Information

                                           Sunflower Garden Volunteer Counsellor & Therapists

Sunflower Garden works with Edinburgh based children and young people aged 5 to 18 who are affected by drug and/or alcohol use within their family. The staff group is multi-disciplinary, with backgrounds in social work, education, health and counselling. At Sunflower Garden, children and young people benefit from having a safe and confidential space where they can explore their emotions, thoughts and feelings whilst developing positive coping strategies. All of our work is aimed to support children in the best way possible.

We understand that the support we provide needs to be specific to the needs of each child/young person and so we offer a range of tailored therapeutic support such as: Counselling (including art and play therapy), 1-to-1 Therapeutic Support and Group work.

• Are you looking for a volunteer opportunity commencing September 2023?
• Do you have previous experience with children (not necessarily in a therapeutic context)?
• Do you want to be part of an expert therapeutic team, working in a supportive environment and proactively responding to the mental well-being challenges faced by children in Edinburgh?
• Do you want access to in-house specialist therapeutic training?
• Do you want the opportunity to be one of the first to hear about CrossReach Counselling career opportunities?

 

If the answer is yes and you are qualified with a Diploma in Counselling or equivalent:

• Can you contribute volunteer hours to delivering counselling/therapy to three clients per week, and associated admin?
• Can you commit to a minimum of twelve months with Sunflower Garden?

 

If the answer is yes and you are a student:

• Are you on a Counselling diploma, Play or Art Therapy course?
• Have you completed you started your 1st placement and completed a minimum of 50 placement hours?
• Please note that we cannot guarantee the specific age of clients that you will work with, but we will do our best to accommodate where possible

It is preferred that you have an insight of, or experience of, working within substance use field and also have knowledge of attachment and child development.

Essential: Please clearly state your qualifications, number of clinical hours and your experience relating to the above criteria in your application.

Interview Dates: interviews will happen between Monday 8th May & Friday 9th June.

Mandatory Inductions will take place in August – dates to be confirmed

Main Function

Our CrossReach Counselling volunteers work across a range of specialities and locations; face-to-face, online and over the phone.  We work in supportive, holistic teams that deliver exceptional Counselling services to clients when they need it most, whilst consistently working to the highest professional and ethical standards.

Main Duties

• To provide a professional counselling service to clients
• To operate and work within CrossReach Counselling Services policy and procedures, including Confidentiality, Data Protection, Health and Safety and Safeguarding  
• To liaise effectively with your colleagues (e.g. service manager and administrative support)  
• To complete mandatory training provided by CrossReach
• To constructively contribute to supervision as per Service Supervision Agreement

 

Qualifications

Essential:

• Qualified with a Diploma in Counselling, Therapy or equivalent (or in training and working towards achieving this). 
• Membership of (or working towards membership of) a recognised professional body on a PSA accredited register e.g. HCPC, COSCA, BACP, BABCP or UKCP
• For those working remotely, to have undertaken a minimum of 80 hours CPD with an ACTO online training provider and/or completed sufficient training to demonstrate competence to meet BACP telephone and e-counselling competence. For students, distance counselling readiness sign-off from your training institution

Desirable:

• Qualified and experienced supervisors
• COSCA-Acredited trainers
• Specialist experience and training qualification in the following fields; substance use, trauma, perinatal, children and young people, couples/relationship.

 

Personal

• Membership of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme
• We seek openness and respect towards CrossReach’s Christian Ethos

 

Skills and Abilities

Essential:

• A strong awareness of own emotions, with responsibility for and commitment to ensuring own self–care
• Ability to work from home (with access to a laptop/PC, phone and a secure Wi-Fi connection) and/or in Moray, Inverness, Glasgow or Edinburgh City Centre