School Counselling Team Leader

Cyngor Gwynedd is committed to being an inclusive employer and to enhancing the diversity of the workforce. Applications will be assessed anonymously. All applicant information will be handled confidentially.

Personal attributes

Essential

Understanding of team leadership and development and management methods. Confident in meetings and when presenting information. Excellent communication and listening skills The ability to respect and deal with the service, staff and clients in a sincere and confidential manner. Confident to provide clinical leadership to the team in terms of the ethical code of professional bodies in the therapy and counselling field.

Thorough understanding of Child Protection processes. Knowledge of children and young people safety processes Knowledge of the issues affecting and disrupting the lives of young people. The ability to ensure self-motivation and to work independently. The ability to contact and work with other agencies and individuals to change things for the better in response to matters of relevance to the service.

Enthusiasm for working with children and young people. Patience, tolerance and sensitivity. The ability to deal with stress effectively.

Desirable-Qualifications and relevant training

Essential

Higher qualification in Counselling e.g. Masters degree or higher. Professional body accreditation, BACP or equivalent body. Desirable Higher academic or vocational qualification in a relevant field of study. Qualification to provide clinical supervision. Service / team management and leadership qualification. Qualification or experience in an alternative therapy, such as play therapy, art therapy, music therapy, etc. Relevant experience

Essential

Five years’ experience or more of working in the field of children and young people’s counselling.

Experience of working in the primary sector and in relation to the needs of junior children.

Experience of keeping standardised notes.

Experience of leading and developing a service/team.

Experience of working with others. Good IT skills and experience of using computer programmes and databases.

Desirable Experience of working in a range of schools.

Experience of alternative therapies fields.

Skills and specialist knowledge

Essential

Counselling training up to Masters level. Desirable-Language requirements

Listening and Speaking
- Higher Able to follow a conversation or discussion through the medium of Welsh and English on a professional level and discuss general day to day topics in the field in order to present information and express opinions. Able to give a pre-prepared presentation and respond to any comments and questions on it in Welsh or English. Reading and Understanding
- Higher Able to understand standard written Welsh and English; both formal and informal. Able to gather information from various sources such as letters, reports, articles through the medium of Welsh and English in order to fulfil the post. Writing
- Higher Present written information confidently by letter, more detailed and technical report formats, and respond to written requests conveying information, ideas and opinion in Welsh and English (help is available to check the work).

Purpose of the post

• To ensure that the children and young people of Gwynedd are central to everything we do.
• To provide a counselling service for young people in Secondary and Primary schools (Year
  6) in Gwynedd.
• To provide professional supervision for members of the schools' counselling team.
• To ensure that the service prioritises support for the most vulnerable pupils.
• To ensure the quality of the provision.

Responsibility for functions:

• Laptop and mobile phone.
• Day-to-day resources budget.
• Training budget.

Main duties:

• Serve as a team member to provide an effective, professional and statutory counselling service for young people as and when needed.
• Provide a face‑to‑face counselling service for individuals who, it is considered, would benefit from counselling.
• Provide and arrange a one‑to‑one assessment in accordance with BACP regulations.
• Comply with and conduct a limited number of sessions in accordance with BACP regulations.
• Ensure that every client…