Counsellor Practitioner – Neonatal Intensive Care

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

Job summary

We would like to recruit an enthusiastic, creative, values led Counsellor to working within and alongside the Neonatal intensive care MDT. The role is a part of a wider Paediatric Psychological medicine Team, based at Addenbrookes Hospital.

The Counsellor Practitioner is a member of the children’s services counselling team and the wider psychosocial team that works in NICU. The role is to provide a responsive therapeutically based service, accessible to all parents/carers and families from their baby’s diagnosis or admission into NICU, including supporting families where their baby is receiving palliative or end of life care through to bereavement care if necessary. This post also provides a specialist counselling service to NICU outpatient families, where their baby has been on NICU and they would like to access support when they are home, in order to process the NICU experience. The counsellor works alongside the NICU Clinical Psychologist and with the ward team, including the Matron, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Neonatologists, other Counsellors and outside agencies involved with the family, and is flexible and adaptable in delivering the service.

This counselling will largely take place within Addenbrookes and will involve the post-holder offering a responsive and needs led service on a daily basis.

Main duties of the job

1. The post holder will cover two clinical areas. 1) To provide a counselling service for parents on NICU. 2) To provide a specialist counselling outpatient service for NICU parents in the community (those parents that had a baby on NICU and are now home and want to access support to process the NICU experience), including bereavement follow-up support. Both work includes working with families experiencing high levels of trauma and emotional distress. Work to include detailed assessment, intervention and liaison with other professionals, using a theoretical framework.

2. To work in a range of environments alongside the Clinical Nurse Specialists and Neonatologists, to support parents on NICU. This includes working at the cot-side in NICU.

3. Provide crisis and trauma focused support for families, and to make decisions about referral on to other services as appropriate. Using a range of specific psychological interventions which may include trauma support work, problem solving, anger, stress and anxiety management.

4. To be fully aware of and contribute to the bereavement counselling service provided for families

5. Carry a bleep and to respond to urgent referrals as quickly as possible within working hours (9-5). Undertaking an assessment of need which includes the ability to differentiate between moderate and severe levels of psychological distress.

Person Specification

Education/Qualifications

Essential

  • Diploma or above in counselling qualification
  • BACP registration

Desirable

  • Supervisory course

Experience

Essential

  • Worked as a supervised counsellor
  • Worked in a healthcare setting/family work
  • Has experience with trauma, bereavement work or crisis work
  • Has experience of supporting families with perinatal mental health difficulties or have experienced birth trauma

Desirable

  • Previous experience working within acute hospital settings.
  • Experience of family work
  • Perinatal experience

Skills and Abilities

Essential

  • Able to demonstrate commitment to high quality care and service provision
  • Highly developed communication skills, both verbal and written.
  • Able to work autonomously and within multi-disciplinary teams.

Desirable

  • Teaching/presentation skills
  • Ability to supervise others
  • Research and service evaluation experience

Knowledge and Understanding

Essential

  • Knowledge of issues regarding perinatal mental health
  • Knowledge of models relating to family and parental adjustment to illness, loss and bereavement.
  • Trauma informed knowledge

Desirable

  • Knowledge of models and/or issues relating to staff support
  • Knowledge of systemic approaches development
  • Knowledge of supporting presentations of acute stress

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Closing Date: 19 July 2026

To apply for this job please visit apps.trac.jobs.