Job summary
- Main area
- High Intensity Psychotherapeutic Counsellor
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 5
- Contract
- 3 years (Band 5 (1 year fixed term), moving to Band 6 (2 year fixed term) upon successful completion of training program foundation year.)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (3 days on training course & self-study and 2 days in service)
- Job ref
- 455-NLFT-0305
- Employer
- North London NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Islington
- Town
- Islington, London
- Salary
- £37,259 - £45,356 Per annum including Inner London HCAS
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 07/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading
High Intensity Psychotherapeutic Counselling Trainee (DIT pathway)
NHS AfC: Band 5
Thank you for your interest in the North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT). This is an exciting time to join us and be part of our journey to improve mental health care across North London and deliver excellent services to our local people. We will achieve this through the North London Way, as we:
- Collaborate at every level by living our values to create the right conditions for us all to work together.
- Develop our new Trust culture, to help make our new Trust a great place to work and to receive great care.
- Empower our teams to lead the planned improvements in our services, by skilling them and giving them the tools to make the changes.
- Focus on delivering excellence at every level to improve our performance and ensure consistently high-quality care across all our services.
- Ensure that research, quality improvement, and technology lead the way and are embedded in our services.
- Take a trauma informed approach to everything we do
We proactively welcome diversity in our workforce and pride ourselves on being an inclusive employer. We aim to recruit from our local communities and provide opportunities to all including apprenticeships, veterans, care leavers and more.
The North London Way to deliver: Better Mental Health, Better Lives, Better Communities.
Our trust website is: https://www.northlondonmentalhealth.nhs.uk/
Job overview
This post is part of NHS funded three-year Talking Therapies High Intensity Psychotherapeutic Counselling training programme in Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) delivered by Roehampton University. Trainees will be attending their university course alongside their duties within Islington NHS Talking therapies (TT).
Main duties of the job
This is a three-year NHS Talking Therapies training role working towards a qualification as a High Intensity Psychotherapeutic Counsellor. Year one is a Band 5 foundation course. Upon successful completion, the candidate progresses to a two-year fixed-term Band 6 position in High-Intensity Psychotherapeutic Counselling.
Training involves 3 days per week with the training organisation (Roehampton University) and 2 days per week in-service working with clients, initially offering high intensity psychodynamic counselling and later Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT). The course will be a mixture of in person training and online live input via the zoom platform. As this is a Postgraduate level diploma, you will also be required to be able to study and write academic material at this level. Applicants must be prepared to study and write assignments outside of protected study time (such as on weekends and after work).
This role will be best suited for applicants that are able to balance a busy work and study schedule.
Successful applicants will need to be in a position to begin their training at the end of September 2025.
Working for our organisation
North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) is committed to improving mental health care across North London to deliver excellent services to our local people.
Our Five-Year Strategy:
- We will provide consistently high-quality care closer to home.
- With our partners in North London and each borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all
- We will offer great places to work, providing staff with supportive environment to deliver outstanding care
Why NLFT?
- We develop and retain our staff through leadership behaviours and managers programme and many more opportunities.
- We promote flexible working and support staff with a range of health and wellbeing initiatives.
- NHS Discounts, generous annual leave and NHS pension scheme
- Excellent internal staff networ
In order to meet the needs of the Trust you may be required from time to time to work at different locations to your normal place of work. This may mean that you are required to work at any location that fall under Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey or Islington. The Trust reserves the right to require staff to work at such other places or locations as it considers reasonable and necessary on a temporary or permanent basis.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
As this is a training position, please be aware that this is a dual application process where you must be employed in a Recruit to Train funded job to also receive a place on the course, and vice-versa. If you are ineligible for the University Course, you will be unable to be offered the role. If you withdraw from an employment offer but you have accepted a university offer, you will be unable to join the course. Trainee selection processes including shortlisting and interviews will be carried out jointly by recruiting IAPT services and Roehampton University. Successful applicants will need to meet both the requirements of the employing service’s job description and person specification and Roehampton University's entry requirements.
Please note that when you apply to this role, your name will be shared with Roehampton University. The service will usually be the Course Team’s main way of contacting you until you have been sent an Offer, and so the Course Team at Roehampton University may ask for information if it is missing but relevant to deciding eligibility.
Other information that might be shared includes:
-
Reason behind ineligibility for the course.
-
Queries regarding application (such as if you claim to have a professional registration without submitting certificates, the course may ask service to pursue more information)
-
Name change – if you may have registered with a different name than HEI was given, they will confirm with service to ensure that they are reviewing the correct candidate.
If you apply to this job, you are giving permission for information to be shared between the Course Team at Roehampton University and the Recruitment team at the Service. The only information that is shared will be relevant to establishing eligibility for the job/course. No irrelevant information will be disclosed or discussed in relation to your application.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- • Recognised degree at 2:2 or above in any relevant subject, or equivalent, or Demonstrates competency via a portfolio of evidence, which meets specified academic equivalence requirements.
- • Completed a Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills, (minimum of 10 days or 60 hours of face-to-face tuition at level 2 or level 3). Note: Online courses are not acceptable. L2 Award, Helping Skills and Introductory courses are not acceptable.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of having worked or volunteered with clients with mental health difficulties
Skills
Essential criteria
- Excellent communication skills (written and spoken) with a range of audiences (e.g. patients, clients, colleagues)
- Demonstrate excellent team working skills
- Ability to listen to others, understand their perspective and reflect on your own responses, both your emotional ones as well as your actions
- Ability to use IT in the workplace, to communicate, keep notes & collect data.
- Ability to integrate training into practice
- Ability to meet the academic and intellectual demands of the course
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Alice Seferiades
- Job title
- Clinical Co-ordinator, Relational Therapies
- Email address
- [email protected]
If you have problems applying, contact
- Address
-
Candi & Tavi
List jobs with North London NHS Foundation Trust in Allied Health Professions or all sectors