Adult counselling service jobs in Chelmsford, essex

Release Counselling and Therapy for Women is entering an exciting new chapter. 

Founded in Brighton and Hove in 2013, Release has grown from a small local charity into a financially robust organisation with a growing national reach. Under the leadership of our outgoing CEO, the charity has been transformed—moving from a challenging financial position to one with strong reserves, clear sustainability, and ambitious plans for growth. 

We now provide affordable 1:1 online counselling to women across the UK, alongside specialist group programmes supporting maternal mental health and key life transitions. One-to-one counselling is a core offer and a vital income stream, enabling us to extend our reach while staying true to our values. 

This period has also seen Release grow to working with over 20 dedicated volunteer counsellors, strengthening our capacity and community impact. 

As our CEO steps down, Release is ready for its next phase—building on strong foundations, amplifying our national impact, and remaining firmly rooted in our purpose: being a charity that supports women’s mental health, run by women, for women.

This role will support the development and delivery of our services and resources for young people born with a cleft lip and/or palate. Working closely with the Engagement & Services team to help us achieve our mission. 

The Youth Engagement Coordinator will sit within the Engagement & Services Team. They will join a friendly and supportive team of seven colleagues who, together, are responsible for the delivery of CLAPA’s adult, family, children and young people and involvement services. The post holder will develop and deliver services for eight- to seventeen-year-olds, which will enable the young cleft community to connect, share experiences and access guidance and emotional support. Shaping what support looks like, creating positive impact and strengthening reach, this new role for CLAPA will make a real difference to the lives of children and young people born with a cleft.

If you think you have the talent, passion and experience to help us ensure we can always meet the needs of the community we serve, we want to hear from you.

Join Addiction Family Support

Addiction Family Support is the leading UK-registered charity supporting adults affected or bereaved by a loved one's harmful use of alcohol, drugs, or gambling.

The role: Family Support Worker (Bereavement)

As a Family Support Worker at Addiction Family Support, you will be responsible for delivering a range of services to provide crucial emotional and practical assistance to individuals bereaved (and affected) by the loss of a loved one due to addiction. Through both individual and group support, you will offer a compassionate and understanding presence, helping people navigate grief and loss in a safe and supportive environment.

Our service delivery takes place via several methods, including taking calls on our telephone Helpline, responding to emails through our email service and delivering remote 5-Step Method informed intervention to individuals and groups via an online platform.

Working patterns are flexible and you may be expected to work on a rota basis, and we would hope to be able to offer more hours per week in time when funding allows it.

You will need to be confident in your ability to provide support via a variety of remote and digital platforms, being able to respond to immediate requests for support. You will be an active and involved member of our team and contribute to all aspects of our work to help us achieve our strategic goals and work towards achieving our vision.

Responsibilities:

• Offer empathetic and non-judgmental structured emotional and practical support to those affected by the bereavement of a loved one due to addiction (via a Helpline and 5-Step Method informed one to one and group support).
• Provide or signpost information, literature, and resources to help individuals and groups manage grief and cope with their situations.
• Facilitate or co-facilitate bereavement support group meetings, creating a safe space for participants to share their experiences and provide mutual support.
• Follow guidelines and safeguarding practices - ensuring safeguarding concerns are addressed promptly and signpost individuals to additional services where appropriate.
• Maintain accurate and confidential records in line with GDPR and the charity’s policies. 

Ongoing support

As a Family Support Worker (Bereavement), you will have access to regular supervision and peer support, ensuring you feel confident and equipped in your role. Development opportunities are available to help you grow in your position and enhance the support you provide. 

 Join our team of change-makers

Are you ready to make a difference? We're on the lookout for a vibrant, enthusiastic, proactive and collaborative individual with the right skills and experience to become part of our incredible charity.

Be part of something special

Our clients' continuous positive feedback speaks volumes about the impact of our work, and we take immense pride in it. Emilia Fox, one of our dedicated Patrons, stands with us in our mission.

Join an award-winning journey

This is your chance to become part of an award-winning charity where every day is an opportunity to contribute to the greater good. If you're seeking a dynamic environment filled with compassionate individuals dedicated to creating positive change, we invite you to apply or reach out with any enquiries.

The deadline for submitting applications is 5.00pm on Friday 29 May 2026.

Interviews will be held w/c 8 June 2026.

