Head of Counselling

With significant experience and current accreditation as either a Psychotherapist or Practitioner Psychologist (Counselling or Clinical Psychologist), the post-holder will manage the delivery of the University’s counselling service within Counselling and Mental Health Support in Student Support & Wellbeing Services.

The post-holder will possess specialist knowledge of issues related to student mental health, including the assessment and management of risk, best practice guidance in the provision of counselling services in Higher Education, service development and ensuring efficacy in the provision of counselling to a diverse population. The post-holder, and the sub-team they manage, will liaise with a wide range of internal stakeholders to ensure the university responds effectively to the needs of students.  They will work closely with the other three sub-teams that make up our Counselling & Mental Health Support Team (our MHA Sub-Team, our Outreach & Training Sub-Team and the Strategy for Student Mental Health & Wellbeing team) and the CMHS Consultant Psychiatrist to ensure the appropriate referral of cases and an effective multi-disciplinary approach to all aspects of our work.

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract.

This is a full-time  post  - 100% full time equivalent.

• Line Management and recruitment of Clinical Counselling Team and Administration (within CMHS) (currently 14fte)
• Responsibility for Clinical Delivery of CMHS Service
• Key Role in other University services and processes such as Student of Concern (SoC) Management Group and Support for Study on behalf of CMHS
• Supporting Head of Mental Health Support with management of Mental Health Advisors and MHA/SoC service delivery and Head of [Outreach & Training] as requested by the Associate Director
• Reporting on Counselling provision as part of CMHS Service
• Referrals between the CMHS Team and CMHS Consultant Psychiatrist

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

This post is intended to lead the provision of counselling (individual and group) as part of the university’s Counselling & Mental Health Support Service. The post-holder will:

- Establish, manage and continually improve a professional sub-team of counsellors, psychotherapists and practitioner psychologists; - Oversee the delivery of the service, including: assessment processes; provision of individual and group therapy; outcome measures; access considerations and how best to respond to the needs of the service user population; - Deliver strong management of support for the team with complex cases, demonstrating a consultative and supportive management style, coupled with strong decision-making abilities. - Review and report on key aspects of the service including; waiting list management, service capacity and usage, service efficacy and outcome data. - Support the Associate Director with planning to ensure the counselling service meets key performance indicators and responds to developments in best practice guidelines, service user needs and university strategic plans for counselling and mental health support at King’s. - Represent the Counselling service at meetings, working groups and other forums, as requested by the Associate Director, both within the university and externally. Establish and maintain clear, effective protocols for the Counselling sub-team to:

• deliver casework with students as required.  It is anticipated that the post-holder will have their own caseload of up to 6 clients per week (or as required to maintain professional accreditation), along with other members of their sub-team.
• support the service to provide, where appropriate, same-day appointments for cases in which students need to see a practitioner urgently.
• oversee the case-management of all students who are provided psychological therapy by the counselling team, and/or working with other CMHS sub-teams or in the management of these cases, as appropriate.
• monitor a phone number and email in-box to pick up enquiries/referrals from colleagues across the university (including academic tutors, colleagues in university Residences, colleagues in other support services, etc.) about students presenting in a distressed state or otherwise indicating a high level of risk, and provide high-quality advice in response to these enquiries/referrals.
• act as the gateway to our CMHS affiliated Consultant Psychiatrists for all cases that require such support and ensuring the effective flow of information, as appropriate, on these cases between the Psychiatrist and other parts of the Counselling & Mental Health Team.
• provide advice and guidance related to mental health matters to other student services, including the Support for Study team. Acting as Chair of Support for Study meetings where needed.
• attend Case Conferences involving relevant colleagues from different university teams, as appropriate and, where requested, Support for Study Stage 2 meetings on behalf of CMHS, in order to coordinate the university’s response to the most serious or complex cases.

- Ensure they and their sub-team maintain an excellent knowledge of current mental health practice within the NHS and voluntary sectors, with particular reference to effective provision and best practice of counselling services in Higher Education.

- Work effectively with relevant NHS services and voluntary sector organisations in London and beyond – to make external referrals and liaise effectively on individual cases.

- Ensure all activities of the Counselling Sub-Team:

• maintain therapeutic boundaries at all times.
• are recorded in accurate and up-to-date case notes on the shared case management system used by the Counselling & Mental Health Support Team.
• comply with relevant legislation and regulations, including, for example, our duty of care, safeguarding legislation, data protection legislation (including the General Data Protection Regulation), equality legislation, and health and safety legislation.
• take proper account of the need to share information appropriately to manage risk, balancing this with the need to respect confidentiality and comply with data protection legislation.

- Provide effective line-management of the Counselling sub-team, including monthly one-to-one meetings, performance development, and Performance Development Reviews.

- Work with the managers of other teams across the university to ensure other student-facing staff, outside of the Counselling & Mental Health Support Team, are boundaried in their own engagement with students and that all staff know when/how to signpost students to CMHS for all specialist therapeutic work.

- Be involved in the design and delivery of presentations or training sessions across the university about mental health issues.

- Maintain professional accreditation with an appropriate professional body (all practitioners within the team are personally responsible for meeting the costs incurred in securing and maintaining this accreditation, although some of the training provided by the University may help to contribute towards the continuing professional development requirements of accreditation).

- Engage with regular clinical supervision, which will be provided/funded by the university in accordance with our current policy on clinical supervision, and maintain own professional development through participation in personal and career development.

- Be part of the management team of the Counselling & Mental Health Support Team Student Support and of the wider management team of Student Support & -Wellbeing Services – covering other management responsibilities and providing cover for other management team members, as required.

Desirable criteria

The Counselling & Mental Health Support Service is a multi-disciplinary team which allocates students into appropriate therapeutic and mental health support based on an assessment of the information provided on registration with the services, followed by face-to-face or online assessment.  The services provided include: 

• counselling/psychotherapy support with emotional and personal problems affecting their academic and personal development, 
• mental health practitioner support, including mental health assessments, external referrals, case coordination/management, focused brief psychological interventions, and psychiatrist support, 
• group work – including group therapeutic work and, increasingly, psycho-educational group workshops, or 
• self-help resources, which will increasingly include digital/online resources. 

All of our practitioners use their skills, knowledge, expertise, flexibility and sensitivity during assessment/clinical sessions to ensure that the support they provide is tailored to the needs of the individual, and make appropriate referrals either in or outside of the team where appropriate.  Our practitioners work under professional Codes of Practice and are accredited under a professional body, such as the Health & Care Professions Council, the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy, the British Psychoanalytic Council, the British Psychological Society, the British Association of Social Workers, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, or the UK Council for Psychotherapy.  

We also provide training to academic and professional services staff by running workshops related to mental health issues, and advise staff on supporting students and when/how to refer students into our specialist service.