# Schools and colleges psychotherapist looking for work



## Rachael Neville (Mar 11, 2017)

Hello hive mind.  I am a Brixton-based schools and college therapist and am currently looking for more work in Lambeth.  Does anyone know of any contacts in schools - primary or secondary - or in FE/HE colleges who might be happy to have me contact them to discuss how I could help their students and staff?  

There is a big sweetener - as I am newly qualified I am offering a heavily reduced daily rate of £85 to state schools/colleges and £120 to independent schools/private colleges. This represents a 50% discount on normal rates.

As well as working one on one with pupils and students, I am able to deliver aspects of the PHSE curriculum as well as facilitate staff workshops on emotional and behavioural issues. I have a professional diploma in integrative therapy, as well as specialist training in bereavement,  trauma, abuse, anxiety, depression and disability issues.

 I am currently working one day a week at Kennington Academy - a pupil referral unit (so I am familiar with relatively severe behavioural issues as well as comfortable liaising with CAMHS, educational psychologists etc).

I am so passionate about what I do and am eager to start supporting more children who need it.

All tips greatly welcomed,

Thanks!  Rachael, 0776 987 8722


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## Treacle Toes (Mar 11, 2017)

Rachael Neville I think it's really unsafe for you to be posting so much personal information, including where you currently work up on this forum. You need to consider safeguarding issues, not only for yourself but also the pupils you already support therapeutically.


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## Treacle Toes (Mar 11, 2017)

Also, I believe you need permission from the board moderators to be posting threads of this kind.


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## existentialist (Mar 11, 2017)

As a general note, though, it is sad to see how poorly resourced schools counselling is across the UK. 

And I'm fairly astonished to find that my rate for primary schools counselling work is about the same as the London rate. 

*wonders about the potential for training of therapists on security and confidentiality in the social media age... +


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## Rachael Neville (Mar 12, 2017)

Rutita1 said:


> Rachael Neville I think it's really unsafe for you to be posting so much personal information, including where you currently work up on this forum. You need to consider safeguarding issues, not only for yourself but also the pupils you already support therapeutically.


What do you believe are the safeguarding issues?  I'm not discussing pupil information.  My personal information - like every other therapist I know - is already publicly available.  Apart from being on various counselling websites that you can easily google, I also have a professional website with my bio etc and I tweet therapeutic articles via my professional twitter feed.  I'm honestly interested in what you think the issues are.  If the thread is not acceptable for the moderators, that's fine.  I'm just offering my services as a reduced rate to help schools whose budgets are stretched.  The reason I came onto a local thread is that I've found this is often the way schools find people - recently a parent governor of a local school forwarded one of my messages to the headmaster which meant I got an interview to discuss what I could offer.  Just feeling a little mystified.  Is this forum particularly unsafe for any reason?


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## equationgirl (Mar 15, 2017)

Rachael Neville said:


> What do you believe are the safeguarding issues?  I'm not discussing pupil information.  My personal information - like every other therapist I know - is already publicly available.  Apart from being on various counselling websites that you can easily google, I also have a professional website with my bio etc and I tweet therapeutic articles via my professional twitter feed.  I'm honestly interested in what you think the issues are.  If the thread is not acceptable for the moderators, that's fine.  I'm just offering my services as a reduced rate to help schools whose budgets are stretched.  The reason I came onto a local thread is that I've found this is often the way schools find people - recently a parent governor of a local school forwarded one of my messages to the headmaster which meant I got an interview to discuss what I could offer.  Just feeling a little mystified.  Is this forum particularly unsafe for any reason?


Have you tried contacting local schools directly? 

This forum is not unsafe per se but is not a secure forum and can be read by anyone who visits the site even as a guest. It's also not really on to post threads looking for work without seeking permission from the moderators beforehand. Also, this might be better in the Brixton Forum as you're only looking for work in that area.

I'll report the thread with a view to getting it moved.


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 15, 2017)

I'll move it to the Brixton Noticeboard forum where it would probably be best off.


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## equationgirl (Mar 15, 2017)

FridgeMagnet said:


> I'll move it to the Brixton Noticeboard forum where it would probably be best off.


