Counsellor/Social Worker - Mountbatten

Job Posted: 9 September 2025

• Contract Term: Permanent
• Location: Newport, Isle of Wight
• Contract Type: Part time
• Salary: Up to £29,453 per annum (£36,817 FTE)
• Industries: Health & Social Care Social Work

Post: Counsellor/Social Worker – dual qualified

Department: Psychosocial Services

Hours: 30 hours per week to be worked flexibility in accordance with the needs of the service

Salary: Up to £29,453.88 (actual) per annum pro rata (£36,817.35 full time equivalent - £18.83 per hour)

Overview of Role:

• To hold a clinical caseload in palliative care and bereavement; including working with children, young people and adults.
• To maintain expert and up to date knowledge and skills in the field of palliative and bereavement care to inform the service developments in line with professional best practice and research.
• To co-ordinate an efficient and effective bereavement service dedicated to the provisions of high-quality support to bereaved families and carers. 
• Develop and oversee the administrative process and procedures enabling timely management of all referrals, assessments and allocations.
• Provide supervision to team members and students
• Participate and contribute to the quality of, and audit programmes for, the Psychosocial team 

KEY TASKS

• Conduct comprehensive holistic assessments of the patient and their families and ensure their needs are met appropriately
• To hold and effectively manage a clinical caseload to demonstrate best practice in line with professional guidelines and research.
• Ensure that patient records on SystmOne of are maintained to a high standard.
• Ensure that a range of emotional and social support strategies are available to meet the needs of individuals and their families including information, 1-1 support and counselling, group work and family work.
• Ensure that up to date, relevant information is provided to facilitate access to appropriate psychosocial support.
• As a member of multi-professional and psychosocial teams, attend MDT’s and other meetings to ensure that the needs of family members and carers are considered.
• Act as an advocate for patients and where conflict arises with family members sign post families to external advocacy agencies.
• To be familiar with and work within Mountbatten’s Safeguarding policies and procedures to ensure patient safety.
• Provide support and guidance to staff to promote understanding of families/carers/individuals coping with psychological and social impact of living with a palliative diagnosis, as well as, pre-bereavement and bereavement.
• Participate in regular professional supervision for yourself and provide supervision to team members.
• To effectively manage the referrals and assessment processes in a timely manner.
• Conduct assessments of individuals for suitability of other services provided including; befriending/visiting service or groups, or referral on to another appropriate service, e.g. psychiatry or social service.
• Research, develop, implement groups for bereaved people to meet identified need including social support and for therapeutic purposes.

PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• To maintain knowledge of current best practice and research in palliative care psychology and bereavement care and evaluate how this can be effectively implemented at Mountbatten.
• Constructively contribute to current thinking and service evaluation on best practice in bereavement care at     Mountbatten.
• Collaborate with external researchers and develop research activities in consultation with the Director of                 Psychosocial Care and the Head of Education and Research.
• Disseminate knowledge of best practice and research within the psychosocial service and more widely by             participating in and providing consultancy, education and training.
• To monitor and gain regular feedback from service users to ensure the service develops to meet patient’s needs.
• Ensure high quality psychosocial and bereavement care is offered in line with the national care service standards, benchmarking with other services, identifying gaps in service provision and developing strategies to develop the service.
• Develop and maintain an understanding of Mountbatten and local psychosocial care provision, assessing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to inform service developments.
• Develop and maintain a critical analysis of the national picture of psychosocial care and the different models of service provision.

 ~~~PLEASE REFER TO THE ATTACHED JOB DESCRIPTION, AND PERSONAL SPECIFICATION, FOR THE FULL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THIS ROLE~~~