One Family is currently recruiting for the position of Director of Counselling due to the retirement of our previous manager.

This role is a 5 day/week role including a minimum of one day of direct counselling with service users. It is a busy role, with a wide span of diverse responsibilities reporting to the CEO. The role requires an experienced professional who can operate with strong clinical expertise as well as management and leadership.

One Family:
Ireland’s national organisation for one-parent families is recruiting a Director of Counselling. One Family is Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting or separating. We provide support, information and specialist family support services to all members of all one-parent families, as well as to those experiencing an unplanned pregnancy and to professionals working with one-parent families. One Family’s vision is that every family in Ireland will be cherished equally, and will enjoy the social, financial and legal equality to create their own positive future.
One Family would like to recruit an experienced Director of Counselling to develop and deliver an excellent counselling service for our service users. The Counselling Manager is responsible for the appropriate funding and staffing of all aspects of the service including: Unplanned Pregnancy and Post Abortion Counselling / General Adult and Adolescent Counselling/ Creative Therapies/Counselling Support Service. Services are provided to people in-person, remotely, individually and in couples where appropriate in line with our Strategic Plan 2022-2023 (to be published) and future strategies.

Job Description:

Management of service
• To manage and develop the Counselling Service in line with the organisation’s strategic plan including the longterm provision of remote and in-person services
• To co-manage the Separating Well for Children service and relevant staff as determined by the service model
• To liaise with funding agencies and other staff around funding requirements and to seek additional funding where possible
• To ensure the provision of a qualified, trained and supported team of counsellors
• To provide support, supervision and training to other staff as required
• To work with other staff to provide counselling expertise and training as required internally and externally
• To ensure all best practice policies and procedures are in place for the One Family Counselling Service
• To promote the services offered by the Counselling Service
• To represent One Family externally where appropriate
• To develop and maintain positive relationships with other service agencies
• Develop and provide professional development training to external stakeholders if required

Delivery of Counselling
• The Director of Counselling is clinically responsible for all services within the Counselling Service in One Family
• To deliver counselling to clients in the areas of Crisis Pregnancy Counselling, Post-Abortion Counselling and Counselling for adult all members of one parent families, and other CS strands, within the agreed ethos of the One Family Counselling Service
• Ensuring prompt and active management of Counselling Service waiting lists

Other
• To maintain all statistics and produce reports as required on the work undertaken
• To contribute to One Family publications where appropriate
• To be responsible for the completion of administrative work associated with the post of Director of Counselling
• To attend all required staff meetings, trainings and development days
• Development of and participation in OF Teams / Management Team / Service Team Development work
• To participate in supervision and reviews with the One Family CEO
• To undertake other areas of work where necessary or as requested by the CEO

The Director of Counselling will be responsible to the CEO of One Family on a daily basis and will be subject to all the Policies and Procedures of One Family.

Person Specification

Essential Skills include:
• A minimum of 5 years extensive counselling experience post accreditation
• Have a relevant counselling /psychotherapy qualification and be an accredited member of a relevant body
• Have a strong knowledge of counselling ethics and practice
• A knowledge and experience of the provision of telephone and online counselling
• A minimum 5 years experience in service and/or staff management
• Experience of building and developing strong working relationships within a service team.
• Experience leading, managing and motivating a staff team.
• Excellent communications and ICT skills.
• Self-starter with a process improvement mindset.
• Willingness to learn and adapt and encourages the same in others.
• Flexible, with ability to work on own initiative and co-operatively.
Note: A supervisory qualification is highly desirable.

Terms of Role
The post is for 5 days per week, and is currently delivered remotely although this will change as public health restrictions lift. Flexibility can be offered and expected on when these hours are delivered. The full time (35 hour week) salary scale is €50.3K – €55.4K based on skills and experience with good annual leave and other terms & conditions.

A cover letter and CV addressing the required competencies should be sent by email to:  kkiernan@onefamily.ie

Closing date for applications is 5pm on 24 January 2022.
Applications should be marked clearly: Director of Counselling Role
First and second round interviews will be held at the end of January and early February.

One Family is an equal opportunities employer | www.onefamily.ie