Job summary
- Main area
- Counsellor
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 5
- Contract
- 2 years (Fixed term: 2 years)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 349-SMH-7076014
- Employer
- Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- St Mary's SARC, St Mary's Hospital
- Town
- Manchester
- Salary
- £29,970 - £36,483 per annum(pro rata)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 25/05/2025 23:59
Employer heading

SARC Adult Counsellor
NHS AfC: Band 5
Job overview
The post holder will provide trauma informed therapeutic counselling services to adult clients within the context of a non judgemental and confidential service and in accordance with the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Ethical Framework.
The post holder will contribute to the development; evaluation and quality standards of the SARC counselling service.
The post holder may be required to deliver training across Greater Manchester.
The post holder will undertake specific administration duties related to the counselling services including contracting; user feedback and activity data.
The post holder will prioritise, assess, plan, evaluate and deliver all relevant aspects of care to an agreed and expected high standard.
The post holder will work closely with the multi-disciplinary team and contribute to the clinical governance process and multi-disciplinary team meetings.
Main duties of the job
As the busiest SARC in the UK, we provide an integrated service of forensic medical and therapeutic medical assessment, support and therapy services to adults and children of any gender and of any age. Our aftercare service delivers specialist sexual violence support, ISVA and therapeutic services throughout Greater Manchester.
An exciting and significant opportunity has arisen for SARC to recruit 3 specialist counsellors to deliver trauma focused therapy to adult clients who have experienced sexual violence. Highly motivated and resourceful you will have experience of working with clients who have experienced sexual violence and a sound knowledge of offering therapy to clients with post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, gained ideally in a multidisciplinary or healthcare environment. You will be familiar with managing your own caseload, ensuring you maintain a client centred, trauma informed ethos in a pressurised multidisciplinary service. You will be comfortable working independently including delivering interventions face to face and via the phone and video based platforms and willing to collaborate with your colleagues as you support one-another to deliver a high quality service.
The posts will be offered on a fixed term basis initially for two years for 37.5 hours per week (will consider part time hours) and will require some evening work .
Working for our organisation
MFT is England’s largest NHS Trust with a turnover of £2.8bn & is on a different scale than most other NHS Trusts. We’re creating an exceptional integrated health & social care system for the 1 million patients who rely on our services every year.
Bringing together 10 hospitals & community services from across Manchester, Trafford & beyond, we champion collaborative working & transformation, encouraging our 28,000 workforce to pursue their most ambitious goals. We set standards that other Trusts seek to emulate so you’ll benefit from a scale of opportunity that is nothing short of extraordinary.
We’ve also created a digitally enabled organisation to improve clinical quality, patient & staff experience, operational effectiveness & driving research and innovation through the introduction of Hive; our brand-new Electronic Patient Record system which we’ve launched in September 2022.
We’re proud to be a major academic Research Centre & Education provider, providing you with a robust infrastructure to encourage and facilitate high-quality research programmes. What’s more, we’re excited to be embarking on our new Green Plan which will set out how MFT continues to play its part in making healthcare more sustainable.
At MFT, we create and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, provide equal opportunities for career development that are fair, open and transparent, protecting your health and wellbeing and shaping the future of our organisation together.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience you’ll need, take a look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the ‘Supporting Documents’ heading. So that you’re even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, you’ll need to take time to read the ‘Candidate Essentials Guide’ that sits with the Job Description and Person Specification. This document provides you with details about the Trust, our benefits and outlines how ‘we care for you as you care for others’. Most importantly, it also contains critical information you’ll need to be aware of before you submit an application form.
Diversity Matters
MFT is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating and valuing diversity and eliminating any form of unlawful discrimination across our workforce, ensuring our people are truly representative of the communities we serve. All individuals regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation are encouraged to apply for this post. As an inclusive employer, we are here to support you. If you have any special requirements to help you with your application, email our team at [email protected].
We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
Person specification
Skills
Essential criteria
- Ability to prioritise workload
- Excellent written and verbal communication
- Excellent presentation skills
- Highly motivated
- Ability to work as part of a multi disciplinary team
- Ability to utilise counselling supervision effectively
Desirable criteria
- IT/Word processing skills
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Diploma in Integrative Counselling/CBT or single model core training (eg PCA) plus post qualification training in other models
Desirable criteria
- Qualification in trauma focused CBT or EMDR or other evidence based therapy
- Qualification in telephone counselling
- Qualification in working with adults or children with learning disability
Knowledge and experience
Essential criteria
- Demonstrable experience working therapeutically with victims of sexual violence
- Demonstrable knowledge of trauma focused, evidence based interventions and experience of working with psychological trauma
- Understanding/experience of counselling research and application to practice
- In depth knowledge of issues relating to rape and sexual assault/child sexual abuse
- Understanding of and working within BACP ethical framework
- Experience of working with children and young people
Desirable criteria
- Experience of teaching/delivering training to a wide range of audiences
- Experience of assessing the needs of a wide range of children affected by sexual violence, including those displaying harmful sexual behaviour
- Experience of working therapeutically with people with learning difficulties
- Qualification in trauma focused CBT or EMDR
- Qualification and experience of delivering therapy groups.
Registration
Essential criteria
- Registered member of the BACP
Desirable criteria
- BACP Accreditation
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
- Charlotte Jones
- Job title
- Counselling Service Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0161 276 6515
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