Women's Health Counsellor

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

The Women's Health Counsellor will play a pivotal role in the provision of time-limited counselling support and intervention to clients accessing care following a pregnancy loss at any stage, issues relating to body image following gynaecological/obstetric surgery, and issues regarding fertility. The post holder will offer assessment and time-limited counselling support as part of an integrated pathway for clients accessing care. The post holder will work closely with the three current Counsellors, the Matron for Gynaecology Safeguarding Team, Bereavement Midwives, and Maternity Services to ensure high-quality care and support for women and their families. The post holder will act as a key service resource, providing care for women and birthing people.

Main duties of the job

1. To provide initial assessment and intervention to clients with related social, emotional, and psychological problems.
2. To work with the multidisciplinary team to ensure all young people and vulnerable adults accessing services are assessed for any safeguarding issues.
3. To ensure that any safeguarding issues that arise are documented and managed in line with Trust safeguarding protocols.
4. To ensure all disclosures of domestic/sexual violence and exploitation are managed appropriately, ensuring individuals are assessed and supported, with referral to local statutory agencies, as per local and national guidance.
5. To develop and deliver specialist therapeutic treatment plans to meet the needs of individuals or couples with treatment of depression, anxiety, post-trauma, and bereavement counselling.

About us

We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 800,000 people. Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected, and confident that we are making a difference'. We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families, and carers we care for every day.

Job responsibilities

Please scroll down to access the full Job Description and Person Specification located in Documents to download.

If you have further queries please don't hesitate to contact the line manager using the contact details below.

Person Specification

Qualifications and training

• Mentor Qualification or ENB 998 Min 2 years post-registration of a recognisable Counselling qualification
• Registered BACP/NCPS
• Working towards Accreditation/Accredited
• Recent experience in working therapeutically with specific relative training to add to the existing skill mix of the counselling team e.g., CBT
• Evidence of facilitating learning in practice
• Evidence of ongoing personal and professional development
• Registered Nurse/Midwife on the Practising Register

Clinical skills and experience

• Experience and expertise in working with Traumatic stress/Complex trauma and Complex bereavement
• Able to recognise the need for and apply a wide range of counselling therapeutic interventions relevant to this area of practice
• Ability to work on own initiative using sound decision-making and problem-solving skills
• Able to communicate complex information in a sensitive, tactful, and empathetic way, verbally and in writing.
• Experience in a variety of clinical settings including gynaecology/Maternity
• Advanced knowledge of local and national guidance and service delivery
• Experience working with couples and individuals
• Negotiation of issues of boundaries and confidentiality with other professionals

Governance

• Understanding of the elements relating to clinical governance and risk management, ensuring appropriate monitoring systems are in place.
• Evidence of Continuous quality improvement
• Datix training

Personal/professional attributes

• Autonomous and can work under own initiative.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to have a collaborative working relationship with the Counselling Team

Other Requirements

• Position may involve occasional inter-site travel. Has access to transport.
• To work face-to-face with clients at BHD and WHH (on occasional Saturdays) and work from home.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975, and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

£37,338 to £44,962 a year pro rata per annum