Bowel Cancer UK is the UK’s leading bowel cancer charity. We’re determined to save lives and improve the quality of life of everyone affected by bowel cancer. We support and fund targeted research, provide expert information and support to patients and their families, educate the public and professionals about the disease and campaign for early diagnosis and access to best treatment and care.

We currently have employees working across four nations in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Thanks to the generosity of our community, we’re in a privileged position to be able to deliver our ambitious new strategy, On a Mission. There are huge challenges facing bowel cancer patients across the UK and our community needs us now more than ever. We’re building a strong and united team to bring us closer to a world where nobody dies of bowel cancer.

Job Summary

This role forms a key part of a new Strategy & Insight Team at Bowel Cancer UK, which seeks to build core capabilities to enable us to be as effective as we can be for people affected by bowel cancer. The Audience Insight Specialist will be an internal leader, building our capability to understand our core audiences and the people we need to reach to achieve our strategic goals. You will support a cultural shift in how the charity takes an audience-led approach to planning, decision-making, and communications, as our CRM, data infrastructure, and Strategy & Insight functions continue to develop. Making best use of internal and external sources, you will distil data into meaningful insight, tailored to different audiences. You will support a consistent approach to audiences across the organisation, while flexing to meet the needs of different teams, ensuring that any understanding of audience is rooted in evidence.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and at Bowel Cancer UK we are committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Successful candidates may be subject to either a satisfactory basic, standard or enhanced DBS check from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) dependent upon the role.

Night Support Worker

When registering to this job board you will be redirected to the online application form. Please ensure that this is completed in full in order that your application can be reviewed.

Job Title: Night Recovery Worker

Location: Romford -  Unfortunately there is no step free access available at this service. 

Salary: £28,800 

Shift Pattern: 37.5 hours per week on a rolling rota between Monday to Sunday 20:00 - 09.30. You may be required to work outside these hours as per service requirements such as bank holidays and evenings. 

About the Role

We're looking for a Night Support Worker to join our night team in successfully rehabilitating and reintegrating our male residents and participants into the community. In this role, you will provide pathways, support, and appropriate interventions to enable successful resettlement. You will also collaborate with internal and external partners and agencies to achieve desired outcomes.

Our Complex Needs Accommodation provides supported accommodation, bespoke person-centred care and support as well as intensive housing management services in the community for adults with specific accommodation and well-being support needs. You will ensure the smooth running of the night service by conducting welfare checks, supporting residents, and handling any issues that arise. The role includes completing administrative tasks and providing thorough handovers with day staff and managers to maintain consistent service.

Some key responsibilities include: 

• Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of residents and participants at all times
• Focusing on empowering our residents to take control over their lives and meet their personal goals
• Planning activities to engage residents with other people, communities, and opportunities
• Building trusting professional relationships with residents, helping them to achieve their goals and aspirations which could be through tailored one to one sessions, group sessions, in and out of service activities, and general wellbeing check ins
• Be a valued and reliable member of the team, completing handovers for night colleagues for a seamless service

About You

We’re looking for someone with a genuine passion and felt purpose to help people, challenge stigma, and make a real difference to people’s lives!
We are looking for a team player, driven to provide high quality care and support to others, an effective communicator who is able to build rapport with others from various backgrounds. You will be compassionate, supportive, and empowering to others, whilst able to form effective, positive and motivational relationships. 

• Experience of working with people of complex backgrounds and/or a good understanding of the sector, particularly around multiple and complex needs and homelessness
• Ability to show empathy and compassion to our residents, and different challenges they face
• Ability to use, learn and adapt to IT at an intermediate level, including Microsoft and other software programs
• Ability and willingness to show flexibility of working patterns, responding to the needs of the service and residents
• Ability to promote the service and provide outreach-based provision, with an ability to liaise and work effectively in partnership with stakeholders
• Understanding of the different needs people with multiple and complex needs have and be aware of the social marginalisation that can be attached to people who face personal challenges
• Alignment with our values of Ambition, Empowerment, Inclusivity, and Transparency

Please refer to the JDPS attached for more details on the vacancy and our requirements/key criteria.

