Chair-designate for Sandhurst Counselling Service

Committed to supporting good mental health through counselling?
Could you be the new Chair of Sandhurst Counselling Service?

 If you have the skills and enthusiasm to govern cooperatively and lead our trustee Board to bring our strategy into action, you could be the next Chair of our small and long-standing charity, based in Sandhurst, Berkshire.

About us:

Sandhurst Counselling Service evolved from a drop-in service started in August 1990 by St Michael's church in Sandhurst, and provides a safe confidential space for anyone feeling anxious, stressed, depressed, hopeless or lost, to help people find their way. The charity is “a counselling service with a Christian ethos”, an unincorporated Charitable Trust, is registered with BACP,  and has an income of c£70k p.a.

About the role

We’re looking for someone with a commitment to our Christian Ethos and Servant Leadership of our Board and organisation. You will also have some prior experience of charity trusteeship, and understand the leadership role of our Chair, to work with other trustees and our Clinical Manager.

You will take on the role of Chair of the Board after an initial three to six months as ‘Chair-designate’. This period will enable you and the Board to determine your ‘fit’ to our organisation’s vision and strategy, and to properly induct you into the Chair’s role.

Our trustees are the people who make the top-level decisions for our charity. Our Board includes people with understanding of our counselling services, and we require all new trustees to have strong empathy with our cause and our delivery.

If you can think strategically and plan long-term, you have the primary skills needed by our trustees; you’ll also need to be able to work collectively with other Board members.

We are a charity not a business, but we apply business principles alongside our faith values to govern our organisation. We are looking for fresh expertise and experience from a variety of backgrounds to our charity.

The Board meets quarterly face-to-face at our premises, GU47 8HN, on a mid-week afternoon (this is flexible, and can be subject to future discussion/negotiation), for up to three hours.

As Chair-designate you will dedicate about three hours per month during the period leading up to your appointment as Chair; in addition to this regular time commitment, you will need extra time for induction and any training you may need or request.

Once appointed as Chair, you will need to dedicate whatever time is required, currently approx. six hours per month to the role, and at key times, probably more. This includes preparation for and attendance at Board meetings; many of your duties may be carried out online and by phone/video, as well as at face-to-face meetings.

It should be noted that the focus of this role is strategic and you will not be managing the organisation on a day-to-day basis; however, regular contact and close liaison with our Clinical Manager is required.

How to apply

This important appointment is being managed for us by inVOLve Community Services, a charity-support organisation, who offer a no-obligation discussion by phone or video. A detailed Role Description and Skills Specification can be made available to you upon request.

You will need to be eligible to be a charity Trustee, which we will explain. Trustee appointments are subject to satisfactory references, and a satisfactory Enhanced DBS check.

Your CV and supporting statement will be read by our existing trustees; an informal discussion followed by a more-formal interview can be offered as soon as mutually convenient.

I need to know more

Contact Mike Allen via Quick Apply below for more information and arrange to have a no-obligation initial informal discussion (Teams/Zoom/phone), explanation about this important role and any assistance in your application.