Why Work With Us?
At SCS, we genuinely value our people. We are committed to creating a supportive, inclusive, and rewarding environment where our employees and volunteers can thrive, develop, and make a meaningful difference.
A Supportive Place to Work
We are always reviewing and improving our employment offer to ensure SCS remains a welcoming, supportive, and progressive organisation where people feel valued and empowered.
What We Offer
We provide a comprehensive range of support, benefits, and development opportunities to help you succeed in your role:
A structured volunteer programme for trainee and qualified counsellors, including supervision, insurance, training, guidance, and carefully matched client work aligned with your skills and experience
Regular line management, with monthly one-to-one support for all staff
Clinical supervision tailored to your therapeutic modality
Effective case management, ensuring manageable and appropriate caseloads based on your individual circumstances
Ongoing professional development, with access to both in-house and external training relevant to your role
Support towards professional accreditation, including financial support for counsellor accreditation fees
Generous annual leave, with 30 days for full-time staff plus statutory bank holidays (pro rata for part-time employees)
Enhanced family-friendly policies, including maternity, paternity, and adoption leave and pay
Pension scheme with salary sacrifice, helping your contributions go further
24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, available to you and members of your household aged 16+
Health support schemes, including help with dental and optical care
Cycle to Work scheme, supporting your physical wellbeing and sustainable travel
Join Us
If you are interested in becoming part of our team, please view our current vacancies below. If there are no suitable roles at the moment, we encourage you to check back regularly for new opportunities.
Independent Consultant
Contract Type: Temporary 3 months
Application deadline: 5:00 p.m. Friday 21st August 2026
Sunderland Counselling Service (SCS) is seeking to an independent consultant to proactively to test whether the organisation is set up appropriately for its current scale, complexity and future direction. Services, partnerships and supporting functions have developed over time, and SCS now wishes to assess whether its structure, governance and assurance arrangements remain fit for purpose and fit for the future.
The purpose of this commission is to support Sunderland Counselling Service to:
· ensure our ability to deliver our current services safely and effectively.
· ensure our ability to deliver on our contractual and grant obligations to our various commissioners, contractors and funders.
· improve our relationships, accountability to and influence with partners, commissioners and funders.
· ensure our ability to meet our obligations under HR and employment law to our staff teams.
· improve our organisational communication, culture and coherence.
· position us for future growth or development.
Further information can be found below.
Psychiatric Liaison Team Link Worker
Contract Type: Fixed term for one year
Contract Hours: 37.5 hours p/w
Salary: AfC Band 5 comparable (£32,073)
Application deadline: 31st July 2026
Sunderland Counselling Service (SCS) is seeking to appoint link workers to work alongside the Psychiatric Liaison Team and Primary Care Networks within Sunderland, in an exciting new project. The service will be set within a unique independent mental health charity, which is acknowledged for its contribution to the community by mental health professionals, health practitioners and local and regional voluntary and statutory agencies.
This new project will provide support to meet the needs of people with mental health problems in Sunderland who present at the Emergency Department at Sunderland Royal Hospital. The project will use a holistic, person centred approach to collaboratively supportive people to manage emotional, social and environmental stressors within a recovery-based approach.
The post holder will work with individuals identified by clinical staff within PLT or primary care, who will direct individuals to the link worker for additional, non-clinical support. Work may include direct emotional or practical support, signposting, providing self-help materials, a check in system, identifying a suitable package of specific support and making any necessary onward referrals, while always being led by the individual themselves.
The post holder will work with frequent attenders to PLT through attending formulation sessions/MDT to identify any themes and to support implementation of any plans to prevent re attendance at SRH.
This activity is envisaged as additional non-clinical emotional and practical support to wrap around existing mental health services, to support people while they are waiting for formal treatment, prevent deterioration, maximising treatment outcomes and supporting independence. It is NOT intended to operate as a crisis service or an alternative to crisis services, nor as a clinical intervention and would not take on care planning or case management functions which clearly must be provided by clinical staff.
To allow flexibility and to respond to client need, services may be delivered from the PCN bases as well as SCS city base and other community venues in Sunderland such as the Mental Health Hubs. The post holder will be called upon to use a personal means of transport while engaged in the work of the service for which travel expenses will be available.
The post holder will be employed on a fixed term contract of one year which will be subject to a probationary period of 6 months. As this is a pilot project, continuing employment is subject to obtaining ongoing project related funding.
If you have any questions about this role, please contact Alicia Harris (Senior Mental Health Link Worker) on 0191 514 7007.
Further information can be found below.
Please note applications for this post must be submitted to [email protected] by 11.59pm on 31st July alongside a completed equal opportunity and diversity form. Applications after this time will not be considered. Applications may also be submitted via NHS Jobs
Please download below:
- Job Description
- Application Form
- GDPR Privacy Notice for Applicants
- Equal Opportunity and Diversity Monitoring Document