Thanks for moving it


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## existentialist (Mar 15, 2017)

equationgirl said:


> Have you tried contacting local schools directly?
> 
> This forum is not unsafe per se but is not a secure forum and can be read by anyone who visits the site even as a guest. It's also not really on to post threads looking for work without seeking permission from the moderators beforehand. Also, this might be better in the Brixton Forum as you're only looking for work in that area.
> 
> I'll report the thread with a view to getting it moved.


I am inclined to agree with equationgirl's advice as far as contacting the school directly is concerned.

What I think I might do in your case would be to ring the schools in your local area, and ask the receptionist who would be the best person to speak to about "wellbeing and emotional support" for children. Maybe also ask when is a good time to try and call that person, too. Then give them a ring and try to arrange a face-to-face appointment with them, at their convenience. That's where you can make your pitch: the decision would undoubtedly have to go "upstairs" to the head teacher, but if you've done your bit well, chances are it's going with the endorsement of that teacher - make sure your pitch factors in the general benefit to discipline of resolving emotional difficulties in even a few members of a class (you can quote me as "a colleague"  ).

Turning up "on spec" is all very well, but my experience is that schools are busy places, full of busy people, and an unsolicited visit is likely to get you filed under "just another hassle". Monopolise a receptionist's attention on the telephone, and you're likely to get a far better "in".

I'd also be wary of offering discount rates. If your service is worth the going rate - and if it isn't, I'd suggest that you put in whatever work is necessary to get to the point where you do feel that is the case (note careful wording  ) - bid in at a sensible rate. There's an argument for bidding at a premium rate on the basis that "if it costs more, it's better", but you need to be able to deliver on that. Definitely don't discount - nobody wants to think they're buying a cheap product, least of all a school. If you *must* discount, then offer them an introductory rate for a limited time period, reverting to the full rate after that. 3 months would be enough.

I suggest, also that you work out a scale of rates - it wouldn't be unreasonable, for example, to charge a given sum for a half day, but just 150% of that sum for a full day. Allow time for admin, note-taking, etc. And cost in your travel - trust me when I say that getting employed on a sessional basis sucks, because the session rate doesn't cover overheads below 2-3 sessions in a day, so when you end up with 1 client in the middle of the morning, you're spending most of the rate on getting there and back, *and* you're out of commission for the rest of the morning.

Network. Find gigs that get you in contact with youth services, youth offending teams, stuff like that. People know people, and once you are in the circles, if you get your networking (ie, chat to as many people you can, and drop into the conversation your particular interest in working with young people) right, people will remember you and mention to someone else "oh, I was chatting to a therapist type the other day, and...".

I presume you've got some kind of business card? If not, get some, and be ready to offer them as soon as you've established a connection with someone.

It might be useful to consider doing something voluntary (rather than discounted), say, with a youth club - and one reason for this is that, as a volunteer, the youth club will be able to get your DBS enhanced clearance (which you have to have, as I am sure you know) for nothing - that then lasts you 3 years, and you add it to your pitch - "I'm DBS cleared". It also gets you connected to people who might pop up in other contexts where the prospect of paid work might exist.

I am speaking from experience when I say that you have to do a good job on persuading a school that it is in their interests to pay for a counsellor to be on board. We would all like to think that it's all about the kids, but schools are schizophrenic organisations, and when they're thinking about money, it's about the bottom line, not the kids. Show them you can make their life easier, and they'll throw (up to a point) money at you. Try and appeal to their better nature before demanding money from them, and you're going to be making a lot of cold calls.

But, schools are as acquisitive and competitive as the adolescents they teach - the "I want what he's got" factor is a powerful one. So get your first school under your belt, and then you can start repeating the process for other schools. This is true in spades if you're finding you're getting positive feedback - you may not be able to attribute it, but teachers know what's going on in their classrooms, and they will notice a difference, if there is one to notice.

That's probably enough for now


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## spanglechick (Mar 15, 2017)

I hate to pour cold water, but Lambeth schools have come out just about worst in the funding restructure, and my mid-sized secondary is facing img cuts from April equivalent to 21 full time teacher redundancies.  Emotional issues are huge, but we have a SEN staff member whose specialism is emotional issues, and we are currently working with two separate projects from the maudsley.  Serious issues are referred via the ed psych.  I'd be surprised if any Lambeth secondary is functioning without similar provision.  Previously, I worked in a Harris school, and even there (exam factory as it was) we had a full time health and wellbeing staff member on salary.


