Online Counsellors - TalkOffTheRecord.org

“Off The Record” Youth Counselling Croydon

72 Queens Road, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 2PR

[email protected]

www.talkofftherecord.org

020 8251 0251 / 020 8680 8899

© “Off The Record” Youth Counselling, Registered Charity No. 1051144, Registered Company No. 2987817, Registered in England and Wales Registered Office: 72 Queens Road, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 2PR

Contents

Cover Letter

Application Information

Information about “Off The Record” Job Descriptions & Person Specifications for all posts listed above

RECRUITMENT INFORMATION PACK

Online Counsellors – 1 post working 8 hours p.w.

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October 2017 Dear Applicant, Off the Record is a local agency that provides a range of support services for children and young people living, studying or working within the London Boroughs of Croydon, Sutton and Merton. The agency has been operating for over 20 years and is well-regarded in the local community and is supported by Croydon and Sutton local authorities and local Clinical Commissioning Groups as well as a range of charitable funders. We are working towards ensuring young people have access to a wide range of Safe, Accessible, Fast and Effective (SAFE) mental health interventions. We are looking for qualified, experienced counsellors to join us in shaping our innovative approaches in our online counselling service. Off the Record has been committed to providing online services to young people since piloting an online counselling service in 2012, called SkyLine. Building on the success of this pilot, we have been offering online workshops (SkyCasts) to young people throughout 2015. We have now successfully secured funding to create an integrated ‘online offer’ which will provide young people with access to both online workshops and online counselling support from one redeveloped site, launching in May 2016. This is an exciting time to join the agency with great opportunities to shape our innovative and accessible mental health services to young people. We are currently recruiting:

One part-time Online Counsellors to work 8 hours p.w. delivering online counselling to young people through our new dedicated online counselling platform. Online counselling is predominantly delivered in the late afternoons and evenings with counsellors working from home.

All posts are restricted to qualified counsellors with experience counselling young people. Specific online counselling qualifications/experience is required. This information pack provides more information about Off the Record as well as the Job Description and Person Specification for all the above role. To apply for one of the roles, please complete the application form and equal opportunities monitoring form at the back of this pack and return it via email or post to [email protected] Please note, decisions about who to invite for interview will be based on the application form and how well someone demonstrates that they meet the person specification for the specific post. Therefore it is essential that you complete the form fully and accurately, detailing how you fulfil each point in each relevant person specification and indicating your relevant knowledge, skills and experience. Please do not make any assumptions about what we might know or infer about you, complete the form as if we have no knowledge of you or your work. If you have any further questions about this role please contact me on 020 8680 8899, [email protected] Regards, Roz Turner-Drage, Online Counselling Coordinator

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Application Information

RETURN OF APPLICATION

If you would like to be considered for this post, please apply by sending the following: Application Form (with the person specification section completed for each post for which

you wish to be considered) Equal Opportunities Form (this will be separated from the application form and will have no

effect on your application for this role) The application form and equal opportunities form are at the end of this application pack

Please note that CV’s will not be considered

Applications will be selected according to how well they meet the criteria in the relevant person specification(s). Please respond to each point on the relevant person specification(s) in order

giving clear evidence for how you meet each criteria.

Please email the completed forms to [email protected], or post them to:

Off The Record (Administration Manager) 172 Croydon Road Beddington CR0 4PG

Acknowledgement of Applications

Email applicants will receive a confirmation of receipt. We are not able to acknowledge receipt of postal applications.

Application Process

Successful candidates will be contacted by as soon as possible. If you do not get invited for online interview your application is unsuccessful.

