College Counsellor

This is a temporary position for 16 hours per week,  based in Neath

The role is to provide an effective, confidential counselling service to students.  Duties include but are not limited to the following:

• To provide an effective, flexible and adaptable response to the individual needs of students;
• To create and maintain links with other relevant support agencies within the area and develop referral systems that are appropriate to client’s individual needs;
• To work closely with the Assistant Manager: Safeguarding and Resilience and Student Support Team and be familiar with support systems within the College that can be accessed for individual clients;
• To be involved in offering support to students about welfare issues which will include emotional issues and personal problems;
• To be responsible for developing resources relating to student welfare and the service offered and make them available to students;
• To work in conjunction with the Assistant Manager and Head of Student Support to contribute to a variety of training programmes including Tutorials, Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection training, Induction Programmes etc;
• To participate in cross college events including open days, open evenings and enrolment;
• To maintain a professional approach and operate within the British Association of Counselling Code of Ethics with particular reference to supervision, confidentiality and record keeping;
• To provide electronic evidence of record keeping, maintaining records of confidential meetings where appropriate, provide statistical returns when needed and contribute to an annual report in collaboration with the Assistant Manager: Safeguarding and Resilience
• To keep abreast of recent developments and current research in counselling;
• To undertake liason work where appropriate with schools, HE institutions, employers, parents, partner and local community organisations;
• To make links with partner school counselling teams, particularly in line with transition and attend meetings as appropriate.

Candidates should have a level 6 qualification (degree or equivalent) in Counselling; relevant experience and must have accreditation with BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy)/ NCS (National Counselling Society).  Candidates should also hold a level 2 qualification in English and Maths (GCSE or equivalent) and be IT literate to level 2 (with working knowledge of using MS Word and Excel).  Experience of working with young people and knowledge of mental health issues / awareness of the signs of mental illness to facilitate appropriate referrals is essential.

The normal distribution of hours are as follows (there can be some flexibility with the days but not the times):

• Monday          08.30 – 16.30pm (inc half hour unpaid break)
• Thursday        08.30 – 16.30pm (inc half hour unpaid break)

The rate of pay is £17.24 per hour.