Counsellor/Psychotherapist – INTERNAL ONLY

THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY

About Us

The King’s community is dedicated to the service of society. King’s Strategic Vision 2029 sets out our vision for the future, shaped around five priority areas: educate to inspire and improve; research to inform and innovate; serve to shape and transform; a civic university at the heart of London; and an international community that services the world. Our ambitious Education Strategy sets out the actions that we must take to transform how we teach, how and where our students learn and how we support them during their time with us.

The Counselling & Mental Health Support (CMHS) Service at King’s is a multi-disciplinary team comprising psychodynamic and integrative counsellors, group analysts, counselling psychologists, mental health advisors, clinical assessors and a consultant psychiatrist.

The CMHS team work within professional Codes of Practice relating to confidentiality, the Mental Health Act and Fitness to Practice issues in all aspects of our clinical work.  These standards recognise the professional codes of Practice and Ethics of External Professional Bodies such as the BAPC, BPC, BPS, UKCP, IGA.

We are part of the Students & Education Directorate, a collection of wide-ranging professional services in place to support King’s students and their education. As a directorate we manage the student lifecycle from application to graduation and beyond, to ensure a coherent and seamless student experience and effective administrative processes, working closely with King’s faculties to do so.

About the Role

You will be working closely with colleagues in the Counselling and Mental Health Support Service to ensure the appropriate referral of cases and an effective multi-disciplinary approach to all aspects of clinical work. Referrals to the college psychiatrist and/or external services, where appropriate, will also be part of your post-assessment tasks. You will present more complex cases at the weekly team meetings and have support to access regular supervision with an external supervisor.

Counselling & Mental Health Support at King’s, as part of Student Services, aims to help support students holistically, and so where appropriate, the role will include other tasks as appropriate; for example, providing students with letters supporting their request for consideration of Mitigating Circumstances in their academic submissions, advising them on other avenues of support available to them at King’s, and writing to their GP.

This is an exciting opportunity for candidates looking to work in a dynamic environment where we embrace new initiatives and ways to improve the provision of mental health support for our students. This is an opportunity to grow your skills in working with a diverse client population within a valued service.

We encourage applications from candidates who have experience from both within and outside of the Higher Education sector where they can demonstrate the skills needed to succeed in this role.

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract.

This is a part-time post, and we welcome applications from candidates seeking a flexible work pattern within our necessary service operating hours. 

• To undertake full psychological assessments of students applying to the Counselling and Mental Health Support Service, in order to ascertain the nature of their presenting problems and how best to meet their needs. 
• To provide 50-minute counselling sessions or one-and-a-half-hour group sessions/workshops in accordance with the assessment recommendations. 
• To participate in and contribute to departmental programmes designed to meet the wider aims of the Institution and to participate in development and training workshops for King’s staff. 
• To participate in weekly clinical case discussion and collective decision making.       
• Within the bounds of confidentiality, to liaise as appropriate with academic and non-academic staff regarding individual students and to liaise as appropriate with external professionals and institutions for example, GPs, psychiatric or other mental health services, specialist services e.g. Eating Disorder Clinics. 
• To support students with mitigating circumstances requests and accessing other means of support across King’s.  

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.  

Please clearly address how you meet the
essential criteria in your application, and where possible how you meet the
desirable criteria as well.

 
Essential criteria

Relevant work experience and/or education: We think a wide range of different work and educational experiences could support you to be successful in this role. Relevant work experience might include work in Student (Further or Higher Education) Counselling Services, the NHS or with Third Sector Mental Health Providers.  

Relevant educational experience will include a post-graduate degree or equivalent, with clinical membership and accreditation with a professional registering body such as BPS, BACP, HCPC, UKCP or BABCP 

You will have experience of providing brief-term, high-quality, confidential, 50-minute counselling sessions.   

Experience of undertaking mental health and risk assessment and management, including standardized assessment protocols and relevant clinical outcome measures (such as CORE). 

Experience of managing a complex caseload of clients presenting with a wide range of mental health difficulties. 

Experience of referring cases into NHS and voluntary sector bodies and working closely with such services on complex cases.  

Experience of balancing the need to share information appropriately to ensure the effective management of risk with the need for confidentiality and data protection legislation compliance.  

Excellent IT and administration skills, including administrative self-sufficiency (e.g. diary management, letter writing, etc.)  

You will possess specialist knowledge of issues relating to student mental health, including the assessment and management of risk, mental health assessment, crisis management and external referral of cases where appropriate.  

Desirable criteria

Post-qualification training in specific mental health conditions or interventions in addition to your primary modality.   

Experience of psycho-educational or short-term group work  

Experience of working in a HE institution.  

Experience of delivering training, workshops and presentations  

Expert knowledge of the mental health issues and support needs of students and/or young adults.   

Knowledge of legislation relating to mental health.  

Please submit a personal statement when applying for this vacancy, clearly setting out how you meet the essential criteria, as this is how we shortlist applications. Learn more about how we recruit, including tips on writing your application and supporting statement on our website:  

https://jobs.kcl.ac.uk/gb/en/applying

Interviews will be held using Microsoft Teams and will consist of competency-based questions linked closely to the essential and desirable criteria mentioned here. 

Although we have made improvements over the last number of years, our team is still under-represented in terms of staff from global majority ethnicities, LGBTQ+ identities, and from people with disabilities. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries, and are committed to employing a team that has diverse skills, experiences and abilities. 

Interviews are scheduled to take place on Tuesday 25th October.