Senior Counsellor (Grade 8)
3 Worcester Street, Oxford, OX1 2BX
Are you an experienced and accredited counsellor ready to take a senior role in shaping student mental health provision within a world-leading university? Join the University Counselling Service at the University of Oxford and play a key role in clinical leadership, service development and training, while delivering expert therapeutic support to students.
Location: 3 Worcester Street, Oxford, OX1 2BX Salary: Grade 8: £49,119 – £58,265 per annum (including Oxford University Weighting), pro rata
Hours: 22.5 hours per week (3 days), working during Oxford University term time only (30 weeks per year; 10 weeks per term)
Contract: Permanent – earliest start date January 2027
Spanning the historic streets of the “city of dreaming spires”, the University of Oxford is a globally renowned institution committed to excellence in research, education and student wellbeing.
Student Welfare and Support Services (SWSS) brings together the Counselling Service, the Disability Advisory Service, Sexual Harassment and Violence support service and the Peer Support and Mental Health awareness training programmes, to provide coherent and accessible support to students. The Counselling Service supports approximately 3,200 students each year and delivers brief therapeutic interventions grounded primarily in psychodynamic and cognitive behavioural approaches
Our vision is to create an environment in which all students can flourish at Oxford, personally and academically, and develop the resilience and skills to thrive.
What We Offer
- Working at the University of Oxford offers an excellent range of benefits, including:
- 38 days’ annual leave (inclusive of public holidays), with the option to purchase additional leave.
- One of the most generous family leave schemes in UK higher education.
- Flexible and hybrid working options in line with the University’s new ways of working framework .
- An excellent contributory pension scheme.
- Access to a wide range of personal and professional development opportunities.
- Free membership of the University Club and discounted sports facilities.
- A confidential Employee Assistance Programme available 24/7.
As a Grade 8 Senior Counsellor, you will combine senior-level clinical practice with operational and developmental responsibility within the service. You will deliver high-quality psychodynamic or cognitive behavioural therapy, adapting models pragmatically for brief interventions, while managing complex assessments and risk.
In addition to managing your own caseload within the BACP Ethical Framework, you will contribute to key areas of service delivery and decision-making, including reading and assessing intake forms and responding to urgent matters
You will deliver individual and group therapy, design and facilitate workshops, and provide culturally sensitive support to a diverse and international student body.
Reflecting the senior nature of the role, you will:
Deliver supervision to trainees and associates on placement
Lead on the development of a specialist area of expertise, contributing to service strategy and innovation
Undertake surveys, evaluation and small-scale research projects within the service
Design and deliver training for college and departmental staff, identifying needs and translating complex theory into accessible, practical guidance
Contribute to Peer Support training and supervision as required ensuring quality and consistency of deliver
You will attend weekly staff meetings and work one evening per week during term time
This is a role for an experienced professional who will exercise a high level of autonomy, influence service development and policy, and contribute meaningfully to strategic discussions affecting student mental health provision across the University.
You will hold BACP Individual Accreditation, UKCP Registration or equivalent; psychologists must be qualified as clinical or counselling psychologists and eligible for chartership with the BPS
As part of our departmental commitment to openness, inclusivity and transparency, we strongly encourage applications from individuals from underrepresented or minoritised backgrounds who meet the essential criteria for the post.
You will bring:
- Substantial experience delivering psychodynamic or cognitive behavioural therapy at significant depth
- Experience adapting therapeutic models for brief work and working with complex presentations.
- Experience designing and delivering training, workshops or group work
- A detailed and contemporary understanding of issues facing students in Higher Education
- Experience contributing to service development, evaluation or organisational initiatives.
- The confidence to present complex clinical ideas clearly to a range of audiences
- Strong emotional resilience and the ability to work effectively in a high-demand environment
- Confidence working remotely, including delivering online assessments and therapy
- Experience delivering supervision and contributing to organisational development would be advantageous
While this role is not sponsorable under the Skilled Worker visa route, we welcome applications from all, if you hold, or are be eligible to apply for, a visa under another visa route to show your right to work in the UK.
- A covering letter/supporting statement
- Your CV
- The details of two referees
The closing date for applications is 12 noon on Friday 14th August
Group interviews are expected to take place on Wednesday 2 September. Candidates who are successful at the group stage will then be invited to an individual interview on either Tuesday 8th or Wednesday 9th September; they will only need to attend on one of these dates.
All interviews will be held face-to-face. Please ensure that you are available on all three dates.