Interviews will be held via Skype at a time agreed with yourself. If your interview is successful you will be asked to complete synchronous and asynchronous online skills tasks.

mailto:[email protected]

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Off The Record

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

“Off the Record” Youth Counselling Croydon was founded in 1994 to provide free, independent, confidential, professional counselling for 14 – 25 year olds in the Croydon area. Since then the agency has expanded to include further areas of work in Croydon including BME Mental Health Work; a Young Carers Project offering support to young people under 26 who are caring for the needs of others; and a specialist counselling service for young refugees; as well as offering online and face-to-face counselling within the neighbouring boroughs of Sutton and Merton. The agency is funded through a variety of sources including Croydon CCG, London Borough of Croydon, London Borough of Sutton, Sutton CCG, Merton CCG, Lloyds Foundation, L&Q Foundation and Children in Need. Limited Company “Off the Record” is a charitable limited company and is a registered charity. The conduct of the company is governed by our Memorandum and Articles of Association. The Management Committee “Off the Record” is an independent voluntary sector agency and is managed by a multi-disciplinary voluntary Trustee Board. The Trustee Board meets quarterly and has full legal responsibility for the operation of the agency. The Trustee Board also has officers who have delegated responsibility for particular areas of work e.g. finance. Trustee Board members are elected at the Annual General Meeting. Due to “Off the Record’s” status as a limited company, all Trustee Board members are also Directors of the Company. The Trustee Board works in an open and collaborative style and encourages full participation from paid and volunteer staff and service users. Paid Staff “Off the Record” currently has around 40 paid staff working across 3 boroughs. Many staff are part-time and some hold more than one post. The Agency Director & Assistant Director are responsible for overall line management of staff and for the day to day running of the agency and are accountable to the Management Committee. Volunteers “Off the Record” has and seeks volunteers in the counselling services, with young carers and in administration. Volunteer counsellors carry out part of the counselling work with young people and are professionally supervised in their work. Volunteers support young carers in their Learning Support Club and on trips and activities. Administration volunteers assist in the daily receptionist and administrative tasks for all the services and projects. Volunteers are drawn from a variety of backgrounds and all are selected and trained by the agency. Volunteers are directly accountable to the paid staff. Professional Standards “Off the Record” is a member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy and of Youth Access. The counselling service is operated in accordance with BACP’s Ethical Framework and is subject to BACP’s Complaints Procedure. “Off the Record” holds the PQASSO Level One quality award and is a recognised Living Wage Employer. Involvement of Young People “Off the Record” seeks to actively involve young people in the development of its services and service users are encouraged to provide feedback and suggestions about the service.

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OFF THE RECORD ORGANISATIONAL VISION AND VALUES Our Vision Statement (What inspires us)

“We believe that everyone has strengths, abilities and talents within them. We want children and young people who are vulnerable or struggling to be empowered to use these resources to meet life's challenges.”

Our Values (What we believe)

We believe that all Children and Young People:

Have a right to be respected and valued whoever they are

Have a right to make choices and decisions about their own lives

Have the potential to live a vibrant and fulfilling life Our Principles (We will)

Keep things private and respect your confidentiality Listen to you in a way that is helpful and supportive Work hard to earn your trust rather than expect it Respect and understand your wishes and beliefs Be clear, honest and friendly Give you as much choice as we can Actively work together with you, rather than telling you how it is Support and challenge you to be the best that you can be

Off the Record is a partner in the national Children & Young People Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP IAPT) initiative and works in accordance with IAPT principles in terms proactively using routine outcome measures to support our work and in working collaboratively with young people as full partners in their own treatment and in the design of services. We aim to ensure that all young people who come to Off the Record have access to a wide range of Safe, Accessible, Fast and Effective (SAFE) support.

WHAT WE DO

We provide a wide range of free, friendly and accessible support services for children, young people and families in the London boroughs of Croydon, Sutton and Merton. Face to Face Counselling

Croydon – the Croydon counselling service is a free, confidential service for young people aged 14-25 living, working or studying in Croydon. It is predominantly self-referral and works with over 500 young people a year. Sutton – the Sutton counselling service works with young people aged 11-25 who are resident in Sutton or registered with a Sutton GP. We work within a partnership known as ‘Sutton Alliance’ with SWLSTG Mental Health Trust and Jigsaw4U to deliver the borough’s Tier 2 CAMHS services. The service takes

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referrals from the CAMHS Single Point of Assessment as well as self-referrals and works with around xx young people a year. We also run a support group for parents of young people who self-harm and a weekly multi-agency walk-in session. Merton - this is our newest counselling service which started operating as a pilot in April 2017 working with young people aged 11-18 who are resident in Merton or registered with a Merton GP. The service is currently co-located with the Sutton service and again works in partnership with the local CAMHS service taking referrals from the Single Point of Assessment as well as self-referrals.

