Mental Health Adviser

Salary: £33,966 to £36,024 with progression to £44,263 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 26 Febuary 2024

The Role

The Wellbeing Consultancy team acts as an initial point of contact for students, parents, academics and other stakeholders to disclose wellbeing or safety concerns about any Newcastle University student. The team offers responsive support and signposting for students experiencing emotional distress and Mental Health concern, as well as guidance and consultancy to university colleagues.  

This vital role would suit a candidate with experience of working in dynamic and fast-paced settings with a passion for working in Higher Education. Experience of working in Mental Health or safeguarding, with high distress and complex presentations is essential.

The workload model is split between ‘duty’ working and short-term caseloads and follow ups. The role includes significant student-facing work, requiring proactive engagement via in-person support, telephone calls, and online meetings.

We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds, including care experienced people. We are a Disability Confident employer which means that we offer an interview to any applicant applying under the scheme that meets the essential criteria for a role. 

Interviews to be held on Monday 11th March.

Please contact Welfare and Counselling Service Manager, Kirsty Hutchinson, on kirsty.hutchinson@newcastle.ac.uk with any questions or for an informal discussion about the role.

Key Accountabilities

• To act as a central point of contact for students with varied, complex and sensitive Mental Health and wellbeing difficulties or vulnerabilities (including care leavers):
  • Discuss support requirements;
  • Provide advice, guidance and information on relevant internal and external services;
  • Provide assessment and short-term support to students experiencing a range of welfare concerns, including safety planning;
  • Refer to other agencies as appropriate;
  • Manage risk appropriately within the boundaries of the role, initiating safeguarding processes where necessary.
• To offer proactive, individual appointments to students to discuss relevant support requirements and to facilitate any ensuing communication and liaison with academic schools and other University departments
• To manage safeguarding, student crisis and follow up ‘Out of Hours’ incidents. This may include, but is not exclusive to, missing students, hospitalisations, students being at risk to themselves or others, etc.
• To act as a consultant, and at times trainer, to university staff to provide support and clinical reasoning, working together to support students with a range of Mental Health and wellbeing vulnerabilities
• To work in a multi-disciplinary team fashion, liaising with both external bodies and internal colleagues to assist in providing adequate support for students
• To undertake regular training and CPD, keeping up to date with changes in legislation, Government policy, research etc. and act as an information resource to the University on matters relating to emotional and psychological difficulties and Mental Health
• To participate in promotion of SHWS activity, open days, receptions, Welcome Week which, from time to time, may require working out-of-hours i.e. evenings and weekends (only very occasional)
• To complete and maintain the electronic notes adhering to the Service policy and data protection requirements

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 

• Knowledge and understanding of the implications of a range of Mental Health difficulties on individuals and potential impact on the University experience
• Strong experience of crisis management and coping with stressful and sometimes life-threatening situations
• A highly flexible working style, duty-style working desirable
• Excellent communication, advice and guidance skills
• Ability to exercise initiative and judgement in relation to decision making
• Ability to manage time and resources effectively by prioritising and organising a high volume, complex and varied workload
• Evidence of experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team
• Evidence of commitment to principles of equal opportunities and diversity
• Competent IT skills: Word, Excel, Email, Internet, Databases

Attributes and Behaviour

• Takes the initiative to ensure future success of the University and area by presenting new ideas and approaches
• Recognises urgency and takes decisive action when required
• Accepts the reality and requirements of change as part of achieving organisational goals
• Anticipates change and prepares for it. Accepts change and ‘runs’ with it
• Establishes effective time management and workload systems, planning tasks in a systematic way in conjunction with team and area objectives
• Confidently deals with and considers large amounts of complex information quickly and identifies key issues

Qualifications

• A relevant professional qualification such as Registered Mental Health Nurse/ Social Worker/ Therapist etc, or substantial demonstrable expertise in Mental Health

 Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 26540