Counsellor

Job summary

• Main area: Talking Therapies
• Grade: NHS AfC: Band 6
• Contract: Permanent
• Hours: Part time - 15 hours per week (Required to work some hours outside of 9-5)
• Job ref: 382-NBC28-26
• Site: South Shore Primary Care Centre
• Town: Blackpool
• Salary: £39,959 - £48,117 pro rata
• Salary period: yearly
• Closing: 17/06/2026 23:59

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is situated on the west coast of Lancashire, with services covering the local authority areas of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre. The Trust is part of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) supporting a population of around 1.6 million people. We have three main hospitals providing acute services to around 330,000 local residents. The organisation also provides specialist tertiary care for cardiac and haematology services, delivers community health services to over 445,000 residents including those in North Lancashire and hosts the National Artificial Eye Service across England. Plus, we provide urgent and emergency care services to an estimated 18 million people who visit the seaside resort each year. We employ over 7000 people from 68 different countries. We welcome and encourage applications from anyone with protected characteristics, as well as supporting reservists and Veterans who are looking for a rewarding and challenging career within the NHS. Blackpool Teaching Hospitals encourages flexible working in all our roles to support staff in maintaining a healthy home-life balance. Working patterns such as part time working, self-rostering, compressed hours, annualised hours, term time, reverse term time and flexitime working can be explored.

Job overview

Do you want to be part of an innovative and dynamic NHS Talking Therapies service? Are you an experienced counsellor who is passionate about providing high quality psychological therapy to people with common mental health problems? The successful candidate will have completed a diploma level qualification in counselling from a BACP accredited course and will preferably have experience of working in an NHS Talking Therapies service. The service is focused on delivering high quality therapy and our patient feedback is excellent. Investing in our team is important to us and we pride ourselves on the support we offer to staff. You’ll have the opportunity to be part of a fantastic team of staff who are genuinely committed to improving the lives of our service users. The team includes CBT therapists, Counsellors and Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners, providing psychological assessment and brief therapies to people with mild to moderate anxiety and depression. The service also offers EMDR, "Mastering Stress" courses, MCBT courses as well as a range of webinars to support health and wellbeing.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will be a flexible and highly motivated qualified Counsellor. They will be part of the NHS Blackpool Talking Therapies service and will provide high intensity Counselling to clients who have a range of complex anxiety and depression related problems. The successful candidate will be experienced in delivering counselling interventions face to face, online and over the telephone. The post holder will also work with people with different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and should be committed to equal opportunities. The successful candidate will also be required to work a proportion of their working hours after before 9am and/or after 5pm in order to improve access to the service.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Assessing clients for suitability for NHS Talking Therapies and providing evidence based counselling interventions.
• To undertake risk assessments with clients and respond to these in line with service policies and procedures.
• Adhere to an agreed activity contract relating to the number of client contacts offered, and clinical sessions carried out per week in order to minimise waiting times and ensure treatment delivery remains accessible and convenient.
• Engage in regular case management and clinical supervision.
• Complete all requirements relating to data collection within the service.
• Keep coherent detailed records of all clinical activity in line with service protocols.
• Assess and integrate issues surrounding work and employment into the overall therapy process.

Person specification

• Diploma level qualification in counselling from a BACP accredited course.
• Hold or be eligible and working towards BACP accreditation.
• Qualification in clinical supervision.

• Substantial post qualification clinical work.
• Experience in Primary Care counselling work.
• Experience of short-term time-limited work.
• Evidence of regular supervised practice.
• Evidence of CPD meeting minimum requirements for continued accreditation with BACP.
• Experience of working with a diverse client group with a wide range of presenting problems and significant level of distress.
• Experience of supervision or mentoring of primary care counsellors.
• Experience of collaborative work in the NHS.
• Experience of working across a wide age range, including children and young people.

• Highly developed interpersonal skills and communication skills, both oral and written.
• Extensive clinical and theoretical knowledge of more than one model of counselling.
• Knowledge of NHS structures and policy under primary care context.
• Evidence of ability to organise own workload.
• Ability to sustain intense levels of concentration responding and participating as required.
• Ability to self-reflect and use clinical supervision appropriately.
• Ability to cope and deal with highly distressing emotional circumstances.
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Specialist skills, e.g. psychosexual counselling, working with ethnic minorities.
• Knowledge of mental health referral pathways and procedures.
• Knowledge of psychotropic medication and mental health diagnosis.
• Experience of audit evaluation and outcome measurement.
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Valid driving Licence and access to a car for work purposes.