Counselling Coordinator and Volunteer Lead

Lead therapeutic excellence. Shape meaningful volunteering. Create opportunities for people to thrive.

At Change Grow Live, we believe that people can and do make positive changes when they're met with compassion, expertise and opportunity. We're looking for an experienced counselling professional who shares that belief and wants to play a pivotal role in developing both our counselling provision and volunteering offer. Based on the Counselling Coordinator role with additional Volunteer Lead responsibilities, you'll be at the heart of creating high-quality therapeutic services while building an inclusive, meaningful volunteering programme that strengthens outcomes across the service. 

The opportunity

This is a unique leadership role combining clinical expertise, service development and volunteer engagement. You'll coordinate and oversee the counselling service, managing qualified and trainee counsellors, supporting professional standards and ensuring people receive high-quality therapeutic interventions. Alongside this, you'll lead the development of a thriving volunteer programme, creating opportunities for volunteers and service users to make a genuine difference within the service. 

Working closely with the Service Manager, wider leadership team and national colleagues, you'll help shape a culture where lived experience is valued, co-production is embedded and everyone has the opportunity to contribute. 

What you'll be doing

• Leading and developing a counselling service that delivers safe, effective and person-centred therapeutic support.
• Recruiting, supporting, developing and supervising volunteer counsellors, counselling students and wider service volunteers.
• Assessing referrals, allocating counselling support and maintaining oversight of waiting lists and service performance.
• Ensuring high standards of clinical governance, supervision and professional practice.
• Building strong relationships with universities, colleges, volunteer centres and community partners.
• Leading volunteer recruitment, training and development activity.
• Driving meaningful service user involvement and co-production across the service.
• Using insight, feedback and outcomes data to identify opportunities for innovation and continuous improvement.

Where: Croydon

Hours: 37.5 per week

Contract Type: Permanent 

Full-time hours at Change Grow Live are 37.5 hours per week. For part-time roles, the salary and payments will be pro rata based on contracted hours. 

About you

You'll be an experienced counselling professional who combines strong clinical credibility with a passion for developing people and creating opportunities for others.

You'll bring:

• A Level 4 (or above) counselling or psychotherapy qualification.
• Current professional registration with BACP, UKCP, NCPS, COSCA or equivalent professional body.
• Significant post-qualification counselling experience.
• Experience of leadership, supervision, training or development of counselling students and volunteers.
• Strong knowledge of therapeutic approaches and trauma-informed practice.
• Excellent relationship-building, communication and organisational skills.
• A commitment to inclusion, co-production and empowering people to reach their potential.

Why join Change Grow Live?

You'll join an organisation that's ambitious about improving lives and creating opportunities for both the people we support and the people who work with us. We invest in professional development, value innovation and give our colleagues the autonomy to shape services and drive meaningful change.

You'll be part of a culture that is:

Open. Compassionate. Bold.

And committed to helping people build healthier, more fulfilling futures.

Ready to make an impact?

If you're passionate about therapeutic excellence, volunteer development and creating services shaped by the people who use them, we'd love to hear from you.

Please ensure your application clearly demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. We encourage applicants to provide specific examples from their experience and achievements.

AI can be a really helpful tool when putting together your application, and we're happy for you to use it. However, what we're most interested in is you.

We want to understand your experiences, achievements and strengths, so please make sure your application reflects your own story and clearly shows how you meet the essential criteria and the impact you've made in previous roles.

There's no need to write in a particular style. The strongest applications are those that are authentic, specific and clearly demonstrate your skills, experience and potential. We look forward to learning more about you.