Associate Counsellors

Job Description

You will support delivery of Nexus Counselling Services across Northern Ireland. Nexus supports clients to recover from sexual abuse and abusive relationships. The organisation provides a range of therapeutic services to support the individual psychological and emotional wellbeing of people with lived experience of sexual abuse and abusive relationships. Individuals using our services often present with psychological, emotional, and social issues as a result of the trauma they have experienced. The overarching aim is to increase each individual’s emotional and psychological well-being through the provision of trauma-informed therapeutic support that meets their individual needs

Key responsibilities:

• Provide on-going therapeutic interventions through a range of mediums (face-to face, virtual, telephone)
• Provide therapeutic interventions in both individual and group settings.
• Safely deliver therapeutic interventions in line with organisational, regulatory, and legal frameworks including but not limited to safeguarding, clinical risk assessment, management and mitigation, confidentiality, data protection, etc.
•  Provide standalone support calls to individuals referring and availing of Nexus therapeutic services.
•  Participate in the development, delivery, and evaluation of the organisation’s therapeutic interventions.
• Signpost individuals to relevant statutory, community and private sector services to support their on-going recovery.
•  Attend relevant CPD opportunities in year in line with organisational and regulatory frameworks.
•  Actively engage with clinical supervision in line with organisational and regulatory frameworks.
•  Maintain professional records of all individual and group interventions delivered in line with organisational policies and procedures and data protection legislation.
• Attend and positively engage with monthly line management supervision in line with organisational performance review processes.
• Support the organisation’s commitment to the development and training of new counsellors through the provision of mentorship to individuals undertaking a clinical placement with Nexus.
•  Work in line with organisational opening hours to deliver therapeutic interventions which includes evenings and Saturday mornings

Please note: this list of responsibilities and duties is not exhaustive, and individuals may be asked to undertake other relevant duties as required.

Personal Specification The successful applicant will be required to have the following experience, qualifications, and personal skills.

Essential

• Minimum Level 4 Diploma in counselling or its equivalent
• Minimum one-year supervised clinical practice in a range of settings including face-to-face, virtual and telephone. (250 hours)
•  Good working knowledge of delivering trauma-informed therapeutic practice to support psychological and emotional wellbeing.
• Ability to use initiative while working individually or as part of a team.
• Experience of working with mental health, social and lifestyle issues that present in response to traumatic experiences.
• Awareness of importance of personal health and demonstrable ability to engage pro-actively with self-care.
• Demonstratable ability to recognise and appropriately deal with safeguarding and risk in line with organisational procedures.
• Accreditation with NCS, BACP or ICAP (or working on accreditation and submission within 6 months.
•  Proficient IT literacy to support use of organisational systems to safely record data and information related to service delivery.
• Working knowledge of CORE Net as a psychological wellbeing assessment tool.
• Access to your own car or a form of transport to support delivery of services on a regional basis.
•  Applicants must demonstrate flexibility in their availability, including the ability to work evenings and in different locations as required.

Desirable

• Good working knowledge of issues related to sexual abuse and abusive relationships,
• Experienced in developing and delivering group recovery programmes.
• Working knowledge of STAR Outcomes to measure distance travelled for individuals accessing therapeutic support and recovery services.
•  Experience working in the community and voluntary sector.
•  Applicants will occasionally be required to work alongside interpreters to support clients' engagement in the therapeutic process; previous experience in this area is welcomed.

Terms & conditions

Attendance at a formal induction and ongoing training will be required. 
Any appointment will be subject to an Access NI Check (Enhanced)