What we Offer

• 25 days (Full time equivalent) annual leave, increasing with the length of service
• Employer Pension Contribution
• Eligibility to register with Blue Light Discount Card
• Access to discounted tickets for music events, shows, sports and more
• Reflective Practice regular sessions with a therapist provided by an external provider to support Mental Health and Wellbeing at work
• Training and Development, including access to courses, upskilling, and progression plans
• Employee Assistance Programme, including counselling
• Life Assurance Scheme
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Annual Staff Awards
• EDI Ambassador programme

About Social Interest Group (SIG)

SIG is a not-for-profit organisation providing thousands of people with good-quality support and care in residential, drop-in centres, community floating support settings, probation settings, and hospitals. We do so across London, Brighton, Bedfordshire, Luton, Kent and Liverpool. Our goal is to transform lives through empowering change. 

We believe good care and support improves lives with the vision to create healthier, safer, and more inclusive communities. Join us on our mission to empower independence through trauma-informed solutions and dynamic partnerships that keep people out of prison, out of hospital, and off the streets.
Want to know how we work? Watch our short Theory of Change video to see how we support people towards a brighter future: Theory of Change Further details can be found on our website here: Theory of Change - Social Interest Group - Social Interest Group. 

Additional Information

Please note that this job advert may close early due to screening applications on an ongoing basis. We advise applying as soon as possible for your application to be taken into consideration at the early stages.

Please note that as part of our process, we complete an enhanced DBS check, some roles may require further vetting. We encourage applicants from all backgrounds. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact us on the details below. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to provide sponsorship, please ensure you have full right to work in the UK prior to applying to our positions. 

Additional information on our company policies including Gender Pay, Equality and Diversity, Company Benefits and our Candidate Privacy Policy can be found on our website.

About Adolescent Health Study

The Adolescent Health Study (AHS) (Registered Charity Number 1213337) is an ambitious new UKRI-funded initiative to establish a prospective, longitudinal population study that will generate a globally leading open science data platform and research resource. AHS aims to recruit at least 100,000 young people aged eight to 18 years from across the UK and to follow their mental and physical health and wellbeing over at least 10 years. It plans to collect data through questions and measures; to obtain bio-samples for a wide range of genomic and other high-throughput assays; and to capture linked data relevant to health and wellbeing from participants’ health, education and other administrative records.

There will be a strong emphasis on engaging with and involving young people, schools, parents and other relevant stakeholders in the design and delivery of the study, as well as on including young people that represent as wide as possible a range of backgrounds, experiences and characteristics. AHS will focus on enabling a wide range of research, including studies of the critical biological and social developments that occur during the transition from childhood to adulthood and the determinants of both mental and physical health and wellbeing in adolescents and young adults.

Purpose of the post

The Engagement and Involvement Lead will engage with young people, families, schools and other interest-holders in the process of designing, delivering and ensuring the best outputs from the Adolescent Health Study, and is critical for the success of the project.  We are at the early stages of laying the foundations for this and in this new role we are seeking an experienced and passionate individual to co-ordinate and lead AHS’s cross-UK participant and public involvement and engagement activities.

This is a role that requires high levels of confidence, autonomy, enthusiasm and skill. The postholder will be responsible for delivering the project’s new Engagement and Involvement Strategy, including:  coordinating a Young Persons’ Advisory Group for AHS; developing and delivering AHS public engagement and involvement activities; outsourcing and supervising engagement and involvement activities that are better provided by external partners; scoping and advising on which routes for involvement and engagement activities are best suited to different tasks. 

Main responsibilities

 Planning & strategy delivery

•  Ensuring the study delivers the values and approaches set out in the AHS engagement and involvement strategy
•  Planning, delivering and reporting on an ongoing, regular and important programme of engagement events and activities
•  Reviewing/revising/adding to existing policies, processes and procedures to support effective working together with people and communities (such as reimbursement, compensation, making reasonable adjustments)
•  Developing and implementing appropriate evaluation, monitoring and reporting of Community Engagement & Involvement
• Keeping up to date with good practice & sector advances and sharing these with the AHS team.

