Job summary
- Main area
- Counsellor
- Grade
- Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent: Part-time - 3 days
- Hours
- Part time - 22.5 hours per week (Days and hours to be discussed at the interview)
- Job ref
- 455-NLFT-0068
- Employer
- North London NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Edgware Community Hospital
- Town
- London
- Salary
- Dependant on qualifications and NHS experience
- Closing
- 29/05/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Band 6/7 Counsellor
Band 6
Thank you for your interest for the North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT), it is an exciting time to join us and being 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
We are proud of the success of Barnet Talking Therapies and are expanding our counselling team.
Would you like to Join us?
Barnet Talking Therapies are looking for a counsellor who is empathetic, caring and committed to time limited therapy in the NHS, to join our successful counselling team. We are a well established team of therapists including CBT practitioners, PWPs with counsellors being well integrated within the service.
Your training might be psychodynamic, person centred, integrative or existential and you should be accredited with the BACP, on the UKCP register (candidates who have submitted their portfolios for accreditation also accepted -state this clearly in your supporting statement). You will have excellent spoken and written communication skills. Our service works to a hybrid model, we offer sessions to our clients in person or via a video platform, which means you will be required to work at our sites in Edgware or Finchley as well as working remotely. As an employer we support flexible working.
We will be committed to helping you continue to progress your career, through a range of development and training opportunities, in addition to excellent supervision and peer support. We will also support you getting onto an IAPT training programme and progress towards a band 7 position if you are appointed to a band 6 post.
We are an equal opportunity employer and are keen to recruit people that reflect the diverse communities we serve.
Main duties of the job
JOB SUMMARY
- To provide a qualified time limited counselling service to Step 3 clients of the Barnet Talking Therapies Service.
- To offer advice and consultation on clients’ psychological care to staff from other agencies involved in providing care.
- To work to a pattern of clinical hours and in localities that support the needs of the service and local population.
- To liaise with local mental health-based services and voluntary community agencies.
- To monitor and audit evidence-based practice.
- To contribute to policy and service development within the team and the area served by the team/service.
- To work within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures.
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:
1. We will provide consistently high-quality care closer to home.
2. With our partners in North London and each borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all
3. We will offer great places to work, providing staff with supportive environment to deliver outstanding care.
4. We will be more effective as an organisation by pioneering research, quality improvement and technology.
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 network
The postholder will be aligned with our Values:
· We Are Kind
· We Are Respectful
· We Work Together
· We Keep Things Simple
· We Empower
· We Are Proudly Diverse
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached job description and person specification required for the post of Counsellor
Person specification
Qualification
Essential criteria
- Accreditation with BACP/UKCP or equivalent accrediting body or eligible for such accreditation.
- asters level training or equivalent in appropriate discipline.
- 2 years post-qualification experience.
Desirable criteria
- Specialist IAPT training and accreditation in IAPTapproved modality, e.g. DIT, IPT, Counselling for Depression
Experience
Essential criteria
- Demonstrable experience of working in mental health services
- Experience of working in Primary Care Services
- Experience of providing evidence-based psychological interventions.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in an IAPT Service.
Skills & Competencies
Essential criteria
- Ability to evaluate and put in place the effect of training.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Able to develop good therapeutic relationships with clients.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Demonstrates an understanding of anxiety and depression and how it may present in Primary Care.
- Demonstrates a knowledge of the issues surrounding work and the impact it can have on mental health
- Demonstrates an understanding for the need to use evidencebased psychological therapies and how it relates to this post.
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of medication used in anxiety and depression and other common mental health problems
Other Requirements
Essential criteria
- High level of enthusiasm and Motivation.
- Ability to work within a team and foster good working relationships
- Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy and confidentiality.
Desirable criteria
- Fluent in languages other than English.
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
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
- Jane Curzon
- Job title
- Lead Counsellor
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07392 193238
- Additional information
Email contact is preferable to phone.
Please note that the interviews will be held in-person at Westgate House, Edgware Community Hospital, London HA8 0AD
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