Current Vacancies
Please note we are unable to facilitate student placements.
Job Title: Stop.Breathe.Think Assessment Counsellor
Location: Remote working
Rate: £30
Hours: Flexible, between the hours of
9.00am -18.00 pm Monday – Thursday
9.00am – 16.00 pm – Friday
Contact type: Freelance
About the role
We are seeking compassionate, skilled and highly organised Assessment Counsellor to join our team. This role serves as the first point of clinical contact for young people, parents and professionals looking to access our service, playing a central role in ensuring timely and appropriate mental health support.
As an Assessment Counsellor, you will conduct comprehensive psychosocial assessments to identify immediate needs, assess risk levels and develop appropriate care pathways. You will regularly engage with young people presenting with complex needs, including those at high risk of harm to themselves or others. A key part of this role involves managing safeguarding concerns quickly, confidently and in alignment with organisational policies and legal obligations. This includes initiating safety plans, coordinating with internal and external services and escalating high-risk cases appropriately.
You will be expected to build upon information provided in the initial referral and delve deeper into why the young person is seeking counselling. Managing expectations of young people/parents/referrers is also an integral part of this role. As a qualified children and young people’s counsellor, you will be familiar with working with 8 yr to 11 yr olds and adapting your practice according to age-appropriate needs. Becoming an Assessment Counsellor will bring you to the start of each young person’s journey with us and will play an important part in supporting our matching process.
You will speak directly with parents and young people to gather as much information as possible about their situation and experience. You will need to be a skilled communicator, with the ability and experience to initiate difficult conversations and manage a range of responses. You will be curious with your questioning to gain a full understanding of why they or their child are seeking counselling. This will be enhanced further by ascertaining what goals the child or young person has identified, managing their expectations, within a Solution Focused six, eight- or twelve-weeks counselling model. You will also collect the ONS questionnaire information at this point. (National Office of Statics Life satisfaction)
You will be deciding on the suitability for our service for each young person, at times this will mean deciding that we are not the right service for them. You will be required to deliver this information in a compassionate, considerate way and signpost to alternative services.
The successful candidate must be competent in decision making, have the knowledge and skills to conduct triage calls and assessments, while showing a passion and enthusiasm for providing vulnerable children and young people with support.
Responsibilities:
- Carry out detailed psychosocial assessments with young people, parents/carers or referring professionals to determine presenting concerns, risk factors and service suitability.
- Identify and respond to high-risk cases involving suicide risk, self-harm, abuse or other safeguarding concerns, following established policies and procedures to ensure immediate and appropriate action is taken.
- Recognise and escalate safeguarding concerns in line with organisational and statutory protocols, including liaising with safeguarding leads, external agencies and emergency services where necessary.
- Use assessment outcomes to formulate and communicate appropriate care and referral pathways, which may include short-term counselling with us or external signposting to specialist services.
- Provide clear, sensitive communication to young people, parents and referrers about what the service offers, likely wait times and outcomes of assessments, especially in cases where the service is not suitable.
- Engage confidently and compassionately with young people and families, showing clinical curiosity and using open, non-judgemental questioning to explore presenting issues and therapeutic goals.
- Make informed clinical decisions regarding suitability for service. Where appropriate, deliver these decisions with empathy and ensure accurate signposting to more appropriate support services.
- Maintain accurate and confidential records of all assessments, contacts, risk management, decisions and referrals on Iaptus, in line with data protection and professional guidelines.
- Operate within a trauma-informed children and young people-centred counselling model, offering brief intervention formats within 6, 8, or 12 sessions.
- Collaborate with schools, social workers, GPs and other professionals to ensure joined-up care and continuity of support where appropriate.
- Participate in regular external clinical supervision (1.5 hours a month), team meetings (1 hour a month), training and service development activities to maintain best practice and contribute to ongoing service quality.
Essential Criteria
- Minimum Level 5 qualification in Counselling or Psychotherapy or equivalent. Must be qualified to work therapeutically with children and young people.
- Registered and accredited with a recognised professional body (e.g., BACP, UKCP, NCS or equivalent).
- Proven experience providing therapeutic support to young people aged 8-24 in a counselling, mental health or safeguarding setting.
- Demonstrated ability to carry out psychosocial assessments, assess risk, including suicide, self-harm and abuse making sound clinical decisions.
- Strong understanding of safeguarding policies, procedures and relevant legislation. Confident in identifying and managing high-risk situations involving children and young people.
- Ability to communicate clearly, compassionately and professionally with young people, parents/carer and professionals. Skilled in managing difficult conversations and setting appropriate expectations.
- Confident in making appropriate referrals, determining service suitability and managing sensitive information in a timely and ethical manner.
- Ability to remain calm under pressure and respond appropriately to high-risk or emergency situations, including following escalation protocols.
- Competent in using digital systems for recording case notes and managing referrals. Strong attention to detail and ability to maintain confidentiality.
- Familiarity with goal-setting and brief intervention approaches (e.g., 6, 8, or 12-session models)
- A clear understanding of the need for culturally sensitive and inclusive practice when working with diverse communities, including LGBTQIA+ and neurodiverse young people from various cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
- Willingness to attend team meetings, present case studies and attend seminars on topics relevant to our client base. A commitment to complete 30 hours of CPD. annually.
Person Specification
- Passionate about the cause – you have a demonstrated interest in mental health and motivation to support young people.
- A high level of interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability of dealing with confidential and sensitive issues appropriately.
- Experience of assessment calls with clients.
- Ability to ask and expand on difficult questions.
- Competent in delivering feedback and rejecting referrals were necessary with ability to onward signpost.
- Excellent knowledge of Safeguarding practices, with a commitment to updating this annually.
- Organisational, time management and problem-solving skills as well as emotional awareness, intelligence and resilience.
- Experience of working independently and managing your own workload.
- Enhanced DBS check (Stop.Breathe.Think will process this).
- Understanding of and adherence to all policies and procedures concerning the Safeguarding of young people.
- Good IT knowledge, with ability to learn new systems and independently.
Management and Support
Counsellors will report to the Counselling Manager of Stop.Breathe.Think.
The Trustees will determine the overall direction of the Stop.Breathe.Think Service and will set the overall priorities in consultation with the Head of Service and Director.
Policy Statement
Stop.Breathe.Think is committed to providing equal opportunities and to ensuring that all freelance counsellors are treated fairly and without discrimination throughout our recruitment and engagement process.
Conditions of Service
Stop.Breathe.Think is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. This post is subject to an enhanced criminal record check under the arrangements established by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and two satisfactory references.
To apply for the role, please complete the Stop.Breathe.Think Counsellor Application form and return to recruitment@stopbreathethink.org.uk
The deadline to apply is Thursday 22nd of October 2026.
Interviews will be held on Wednesday 4th of November 2026
