THE DETAILS:
  • Location: See Job Advertisement,
  • Contract: Temporary
  • Salary Type: Annual
  • Language: Welsh

This job application date has now expired.

School Counsellor x2

Gwynedd Council
Details
Job Advertisement

Gwynedd Council offers an attractive employment package, for more information please click on this Information Pack

Gwynedd Council operates internally through the medium of Welsh, and offers all its services bilingually. The applicant will be required to reach the linguistic level noted as one of the essential skills in the Person Specification.

We encourage everyone who applies for a job with Gwynedd Council to submit job applications in Welsh or bilingually. ( Applications submitted in English only or Welsh only will always be treated equally, but we ask applicants to consider carefully what the linguistic requirements of the job in question is and if it would be more appropriate to submit an application in Welsh.)

2 full time 37 hour posts or hours to be discussed - one term time post and one full time post

Temporary posts with the possibility of permanence in the near future

Post will be located at Ysgol Friars, Bangor

For further information about this post please contact Dora Wendi Jones on 07815597244

Application forms and further details available from, Support Service, Gwynedd Council, Council Offices, Caernarfon, LL55 1SH Tel: 01286 679076 E-Mail: swyddi@gwynedd.llyw.cymru

CLOSING DATE: 30/11/2023

The Council will request a Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service for the successful candidate.

If you are successful to be short listed for an interview you will be contacted by E-MAIL using the address provided on your application form. You need to ensure that you check your email regularly.

Person Specification

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES
ESSENTIAL

• Excellent communication and listening skills in Welsh and English.
• The ability to respect and deal with clients in the strictest confidence.
• Knowledge of Protection Procedures with regards to children and young people and how schools work with Safeguarding systems.
• Knowledge of the matters that affect and disrupt young people's lives.
• The capacity to work through personal motivation and work independently
• Ability to form good working relationships with colleagues and other agencies.
• An enthusiasm for working with children and young people
• Patience, tolerance and sensitivity.
• A capacity to work under pressure and to react quickly and competently to unexpected events

DESIRABLE

Ability to develop new skills and make use of unfamiliar software programmes.

RELEVANT QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING
ESSENTIAL
• Qualification in Counselling at a Post Graduate Diploma or corresponding level that is recognised by the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
• Holder, or working towards BACP Accreditation
• Higher academic or occupational qualification in a relevant field of study
• Registered member of BACP

DESIRABLE

• Any specific training required for the post including accreditation
• Qualification and/or training in art/drama/play therapy

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
ESSENTIAL

Experience of:
• Experience of working as a counsellor
• Experience of working with children and young people
• Experience of keeping standardised notes
• Experience of collaboration with others
• Good IT skills and experience of computer and database programmes
• Awareness of the principles behind Data Protection/GDPR

DESIRABLE

• Experience of working in schools
• Experience of offering counselling virtually: video,phone,e-mail
• Experience of offering creative therapy

SPECIALIZED SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
ESSENTIAL

• Counselling/psychotherapy training to a Post Graduate Diploma level

DESIRABLE

LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

Listening and Speaking
Able to deal with all aspects of the job verbally in a confident manner in both English and Welsh.

Writing
Able to present written information in both English and Welsh with complete confidence using the most appropriate language and style to meet the needs of the reader.

Reading and Understanding
Able to use and interpret correctly any information in both English and Welsh from a wide variety of sources in order to deal with all aspects of the post.

Job Description

Purpose of the Post
• To ensure that the children and young people of Gwynedd and Anglesey are central to everything we do.
• Provide a counselling service for children and young people within Gwynedd/ Anglesey secondary and primary schools and the community.

Responsibility for Resources. . e.g. staff, budget, equipment

• Laptop and mobile phone

Main Duties
1. Serve as a team member to provide an effective, professional and statutory counselling service for young people .

2. Provide a face to face and/or virtual counselling service for individuals that can benefit from counselling:
• Provide and arrange one-to-one assessments in compliance with BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) regulations.
• Comply with and offer a limited number of sessions in compliance with service guidelines and BACP regulations
• Ensure that every client is assessed and is either offered a counselling service or is referred to another appropriate service.

3. Act in a manner that complies with recognised standards of counselling providers:
• Comply with the BACP Code of Practice and Ethical Framework
• Follow recommendations of the Welsh Government Toolkit on good practice
• Focus on children and young people's safeguarding and protection arrangements
• Maintain a balance between Safeguarding and Ethics arrangements for the benefit of the client

4. Keep standardised notes on every case:
• Collate basic notes on every individual case
• Provide data and feedback to input into the service's information management system
• Input client data into the secure online system on a regular basis
• Ensure all notes are kept in accordance with Data Protection

5. Follow procedures to obtain the user's opinion on the service.

6. Maintain firm contact and an agreed system of efficient collaboration with relevant agencies within the boundaries of confidentiality

7. Consult with other key workers in the field of children and young people's well-being and mental health and follow an agreed referral system to and from the service.

8. Provide information on the counselling service. Raise awareness of children, young people, their parents and other professionals on the existence of the counselling service and how it operates. Raise school staff's awareness about counselling, advising them on the counselling service's website within the range of support services that are available for children and young people.

9. Undertake any other tasks related to providing counselling in schools, as can reasonably be expected given the salary of the post, as requested by a line manager.

10. Protect clients and others that are at risk of considerable harm:-
Clients are dependant on the Counselling Service providing a higher level of confidentiality. It is essential that the Counsellor can provide this safe environment whilst keeping a balance between the Ethical Framework and Child Protection Legislation. There is a need to monitor the clients' needs regularly throughout the Therapeutic process.

11. Co-ordinate the service on a school level by:
• Arranging and administrating the counselling service in collaboration with the school;
• Communicating with and contact the school's staff, for the benefit of the young individual, and keeping within the client's confidentiality boundaries;
• Act as a resource for school staff by giving them a glimpse of the counselling world and promoting the service wherever possible.

12. Maintain and develop a professional practice through regular and consistent management, and supervision and clinical training, and through taking part in evaluations and investigations of the service;
• Assess and control the risks to individuals, and to yourself.
• Monitor, re-assess and control the risks to individuals regularly
• Take immediate steps that are commensurate to dealing with/addressing any behaviour that poses a risk
• Comply with procedures and protection practices of the department and the Local Child Safeguarding Board
• Comply with all the relevant legislations, guidelines, national standards and departmental policies.
• Keep accurate and updated case records and ensure that the files comply with the department's policy requirements on data protection, written records, and confidentiality.
• Pro-actively contribute to performance evaluation reviews and individual supervision.
• Make a positive contribution to the team, by collaborating with co-workers and the line manager.
• Attend team meetings and take part in any relevant working groups and other departmental and inter-agency meetings as needed.

13. General
• Responsibility for self-development and CPD
• Ensure compliance with workplace Health and Safety rules in accordance with the responsibilities noted in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Council's Health and Safety Policy
• Operate within the Council's policies in relation to equal opportunities and equality
• Responsibility for managing information in accordance with the Council's information management guidelines. Ensure that personal information is treated in accordance with Data Protection legislation.
• Undertake any other reasonable duty which corresponds to the salary level and responsibility level of the post.
• Responsible for reporting any concern or suspicion that a child or vulnerable adult is being abused.

Special Circumstances. e.g. the need to work unsociable hours, special working arrangements etc.
Some meetings could be outside normal working hours.