School Counsellor

Gwynedd Council; Reading; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 46,000; Full time

Job summary

Gwynedd Council is seeking a qualified counsellor to provide a confidential counselling service for children and young people within Gwynedd schools and the community. The role includes face-to-face and virtual sessions, with structured assessments and careful adherence to BACP standards and data protection rules.

You will collaborate with school staff and other agencies, maintain case notes, and contribute to a safeguarding‑driven environment.

Qualifications

• Qualification in counselling recognised by a professional body (BACP/UKCP/etc.).
• Experience counselling children and young people within educational settings.
• Understanding of Data Protection and safeguarding requirements.

Responsibilities

• Provide face-to-face and/or virtual counselling for individuals in schools and community.
• Assess clients, offer counselling or refer to appropriate services per guidelines.
• Maintain standardised notes and input data into secure information systems.
• Coordinate service delivery with schools and liaise with relevant agencies.
• Ensure safeguarding and ethical standards are followed at all times.

Skills

Counselling

CYP experience

Data Protection

Welsh bilingual

IT skills

Education

Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling

Job description

Purpose of the Post

• Ensure that the people of Gwynedd are at the heart of everything we do.
• Provide a counselling service for children and young people within Gwynedd secondary and primary schools and the community.
• Responsibility for functions . e.g. staff, budgets, equipment
• Responsibility for functions . e.g. staff, budgets, equipment
• Main Duties
• Serve as a team member to provide an effective, professional and statutory counselling service for young people .
• Provide a face to face and/or virtual counselling service for individuals that can benefit from counselling:
• Provide and arrange one-to-one assessments in compliance with BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) regulations.
• Comply with and offer a limited number of sessions in compliance with service guidelines and BACP regulations
• Ensure that every client is assessed and is either offered a counselling service or is referred to another appropriate service.
• Act in a manner that complies with recognised standards of counselling providers:
• Comply with the BACP Code of Practice and Ethical Framework (or another accredited professional body, e.g. UKCP, HPC, or NCPS)
• Follow recommendations of the Welsh Government Toolkit on good practice
• Focus on children and young people's safeguarding and protection arrangements
• Maintain a balance between Safeguarding and Ethics arrangements for the benefit of the client
• Keep standardised notes on every case:
• Collate basic notes on every individual case
• Provide data and feedback to input into the service's information management system
• Input client data into the secure online system on a regular basis
• Ensure all notes are kept in accordance with Data Protection
• Follow procedures to obtain the user's opinion on the service.
• Maintain firm contact and an agreed system of efficient collaboration with relevant agencies within the boundaries of confidentiality
• Consult with other key workers in the field of children and young people's well‑being and mental health and follow an agreed referral system to and from the service.
• Provide information on the counselling service. Raise awareness of children, young people, their parents and other professionals on the existence of the counselling service and how it operates. Raise school staff's awareness about counselling, advising them on the counselling service's website within the range of support services that are available for children and young people.
• Undertake any other tasks related to providing counselling in schools, as can reasonably be expected given the salary of the post, as requested by a line manager.
• Protect clients and others that are at risk of considerable harm:-
• Clients are dependant on the Counselling Service providing a higher level of confidentiality. It is essential that the Counsellor can provide this safe environment whilst keeping a balance between the Ethical Framework and Child Protection Legislation. There is a need to monitor the clients' needs regularly throughout the Therapeutic process.
• Co‑ordinate the service on a school level by:
• Arranging and administrating the counselling service in collaboration with the school;
• Communicating with and contact the school's staff, for the benefit of the young individual, and keeping within the client's confidentiality boundaries;
• Act as a resource for school staff by giving them a glimpse of the counselling world and promoting the service wherever possible.
• Maintain and develop a professional practice through regular and consistent management, and supervision and clinical training, and through taking part in evaluations and investigations of the service;
• Assess and control the risks to individuals, and to yourself.
• Monitor, re‑assess and control the risks to individuals regularly
• Take immediate steps that are commensurate to dealing with/addressing any behaviour that poses a risk
• Comply with procedures and protection practices of the department and the Local Child Safeguarding Board
• Comply with all the relevant legislations, guidelines, national standards and departmental policies.
• Keep accurate and updated case records and ensure that the files comply with the department's policy requirements on data protection, written records, and confidentiality.
• Pro‑actively contribute to performance evaluation reviews and individual supervision.
• Make a positive contribution to the team, by collaborating with co‑workers and the line manager.
• Attend team meetings and take part in any relevant working groups and other departmental and inter‑agency meetings as needed.

General

• Responsibility for self‑development.
• Ensure compliance with Health and Safety rules in the workplace in accordance with the responsibilities noted in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Council's Health and Safety Policy.
• Operate within the Council's policies in relation to equal opportunities and equality.
• Responsible for managing information in accordance with the Council's information management guidelines. Ensure that personal information is treated in accordance with Data Protection legislation.
• Commitment to reducing the Council's carbon emissions in accordance with the Carbon Management Plan, and to encourage others to act positively towards reducing the Council's Carbon Footprint.
• Undertake any other reasonable duty which corresponds to the salary level and responsibility level of the job.
• Responsibility to report any concern or suspicion that a child or vulnerable adult is being abused.

Special Circumstances . e.g. the need to work unsociable hours, special working arrangements etc.

• Some meetings could be outside normal working hours.
  Personal attributesEssential
• Excellent communication and listening skills in Welsh and English. The ability to respect and deal with clients in the strictest confidence. Knowledge of Protection Procedures with regards to children and young people and how schools work with Safeguarding systems. Knowledge of the matters that affect and disrupt young people's lives. The capacity to work through personal motivation and work independently Ability to form good working relationships with colleagues and other agencies. An enthusiasm for working with children and young people Patience, tolerance and sensitivity. A capacity to work under pressure and to react quickly and competently to unexpected events Desirable Ability to develop new skills and make use of unfamiliar software programmes. Qualifications and relevant trainingEssential Qualification in Counselling at a Post Graduate Diploma or corresponding level that is recognised by the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Holder, or working towards BACP Accreditation Higher academic or occupational qualification in a relevant field of study Registered with and accountable to the BACP (or another accredited professional body, e.g. UKCP, HPC, or NCPS) Desirable Any specific training required for the post including accreditation Qualification and/or training in art/drama/play therapy, or a commitment to undertake further training in these types of therapy Group facilitation training Relevant experienceEssential Experience of: Experience of working as a counsellor Experience of working with children and young people Experience of keeping standardised notes Experience of collaboration with others Good IT skills and experience of computer and database programmes Awareness of the principles behind Data Protection/GDPR Desirable Experience of working in schools Experience of offering counselling virtually: video,phone,e-mail Experience of offering creative therapy Skills and specialist knowledgeEssential Counselling/psychotherapy training to a Post Graduate Diploma level Desirable - Language requirementsListening and Speaking - Higher Able to follow a conversation or discussion through the medium of Welsh and English on a professional level and discuss general day to day topics in the field in order to present information and express opinions.Able to give a pre-prepared presentation and respond to any comments and questions on it in Welsh or English. Reading and Understanding - Higher Able to understand standard written Welsh and English; both formal and informal.Able to gather information from various sources such as letters, reports, articles through the medium of Welsh and English in order to fulfil the post. Writing - Higher Present written information confidently by letter, more detailed and technical report formats, and respond to written requests conveying information, ideas and opinion in Welsh and English (help is available to check the work).
  Gwynedd Council operates internally through the medium of Welsh, and offers all its services bilingually. The applicant will be required to reach the linguistic level noted as one of the essential skills in the Person Specification.