Senior Counsellor

Location: University of Oxford

UMHAN member organisation: Yes

Hours: 22.5 hours per week [3 days]

Salary: Grade 8: £49,119 – £58,265 per annum [including Oxford University Weighting], pro rata

Date posted: 16/09/2026

Closing date: 12 noon on 02/11/2026

Ref no: 187590

More information: 

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.

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 delivery.

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.

Group interviews are expected to take place on Wednesday 18th November. Candidates who are successful at the group stage will then be invited to an individual interview on either Tuesday 24th or Wednesday 25th November; 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.

Contact: [email protected]

For further details including the Job Description and to Apply: 

Senior Counsellor vacancy

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