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Vacancies
Secondary School
You will work with young people ages 11-17 in a Secondary School within Waltham Forest OR Lewisham. You will support them around various issues, many of the service users will be vulnerable young people at risk of exclusion. You will work on the school site with the young person and will have direct relationship with the school.
Placement counsellors applying for this opportunity will need to have a day available to go into the school and work with up to 4 clients in a school day between 8.30am – 3.30pm. Every client will have between 6-12 sessions of counselling.
If you are interested in working with vulnerable young people, then this placement is for you.
· You will have a case load of 3-4 clients in a school day/ once-weekly individual counselling.
· You will be asked to see clients for the service – medium term intervention (up to 12 sessions)
· Sessions will take place between 8.30am-3.30pm on a weekday
· You need to complete administrative duties in connection with your client work and connected with your placement.
· We will provide references after you have been with us for 6 months. We will also complete course reports.
· You will be required to have a DBS check. We will carry out the process for you.
· You will be expected to commit to a 1 year placement with us. Should you choose to leave before that time, we reserve to right not to sign off your placement hours with us.
· If you are applying for a school placement: some courses do not accept child counselling hours, so please check with your tutor before applying.
· Relevant CPD/training/qualifications
· Experience of working within a multi-cultural environment
· Experience of working with Children & young people exploring complex issues
Spark2Life Service Users
You will work with young adults between the ages of 18-30. This client group are known to be impacted and/or involved in serious youth violence and gang/group offending. You will work with them within specific Boroughs such as; Lewisham, Waltham Forest, Barking & Dagenham and Newham. You will support them around various issues including ACES and negative patterns of thinking and behaving. Every client will begin with 6 sessions and then progress to 12+ sessions once they’ve demonstrated a commitment.
If you are interested in the criminal justice system and working with vulnerable and disaffected young adults, then this placement opportunity is for you.
· You will have a case load of 3-4 clients in weekly individual counselling.
· You will be asked to see clients for the service – medium term intervention (up to 12 sessions)
· Sessions will take place during the day or evenings (timings are flexible)
· You need to complete administrative duties in connection with your client work and connected with your placement.
· We will provide references after you have been with us for 6 months. We will also complete course reports.
· You will be required to have a DBS check. We can carry out the process for you.
· You will be expected to commit to a 1-year placement with us. Should you choose to leave before that time, we reserve to right to not sign off your placement hours with us.
· Relevant CPD/training/qualifications
· Experience of working within a multi-cultural environment
· A particular interest and passion around working with the client group
· Experience of working with the client group or in the youth justice/criminal justice sector
Adults
You will work with Adults, which include our staff, families of our service users, members of the community counselling them within various Boroughs e.g. Waltham Forest, Lewisham, Newham & Barking & Dagenham You will counsel them around various issues.
· You will have a case load of up to 3/4 clients in weekly individual counselling.
· You will be asked to see clients for the service – medium term intervention (up to 12 sessions) which may be extended upon request
· Sessions will take place during the day or in the evening, Weekdays & Weekends at any time (timings are flexible)
· You need to complete administrative duties in connection with your client work and connected with your placement.
· We will provide references after you have been with us for 6 months. We will also complete course reports.
· You will be required to have a DBS check. We can carry out the process for you.
If you are registered on the online DBS Update Service, then we would accept this and would not need to carry out a check.
· You will be expected to commit to a 1-year placement with us. Should you choose to leave before that time, we reserve to right to not sign off your placement hours with us.
· Relevant CPD/training/qualifications
· Experience of working within a multi-cultural environment & working with difference
· Resilience in working with challenging clients
· Experience of working with adults exploring complex issues
How to apply
To apply for the above listed roles, please send your CV to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
In your email please specify which role you are applying for, a covering letter explaining why you are applying for the role and include your preferred borough of work in the body of the email. Remember, you can apply for more than one opportunity.
If your CV is successful, the counselling manager will arrange a 15 minute informal chat with you and then invite you for an interview (please provide a phone number and availability).
Deadline to apply is 25th September.
Counsellor Interviews (zoom) on 1st October.
Induction & Training Dates on 22nd & 23rd October (tbc).
Experience & qualities
To apply you need to have completed or be studying towards a:
- Diploma in Counselling (Level 4 or above in England and Wales, or equivalent diploma at SCQF Level 9-11 in Scotland)
- Degree or Masters in Counselling, Psychotherapy or Art Therapy
- You are a student / registered member with a professional membership body (e.g NCS, UKCP, BPS, BACP) and agree to work within the terms of the Ethical Framework of your professional membership body
- If still in training, you have a letter from your college or university tutor to confirm you are ready for a clinical placement at Spark2Life. (We will provide you with a readiness to practice letter to be signed by your college)
- We also welcome trained counsellors, therapists and counselling/clinical psychologists willing to give their time to support our valuable work.
Personal Therapy
If still in training, then you must be in weekly therapy throughout the duration of your placement.
You must also have at least 30 hours of personal therapy If you have completed your training and have a minimum of 100 hours’ personal therapy, then you do not have to be in therapy while on placement with us. However, you must have access to therapy should the work with clients require that you explore your own material. And in some circumstances we may ask you to go into therapy.
- Relevant CPD/training/qualifications
- Experience of working within a multi-cultural environment
- Experience of working with adults exploring complex issues
Benefits & Training
Benefits
· Spark2Life has insurance (but we still recommend you get your own)
· You will have access to specialist training in line with the client group you are working with.
· You will receive Free Supervision that will cover BACP and course requirements.
Training Provided:
Following your interview, you will be invited into our office for an induction and 2 days of training. You will need to attend all mandatory training in order to work with this cohort. And you will receive a certificate of attendance.
· Spark2life Induction training
· Safeguarding Training
· Online Health & Safety training
· Lone Working
· Relevant Client group specialist training
· Administrative & Process training