Our Counselling Philosophy Off the Record believes that the relationship between the counsellor and the young person is at the centre of all our work and can help enable change to happen. Counsellors will seek to engage with clients in a warm and immediate way, while being mindful of the importance of appropriate boundaries. We share a vision of the client as the authority on him or herself, and see ourselves as trained active listeners who aim to engage with and support the client to develop their understanding and potential to deal with life’s challenges, and to find their own unique approach to those challenges. Off the Record’s counselling teams have a variety of trainings and skills in meeting young people’s needs. A therapist will decide which approach seems best suited for a particular person at a particular time but always rooted in the belief that the relationship is central and taking account of young people’s needs and wishes. The counselling teams include qualified paid counsellors and volunteer clinicians, who usually join the agency while still in training. Online Services in Croydon, Sutton & Merton (SkyCasts/SkyLine) Since April 2015, Off the Record has been delivering a series of interactive online workshops called SkyCasts, designed to provide practical help and information for young people aged 14-25 who live, work or study in Croydon or Sutton. Sessions topics have included peer pressure, self-harm, depression, anxiety, substance misuse. All the sessions will take place online, so that they can accessed anywhere by young people through pc’s, tablets or smartphones. From May 2016, Off the Record has also been delivering individual online counselling for young people through our SkyLine service with trained online counsellors delivering synchronous and asynchronous counselling to young people particularly targeting those who may feel unable or unwilling to access face-to-face counselling. Sutton Uplift Sutton Uplift is Sutton’s adult mental wellbeing service incorporating a team of voluntary sector Wellbeing Navigators working alongside statutory mental health assessment and IAPT services. One Wellbeing Navigator is employed directly by Off the Record specialising in support to young adults. Croydon Young Carers Project The Young Carers Project is a free, friendly and professional service, offering support to young people aged 7-25 who are caring for a parent or sibling with a physical disability, mental health issue, long-term illness or learning difficulty. At the Young Carers Project we offer a wide range of activities to support young carers, including:

Trips and Activities – organising all sorts of activities for all ages during the holidays, to help young carers take a break, have fun and meet other young carers.

Emotional Support & Counselling – offering one to one emotional support, confidential counselling sessions and support from our mental health worker.

Educational Support – support around any issue to do with school, college or training. We also run a weekly Learning Support Club.

Family Support – giving support to parents where appropriate.

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Monthly Boys & Girls Groups – a chance for young carers to get together. There’s a variety of activities, and sometimes just a chance to meet and relax together.

Compass

Compass is a specialist service within Off the Record in Croydon, providing mental health support to young people in Croydon who are refugees, asylum seekers or forced migrants. Compass provides individual counselling and group work to young people who are refugees, asylum seekers or forced migrants. We offer a service within local schools and colleges, as well as at Off the Record. We can also offer counselling through an interpreter, if requested.

Counselling – We support a wide range of issues, including trauma, loss, self-harm, suicide, anxiety, isolation and sleep problems.

Group Work – Group work is offered in schools and colleges to explore issues such as anger, relationships and change. Our weekly Boys Group provides more flexible support, offering an opportunity to develop new friendships, get involved in activities and access wider services.

Training for Professionals – Training is available to organisations working closely with young refugees and asylum seekers, providing information on mental health difficulties, the impact of loss and trauma and effective support strategies.

We believe that all young people have the right to access culturally sensitive support that respects individual experiences and beliefs. At Compass we understand that past memories, experiences or trauma can be difficult to cope with and worries about the future or problems within the UK can be hard to manage alone. We aim to provide a service which respects individual cultures, beliefs and experiences, whilst offering a safe space to talk.

Community Development Work By providing support to Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) community organisations in Croydon we aim to help the development of mental health services for BME young people and young adults aged 0-35. We support mental health services and community organisations to engage Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in their work by:

Empowering BME communities to play a key role in the development of services.