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## Red Cat (Mar 16, 2017)

existentialist said:


> I am inclined to agree with equationgirl's advice as far as contacting the school directly is concerned.
> 
> What I think I might do in your case would be to ring the schools in your local area, and ask the receptionist who would be the best person to speak to about "wellbeing and emotional support" for children. Maybe also ask when is a good time to try and call that person, too. Then give them a ring and try to arrange a face-to-face appointment with them, at their convenience. That's where you can make your pitch: the decision would undoubtedly have to go "upstairs" to the head teacher, but if you've done your bit well, chances are it's going with the endorsement of that teacher - make sure your pitch factors in the general benefit to discipline of resolving emotional difficulties in even a few members of a class (you can quote me as "a colleague"  ).
> 
> ...



That's a lot of advice for someone you don't know. Does she have proper relevant experience and training with children and young people? You don't know that.


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## existentialist (Mar 16, 2017)

Red Cat said:


> That's a lot of advice for someone you don't know. Does she have proper relevant experience and training with children and young people? You don't know that.


That would be her responsibility. None of what I said is privileged, or designed to get around legitimate impediments to people working in this field.

I did also have a squint at her LinkedIn profile and (IIRC) her BACP register entry, and so far as I can tell, she's qualified.

Although BACP strongly recommend appropriate training to work with young people, there's no mandatory requirement beyond the ethical principle not to work beyond one's competence. As it happens, I think that proper CYP counselling training should be mandatory for working with kids, but I don't make the rules (though I am starting to deliver the training).


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## existentialist (Mar 16, 2017)

spanglechick said:


> I hate to pour cold water, but Lambeth schools have come out just about worst in the funding restructure, and my mid-sized secondary is facing img cuts from April equivalent to 21 full time teacher redundancies.  Emotional issues are huge, but we have a SEN staff member whose specialism is emotional issues, and we are currently working with two separate projects from the maudsley.  Serious issues are referred via the ed psych.  I'd be surprised if any Lambeth secondary is functioning without similar provision.  Previously, I worked in a Harris school, and even there (exam factory as it was) we had a full time health and wellbeing staff member on salary.


You can sometimes find that there are disproportionate amounts of funding available for looked-after kids - I know of more than one LA, including my own, that has a virtual school fund set up to provide additional resources for such children.


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## One dog (Mar 16, 2017)

existentialist said:


> That would be her responsibility. None of what I said is privileged, or designed to get around legitimate impediments to people working in this field.
> 
> I did also have a squint at her LinkedIn profile and (IIRC) her BACP register entry, and so far as I can tell, she's qualified.
> 
> Although BACP strongly recommend appropriate training to work with young people, there's no mandatory requirement beyond the ethical principle not to work beyond one's competence. As it happens, I think that proper CYP counselling training should be mandatory for working with kids, but I don't make the rules (though I am starting to deliver the training).


To be fair, it is the responsibility of the school principal to check credentials anyway.


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## existentialist (Mar 16, 2017)

One dog said:


> To be fair, it is the responsibility of the school principal to check credentials anyway.


Yes. And it is the responsibility of the therapist to assure themselves that they are competent to do the work they're offering to do.


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## spanglechick (Mar 16, 2017)

existentialist said:


> You can sometimes find that there are disproportionate amounts of funding available for looked-after kids - I know of more than one LA, including my own, that has a virtual school fund set up to provide additional resources for such children.


Sure, but that money will already be funding the other stuff they have in place. No schools have money sitting around in this day and age.  Anything they spend on a new service will ultimately need cutting something already in place for their pupil premium (LAC etc) funding. And as of next financial year, that pupil premium money will be pushed into keeping the school running at all.


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## existentialist (Mar 16, 2017)

spanglechick said:


> Sure, but that money will already be funding the other stuff they have in place. No schools have money sitting around in this day and age.  Anything they spend on a new service will ultimately need cutting something already in place for their pupil premium (LAC etc) funding. And as of next financial year, that pupil premium money will be pushed into keeping the school running at all.


Yeah, it is horribly crap  But I (well, my tiny clients) have been the beneficiary of this LAC slush fund - the school I work in one morning a week is the ONLY primary school in the county with any counselling provision, and that is funded from one of these "virtual schools". I've no idea how the money was still there, but they seem to continue to be committed to providing it...


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