This vacancy has now closed

Mental Health Practitioner/Counsellor Blairgowrie, Scotland

  • Part time
  • £22,947 pro-rata
  • Blairgowrie
  • Closing 19th February 2023


  • Advertised from 10th February 2023
  • Fixed term Hours Per Week: 28 Working Pattern Tuesday-Friday

Role

As a Mental Health Practitioner/Counsellor, you will effectively manage all aspects of the Place2Be provision in partnership with the school ensuring that the children and young people are provided with therapeutic and emotional support, high quality clinical practice and delivery of a full and effective service in Place2Be schools. This includes undertaking clinical assessments and formulations and 1-1 intervention work.

An enhanced element of this post is Place2Think which is a practical, interactive, flexible consultation service available to all staff in schools. It is about building a broad understanding of emotional and therapeutic support, of children and young person’s (CYP) needs, and working to support raising the level of emotional literacy of the school environment as a whole. Your role is not to offer answers nor advice but to ask relevant questions and offer informed insights to help school staff better understand the CYP’s they work with.

Our new roles in Tayside will deliver 121 counselling for children and young people in the school communities we will be supporting. This is a fixed term contract, but we anticipate, that with professional delivery of the service over this time, this period is likely to be extended. We recognise that not all candidates will have extensive experience counselling children. Place2Be will provide support and training to upskill the right candidate.

Please note only counsellors or psychotherapists should apply, and they can be registered with BACP or COSCA

What difference will I make, working as a Mental Health Practitioner/Counsellor at Place2Be? - Watch to see how you can change the lives of primary and secondary school children all across the UK

You'll ensure high quality clinical practice and delivery of a full and effective service in Place2Be schools, by undertaking clinical assessments and formulations, identifying and delivering appropriate clinical interventions for children and young people, establishing positive, active and effective relationships with the school and Place2Be management team and actively participating in staff meetings to share best practice and develop clinical thinking, knowledge and learning.

Diversity and Inclusion

Place2Be is committed to equal opportunities and anti-discrimination practices and we positively encourage applications from all sections of the community. We are particularly interested in attracting applications from applicants from diverse groups.

Additionally, for our clinical roles we are particularly keen in attracting male candidates to reflect the diversity of the partner schools and communities we work in.

All successful applicants to clinical roles will be asked to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure from the DBS/PVG.

We are an organisation that is fully committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults and take this responsibility seriously.

About You

The successful candidate:

Will have a recognised clinical qualification with substantial post-qualifying experience, along with a good knowledge of the school environment. Most important of all is your approach; we are an exciting, dynamic organisation doing amazing work so we're looking for people with the enthusiasm and commitment to match our own.

You will:

  • hold a recognised clinical qualification (in counselling, psychotherapy, clinical psychology)
  • have a recognised membership of a relevant professional body (BACP/ PTUK/ UKCP/NCS/BPS)
  • possess post qualification experience in a clinical role and an understanding of working with people and schools
  • demonstrates knowledge and understanding of the importance of embedding Assessment and Formulation in clinical practice
  • develop project plans into sensible, timely actions that meet the expectations of the school and more senior colleagues; understands the need for efficiency and timelines in deliverydisplays effective, well-organised management of their school projec

Interview date: to be arranged 2023 ZOOM Video Interview

Please feel free to contact our Recruitment team via jobs@place2be.org.uk if you you have any questions about this role.

In return we offer you a range of fantastic benefits including:

  • Enhanced Annual Leave entitlement
  • Robust Learning and Development Programme
  • Contributory Pension Scheme
  • Life Assurance, 4x Annual Salary
  • Employee Assistance Programme
  • Mobile Phone Discounts (EE Network)
  • Cycle purchase and season ticket loan schemes
  • Extended Maternity/Paternity Pay

If you share our core values of perseverance, integrity, compassion and creativity and have the counselling skills and patience to support some of the UK’s most vulnerable young people and families, we would love you to join us. It’s sensitive and demanding work – but hugely rewarding and fulfilling - you will be helping to give young people a brighter future.

About Us

Children’s mental health charity, Place2Be, has been providing in-school support and expert training to improve the emotional wellbeing of pupils, families, teachers and school staff in Scottish primary and secondary schools since 2001.

Starting with an initial pilot in two Edinburgh primary schools, Place2Be Scotland now reaches over 14,000 pupils and their families in schools across Glasgow, Edinburgh, South Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Dundee, Angus, Perth and Kinross and South Ayrshire. Our training programme includes a Mental Health Champions Foundation Course available free of charge to 50,000 teachers across the UK and support for School Leaders.

As an established leader in the field Place2Be has also been commissioned by the Scottish Government to deliver a nationwide support service for school leaders, teachers and staff across Scotland. In addition we are working in partnership with the University of Edinburgh to support teachers of the future to develop their resilience, understand children’s mental health and wellbeing and contribute to mental healthy schools.

We are committed to supporting the social, emotional and mental wellbeing of children and young people in the crucial formative years of their lives. Our expert teams provide pupils and their families with emotional and therapeutic support, as well as delivering training within school communities. All of our work is evidence-based, using tried and tested methods, backed by research.

Place2Be’s mental health practitioners currently work directly within over 40 school communities - supporting school leaders, school staff, children, young people and their families in some of Scotland’s most deprived communities.

We build children and young people’s resilience to face life’s challenges through talking, creative work and play, enabling them to focus on their education and realise their full potential. We also support parents, carers and school staff to become more ‘mentally healthy’.

We continue to pilot, trial and explore new ways in which we can develop our practice as well as share learning, expertise and findings from the robust evidence and evaluation we gather. HRH The Duchess of Cambridge is our Royal Patron and Place2Be is one of the founding charity partners of Heads Together. We also work collaboratively with a range of charities and expert organisations to leverage best-in-class knowledge and expertise to inform, develop and improve outcomes for the children, families and schools we support.

We ask our staff team to share our core values of perseverance, integrity, compassion and creativity, and to have the skills and patience to support some of the UK’s most vulnerable children and families.

Application notes

To find out more and apply please visit our website

Closing date: 19 Feb 2023