Mental Health Advisor

Grade: F

Part-time, Permanent role

This is a part time position (0.6 FTE), with the ideal candidate able to work 3 days per week. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Team operates between the hours of 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

The Directorate of Student and Academic Services (SAAS) leads on the development and provision of outstanding student facing services. The Directorate is responsible for ensuring that students have an excellent experience and provides services across the student and academic lifecycle from enrolment to graduation, covering everything from wellbeing services to ensuring new courses are set up correctly. The Directorate is at the centre of a transformation programme as we seek to make services which underpin our student experience more efficient and effective. Over the next year, we will reconfigure the ways we work, reducing silos, making better use of systems and improving compliance with regulations, policies and processes.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Service at Birmingham City University are seeking an experienced Mental Health Adviser within its team of mental health and wellbeing professionals. In this role you will assist in the provision and development of advice and practical support for prospective and current students with mental health difficulties, including the assessment of support needs, at all University sites. You will also contribute to the implementation of University policies and procedures relating to the support for students and prospective students with mental health difficulties.

The Mental Health Adviser role will require managing a caseload to provide, advice, guidance and support to prospective and current students on the provision of mental health support within the University. This may necessitate liaison with other University, community, local authority and statutory agencies as required. The ideal candidate will also be enthusiastic in developing and delivering individual or group support for students with mental health difficulties, in partnership with other relevant professionals, and contribute to a programme of mental health and wellbeing awareness and promotion.

You will have:

• A first degree or equivalent in a nursing, social work or other relevant health-related professional qualification.
• Significant experience of crisis management.
• A sound understanding of the principles of Safeguarding and the ability to recognise and act upon a safeguarding concern is essential
• Significant experience and sound knowledge of working within a voluntary, community or statutory mental health setting.
• Significant experience of providing emotional support in a professional setting.

You will also have excellent written and oral communication skills with a wide variety of audiences, the ability to work in a student-centred way and an ability to work proactively and enthusiastically without detailed supervision.

It would be desirable if you have:

• Experience of higher education or working with students or young people.
• Experience of developing and delivering training on mental health issues.
• Some counselling skills training.
• Experience in the development of mental health policies, procedures or protocols.
• An understanding of the principles of Single-Session Therapy.

At Birmingham City University we are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. All staff are expected to understand and enact the University’s commitment to ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion in our employment practice and in all that we do. This commitment is enshrined in our Core Values and is detailed in our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Employment Policy. The University values and celebrates the diversity of our staff and students; we welcome people from the many different backgrounds and life experiences that reflect the students and the citizens we serve. We are committed to equality of opportunity for all staff and actively encourage unique contributions, in particular from under-represented groups in respect of age, disability, sex, gender or gender identity, ethnicity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender status.

Informal queries in relation to this opportunity are very welcome, and should be directed to Keturah Akintunde, Senior Mental Health Advisor at [email protected]

Job Description

The appointed candidate will normally be employed through our subsidiary company BCU Support Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Birmingham City University. Appointees with prior LGPS membership who wish to enter the LGPS scheme will be able to do so and will be employed by Birmingham City University directly.

Located in the centre of the UK’s second city, we are a university with a long heritage of innovation and of making, dating back to our origins in 1843 when we were founded as the Birmingham Government School of Design.

Our heritage of making through innovation and its application through knowledge exchange, and of creative research and practice, today finds it expression in our STEAM agenda, in our research and enterprise, and in our commitment to challenge-based learning. Working across disciplines, and delivering impactful research and enterprise, interdisciplinarity is at the heart of the continuing transformation of our academic portfolio.