Identifying barriers to accessing mental health services.

Raising awareness of mental health issues and challenging mental health stigma within BME communities.

Acting as a supportive link between BME communities and mental health services.

Helping organisations to build capacity.

Bridging the gap between community organisations and statutory services, providing information and advice on how to engage with BME groups.

As Community Development Workers, we are committed to raising awareness of mental health and reducing any stigma that is attached. We believe that services should be accessible to all people, particularly BME communities, and that discrimination in mental health services should be a thing of the past. Also, we believe that BME community organisations have a significant role to play in the strategic development of more culturally appropriate and responsive mental health services.

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PART-TIME ONLINE COUNSELLOR

Role Description

SALARY: Pro rata of £27,799 p.a. (Note: salary figure includes Outer London Weighting. For counsellors not based in London, please note that you will need to meet your own travel costs into London for 2 meetings p.a. – see point 6 below)

RESPONSIBLE TO: Online Counselling Manager HOURS OF WORK: 8 hours per week worked from home, with at least 50% of these

hours being provided during evening or weekend hours.

CONTRACT: Permanent part-time contract. Leave entitlement is 36 days per year pro rata inclusive of bank holidays

JOB SUMMARY: The primary focus of the post will be to provide online counselling to clients using the SkyLine service. Your role will also include some administrative tasks, such as processing new clients coming into the service, as well as attending clinical supervision with the SkyLine Supervisor.

DUTIES:

1. To offer ongoing online counselling to up to 7 clients a week. This will include message-based counselling (asynchronous) and real-time counselling sessions (synchronous).

2. To support new clients entering the service by responding to messages, setting up appointments and providing any necessary support to clients using the site.

3. To implement crisis and safeguarding procedures for online counselling clients.

4. To disseminate outcome measure tools to clients at the point of entry into the service, on a session by session basis and upon completion of the online counselling.

5. To analyse and review the effectiveness of the online interventions provided through the service (i.e. review outcome measures and adapt work accordingly).

6. To attend 2 Saturday meetings p.a. in Croydon for the online counselling service (travel costs equivalent to an all-zone off-peak London Travelcard would be met).

7. To attend regular online clinical supervision. Each month you will attend a monthly SkyLine Supervision Group (the day and time of this session will be set by the clinical supervisor), as well as having an individual supervision session during the course of the month.

8. To be available for monthly online/telephone line management supervision, as well as other counselling service/agency meetings as appropriate and where possible within the hours available

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9. To actively implement the agency’s equalities and diversity policy

10. To assist in other tasks within the project as necessary

PART-TIME ONLINE COUNSELLOR

Person Specification

1. Desire to work with innovation and adapt counselling practice to work effectively online

2. Professional counselling qualification to diploma level or equivalent

3. Additional qualification in online counselling (essential)

4. BACP/UKCP accredited or eligible for accreditation

5. Confidence to comfortably operate a computer, in particular use of messaging systems and web-based programmes.

6. Ability to quickly learn how to use web-based software and solve minor IT problems

7. Clinical confidence to manage new challenges associated with working in a new method of practice

8. Ability to actively engage with young people and an understanding of the issues young people face in their lives

9. Ability to undertake counselling assessments, including risk assessments and to provide short–term counselling to young people in crisis

10. Awareness of safeguarding responsibilities and the issues related to delivering services to young people under 16

11. Ability to maintain accurate records and statistics

12. Understanding of and commitment to, anti-discriminatory practice

13. Ability to maintain professional boundaries whilst responding to complex ethical dilemmas

14. Ability to work as part of a team and willingness to attend team meetings and agency staff meetings

15. Ability to work remotely on the online counselling website

16. Ability to provide out of hours counselling support on the site (i.e. run online sessions at evenings and weekends).

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JOB APPLICATION FORM

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

Please complete all sections in black ink or typescript

Please read the whole information pack before completing this form CV’s will not be considered

Job Title:

Closing Date:

Surname:

First name:

Address:

Email:

Home Tel:

Mobile Tel:

Present Or Most Recent Post

Name Of Employer: Address

Start Date:

