Therapeutic Counsellor

Are you looking for a meaningful career that helps others break the cycle of addiction and live a positive life? The impact you will have in this role is far more reaching than the day to day contact with service users, the service we provide reverberates through families and society.


Who we are?


The Forward Trust are a social enterprise that empowers people to break the cycle of crime and addiction to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community.

We believe and are committed to providing opportunities to all people including those with ‘Lived Experience’ we encourage applications from all background including those in recovery from addiction, co-dependency or gambling, have experience of previous offending or homelessness.

You will be based on site working across teams that have a broad skills mix delivering recovery-orientated Health and Wellbeing Services in Surrey Prisons. Counselling services will play a key role in enhancing therapeutic programmes and involve working directly with those who are detained in the prison who may present low-level mental health needs and/or substance misuse issues. 

As part of a regional team of counsellors you will offer 1:1 and group based therapy and counselling interventions to service users aged 18 and over across: HMP Downview, HMP Send and HMP/YOI Bronzfield (base loacation can vary across these sites).  

• To provide counselling assessments and treatment of clients referred into the Footsteps and/or Bridge programmes.
• To formulate and implement cohesive counselling treatment and/or management plans for clients mental health and wellbeing needs, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s difficulties and to employ methods of therapeutic intervention most appropriate to the individual case.
• To evaluate treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the client.
• To provide counselling advice and consultation to clients when required.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the Integrated Wellbeing and Recovery service, and agencies serving the client group.
• To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress, taking into account professional requirements on ethics and confidentiality.

Please note these roles are fixed term until December 2026. We are open to both full time and part time applicants.

• Level 4 Diploma in Integrative Counselling qualification (proficiency certificate required)
• Accreditation with the BACP or working towards accreditation
• Experience of facilitating therapeutic groupwork 
• Experience of providing counselling services to people within the criminal justice system and/or experiance of substance misuse
• Experiance of working with vulnerable adults or wihtin secure settings
• A thorough knowledge of Trauma Informed Approaches

• Training opportunities and career development
• Flexible working
• 3 x wellbeing days in addition to annual leave entitlement
• Simply Health packages 
• Season Ticket Loan Scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• 25 days (rising to 30 with length of service) Annual Leave plus Bank Holidays
• Contributory Pension Scheme – Employer matched contributions of up to 6% in the first two years’ service and up to 9% thereafter
• Death in Service Payment (2x annual salary)
• Critical Illness Insurance (subject to qualifying criteria)

#counselling #mentalhealth #addiction #support

Counsellor_(Programmes)