Young People's Counsellor - Southwark College

Location: Southwark College - SE1 8DF

Salary: £12,392 for 17 hours per week, term time only - 35 weeks per year (based on a full time salary of £36,100 for 37.5 hours per week, 52 weeks per year)*

Contract: Fixed-term until June 2026, with the possibility of extension subject to funding

The Vacancy

Before applying for this role, please read through the Job Description and Person Specification (available at the bottom of this page).

* Salary includes a payment for annual leave entitlement as the post holder will be expected to work every week during term time.

Hours Per Week: 17

South East London Mind has been delivering a young person’s counselling service to students at Southwark College for several years.

As a Young People’s Counsellor, you’ll provide an age-appropriate counselling service that allows the students to explore their mental health and wellbeing, along with the socioeconomic factors that impact this. You’ll manage a caseload of students, triaging new clients to the service, coordinating the waiting list and capturing data and outcome measures on a CRM database.

We are looking for someone with a professionally-recognised diploma or equivalent in Counselling or Psychotherapy who has experience of providing counselling to young people aged 14 upwards. As you’ll be working closely with pastoral staff on-site, an ability to work independently but collaboratively, to be proactive and show initiative is essential for this role.

The role will involve:

Offering age-appropriate counselling sessions, including assessments and risk assessments
Working with teachers and pastoral staff to ensure that students are triaged and the relevant level of care and support is offered
Record keeping: maintaining up-to-date records of work undertaken, including session notes, service records and Views CRM database records
Contributing to quarterly monitoring reports, including reflections on key themes and issues experienced by students, case studies, and outcome measurement tools
Liaising where appropriate with other SEL Mind staff, school/college staff or agencies including local statutory and voluntary sector professionals and organisations
Attendance at regular supervisions with the Head of Services and meeting with other Young People’s Counsellors to keep abreast of key issues and needs across the service

Successful applicants will be expected to undergo an Enhanced Level Disclosure and Barring Service check.

Closing date: Monday 5th May (11:59pm)

Likely interview date: Thursday 15th May

We encourage early applications as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if we receive a high number of applications.

About Us

SEL Mind supports people with mental health problems and dementia in the boroughs of Bromley, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark. We are proud of our diverse workforce and know that our organisation is made stronger by the variety of backgrounds, experience, and ideas within it. We promote a culture of inclusion and representation, and are working hard to build a workforce that even better reflects the communities we support.

SEL Mind is somewhere that you can be your authentic self without fear of discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, neurodivergence, gender, age, lived experience of mental health problems or anything else that’s part of who you are.

Read more about staff benefits and why staff love working here.