End Date:

Job Title: Current Salary: Main Responsibilities: Reason For Leaving:

Period of Notice Required By Employer:

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Employment History: In chronological order from most recent Please include any relevant unpaid work & account for any gaps in employment

Dates From:

To:

Name of employer

Position held/ summary of duties

Reason for leaving

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General Education

School/College/University Qualifications Obtained

Dates From:

To:

Relevant Professional Education & Training or Membership of Professional Associations including specific online counselling training:

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Dates From:

To:

College/Institution Qualification/Training attended

Person Specification

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Please read the person specification carefully. Please provide clear evidence of how you meet each of the requirements specified. You may continue on supplementary sheets.

Anything else to add: Is there anything else that you would like to tell us in connection with your application.

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Due to the nature of our work with children, young people and vulnerable adults, all posts within Off the Record are subject to Disclosure and Barring Service checks. Please note that the receipt of a form showing previous convictions/cautions /warnings will not automatically exclude someone from becoming a member of staff/a volunteer at “Off the Record”. Previous criminal records will be considered in relation to their relevance to the work/placement applied for, the circumstances of the offence and the length of time elapsed since the offence. If you have any concerns about this part of the application form, please contact the Agency Director at Off the Record.

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974) Please give details of any unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands or warmings.

Protecting Children & Young Adults Are you aware of any police enquires undertaken following allegations made against you, which may have a bearing on your suitability for this post? If yes please give details:

Additional Information Have you ever worked for Off the Record before in a paid or voluntary capacity? YES / NO If YES, please give details Do you need a work permit to take up employment in the U.K.? YES / NO Are you involved in any activity that might limit your availability to work YES / NO or your working hours? If YES, please give details If offered employment you may be required to complete a Medical Questionnaire. Are you prepared to undergo a medical examination before starting employment if required? YES / NO

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Referees: Please give details of two people that we may contact for references one of whom should be your current or most recent employer.

Reference 1 Reference 2

Name

Name

Organisation

Organisation

Address

Address

Postcode

Postcode

Contact Tel

Contact Tel

Mobile

Mobile

Email

Email

Relationship to you

Relationship to you

Declaration

I declare that the information given in this form is complete and accurate. I understand that any false information or deliberate omissions will disqualify me from employment or may render me liable to summary dismissal. I understand these details will be held in confidence by the Company, for the purposes of ongoing personnel administration and payroll administration in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998. I undertake to notify the Company immediately of any changes to the above details. Given the nature of the job for which I have applied, I understand that any offer of employment will be subject to information on my criminal record being disclosed to the Company by the Disclosure and Barring Service. Signed: Printed: Date:

Return completed Application and Equal Opportunities Monitoring form by email to: [email protected]

by post to: Off The Record (Administration Manager) 172 Croydon Road, Beddington, CR0 4PG

mailto:[email protected]

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EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES MONITORING FORM

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

Off the Record is committed to ensuring that all aspects of its services are accessible to the whole community. In order to monitor the implementation of our equal opportunities policy, all volunteers, management committee members and staff are asked to complete the details below. Completion of all or any part of this form is voluntary but we hope that you will feel able to provide the information requested as this is central to our monitoring procedures. These forms will not be used in any selection process and are strictly for monitoring purposes only.

Date of Completion

Application Candidate No

(for office use only)

Initials Date of Birth

Gender

Female Male Non binary/third Gender

Prefer to self-describe _________________ Prefer not to say

How would you identify yourself in relation to your cultural, ethnic or racial origin? (Please check any of the boxes below that apply)

White White British White Irish White Other

Mixed White & Black Caribbean White & Black African White & Asian White Other

Chinese

Black or Black British Caribbean African Other

Asian or Asian British Indian Pakistani Bangladeshi Other

Any Other Background

How would you describe your sexual orientation?

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Heterosexual

(straight)

Prefer to self-describe _________________ Prefer not to say

Are you registered disabled? No Yes Registration Number

If you are not registered disabled, do you consider yourself disabled in a way you would like us to know about?

Online Counsellors - TalkOffTheRecord.org

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