approaches and interventions.
• Appointments are subject to Family Action receiving an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service that we consider acceptable.

Benefits:

• an annual paid leave entitlement that commences at 25 working days, rising each April by one day, subject to a maximum of 30 working days plus bank holidays / of 30 working days plus bank holidays
• up to 6% matched-pension contributions
• flexible working arrangements and new starters have the right to make flexible working requests from day one of employment
• enhanced paid sick leave and paid family leave provisions
• eye care and winter flu jabs vouchers
• cycle to work scheme
• investing in your professional development with ongoing quality training and career development opportunities

We are forward looking, ambitious and committed to continuous improvement. We are a people focused, can‑do organisation, which strives for excellence in all we do and operates with mutual respect.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion:

We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process and you will be asked whether you require any adjustments if shortlisted for interview. We also make reasonable adjustments on the job, where required.

We are committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in all that we do and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Intersectionality is important to us and we particularly welcome applications from ethnically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ candidates and disabled candidates because we are committed to increasing the representation of these groups at Family Action. We know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for families and children and strive for our workforce to be truly representative of the diverse communities we support. We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role, and will reimburse your travel cost if you attend an interview.

*Ordinarily Family Action appoints new starters at the starting point of the salary scale (with subsequent annual pay progression), unless you have experience that would justify appointment further up the salary scale or there are any other exceptional reasons.