Practical engagement and involvement

• Developing methods to enhance engagement and involvement, and helping to build positive relationships with young people and stakeholder groups, including charities, third sector & advocacy groups
• Overseeing day-to-day planning & delivery of a high-quality engagement and involvement programme.  To include, for example:
  • Managing and supporting Youth Advisors
  • Running a standing Young People’s Advisory Group (YPAG)
  • Organising & delivering other ad hoc engagement activities as necessary
• Securing external partners where necessary, and managing contracts and delivery of their work across the UK
• Ensuring that any external parties (e.g. organisations, freelancers, consultants) supporting AHS’s involvement and engagement work have clear roles, responsibilities & goals
• Working with the Head of Communications to develop and manage provision of relevant information to members of the public, teachers, young people & researchers
• Keep clear records of involvement and engagement activities, ensuring results are used to inform the study and the wider research community.

Team support

• Checking for and capitalising on possible opportunities for engagement and involvement to be embedded in the work of the wider team
• Ensuring appropriate induction, training, mentoring and support is organised for the research team and communities involved
• Sharing examples of emerging good practice and impact across the research team.
• Line managing an Engagement and Involvement Officer

Wider

• Contributing to shared learning and future sustainability as part of wider communities of practice
• Acting as a key point of contact for community members and partners involved in the research
• Representing and presenting the AHS study’s engagement and involvement work to the wider research community at a senior level, including in national engagement & involvement networks as necessary.

Knowledge, skills and experience

 Essential criteria

Engagement and involvement

•  Experience developing and delivering engagement and involvement activities with young people and other relevant interest-holders (such as parents, families, teachers and schools)
•  A proven track record or professional background in working with young people – such as in youth work, counselling, mentoring, education, or a related setting
• Understanding and experience of good practice in youth engagement and involvement,  including the principles and implementation of safeguarding, data protection, and inclusive practice
• Awareness of culturally sensitive approaches and methods to be inclusive of all relevant perspectives, including  marginalised and vulnerable groups
• Ability to design and deliver workshops, focus groups or meetings that encourage open dialogue and collaboration
• Demonstrated commitment to youth participation and the meaningful inclusion of young people’s perspectives.

Other essential criteria

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent qualification in a relevant field
• Experience of successful project management and ability to deliver, working independently.
• Ability to manage a budget and report on financial activity accurately
• Ability to work collaboratively within a multi-disciplinary team, with experience of working alongside and influencing senior level professionals
• Research literacy, with a clear understanding of large UK-wide research initiatives and the various competing demands and pressures the study will face
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills - able to communicate effectively and confidently with a range of stakeholders and to summarise and report key information clearly and accurately, both verbally and in writing
• Confident using online tools (e.g. MS Teams, Zoom), and collaborative platforms (e.g. SharePoint, Microsoft 365)

Desirable criteria

• Relevant qualification in engagement and involvement
• Post-graduate degree or equivalent experience
• Understanding of key concepts and challenges in young people’s health and wellbeing and the transition to adulthood
• Familiarity with health research and data governance frameworks
• Understanding and knowledge of key potential partners across the UK for delivering youth engagement in the sector.
• Experience using digital engagement and facilitation tools for online workshops (e.g. Miro, Mural, Mentimeter, Canva, PowerPoint)

Dimensions

• This has been designed as a full-time role, although part-time work could be considered for the right candidate.
• Flexible working across several geographical locations in the UK.  Travel may be required to AHS locations and partner organisations.
• AHS is a national organisation, and our activities take place across the UK.

Application Process

This post is subject to receipt of satisfactory references, an enhanced DBS check and right to work in the UK (visa sponsorship is not available).

Please apply via CharityJob, making sure to answer the screening questions in full.

The closing date for this position is midnight on Sunday 31st May. 

Interviews are currently expected to be held Wednesday 1st/Thursday 2nd July.

Equal Opportunities Policy Statement

AHS is an equal opportunities employer, and as such aims to treat all employees, consultants and applicants fairly. AHS is an equal opportunities employer, and as such aims to treat all employees, consultants and applicants fairly. It is our policy to provide employment equality to all, irrespective of age, disability, gender identity or expression, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

Beyond these protected characteristics, we acknowledge the importance of socio-economic background, childcare and caring responsibilities, educational background, neurodiversity, and any other factors that shape an individual’s identity and opportunities. We strive to create an environment where all colleagues feel valued, supported, and able to contribute fully.

Values

It is an exciting time for the Adolescent Health Study (AHS) as we establish our senior leadership team and begin to plan the pilot studies. As the senior executive team evolves, the AHS values will be grounded in inclusivity, integrity, accountability, and collaboration.