The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world-class university.

We offer a fantastic range of benefits including a highly competitive annual leave entitlement (with the ability to purchase more), a generous pensions scheme, flexible working opportunities, a commitment to your development and wellbeing, a wide range of retail discounts, and much more.

Find out more about our benefits (opens in a new window) and join us to become part of something special.

Overview

We have an exciting opportunity within our Student Mental Health, Counselling Therapies and Wellbeing Service for an experienced mental health professional. You will be a registered Mental Health practitioner with experience in assessing mental health difficulties, including the assessment and management of risk. Ideally, you will have experience of (or a keen interest in) managing staff (paid or unpaid) and have a keen interest in wider wellbeing activities.  You should be able to deliver psycho and social-education and follow up sessions. You should be a natural collaborator and have the necessary skills and aptitude to collaborate with a number of key stakeholders.

Alongside the Mental Health Development officer already in post, who currently has overall line management responsibility for this team, this post holder will sit alongside the current Mental Health Development officer and other senior clinical roles within the extended management team. It is anticipated that this will include an element of being a key point of contact and supporting with the day-to-day delivery, operation and development of our faculty-based wellbeing advisors. You will play a key role in developing and strengthening our wellbeing offer, ensuring it interfaces with faculties well and is supporting, enhancing, and complementing our current clinical offer. This will ensure supporting with holding and maintaining clear boundaries between clinical and non-clinical activities as well as ensuring there is a healthy balance between our asset and deficit interventions. In addition to this, you will support and contribute to our clinical offer.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Manage, develop, and strengthen our wellbeing offer, ensuring it positively interfaces with faculties and is supporting, enhancing and complementing our clinical offer.
• Support with managing the faculty-based wellbeing service including contributing to the monitoring and review of outputs and inputs and overall performance and acting as a key point of contact as and when designated.
• Maintain and develop relationships with key stakeholders from across the University and externally. This includes faculty colleagues and staff in other professional services.
• Conduct robust initial assessments, determining the most appropriate intervention or set of interventions for students (conducted by video call or in person).
• Provide students with a written action plan/care plan.
• Refer appropriately and consult with a wide range of internal and external services, ensuring that students access the most appropriate service to best fit their needs.
• Undertake robust risk assessments of students and confidently manage any ongoing risk, ensuring that all service policy and procedures are adhered to.
• Triage students' self-referral forms and make decisions regarding next steps.
• Provide a range of psychosocial interventions for example 1:1, group work, providing individualised mental health support to students with multiple needs.
• Always operate from an inclusive values base which promotes trauma informed practice, recovery, and recognizes and respects diversity.
• Maintain accurate and timely records on a computer system, working in accordance with confidentiality policies and the General Data Protection Regulation.
• Contribute towards service monitoring of student user outcomes using clinical measures and open to taking part in research.
• Provide advice to members of staff in academic departments regarding concerns about student mental wellbeing via the Mental Health Guidance and Liaison Desk
• Attend regular team meetings to discuss policy, share casework, engage with training.
• Demonstrate ongoing CPD, maintain up to date knowledge of clinical skills, trends in mental health policy, research and practice. Demonstrate application of CPD to practice.
• As Professional staff, you will be expected to demonstrate a commitment to the professional behaviours set out in the Sheffield Professional Framework.
• As a member of staff, you are encouraged to make ethical decisions in your role, embedding the University sustainability strategy into your working activities.
• Carry out other duties, commensurate with the grade and remit of the post.

Person Specification

Our diverse community of staff and students recognises the unique abilities, backgrounds, and beliefs of all. We foster a culture where everyone feels they belong and is respected. Even if your past experience doesn't match perfectly with this role's criteria, your contribution is valuable, and we encourage you to apply. Please ensure that you reference the application criteria in the application statement when you apply.

Essential criteria

• Professionally qualified mental health professional who is registered with a Mental Health professional body, for example mental health nurse, approved social worker registered with SWE, HCPC, NMC. (assessed at: application)
• Extensive post qualification clinical experience in assessment of mental health difficulties, including robust risk assessment and management, safety planning, determining the most appropriate intervention for students, appropriate onward referral. (assessed at: application/interview)
• Experience or understanding of overseeing service outputs or evidence of the skills and aptitude to successfully oversee a service, including contributing to the monitoring and reviewing of the service (assessed at: application/interview/presentation)
• Self-motivated with the ability to work on own initiative, with a minimum of supervision, to manage own workload effectively whilst having conflicting demands (assessed at: application/interview)
• Excellent organisational skills, ensuring review and follow up of students and drive to see appointment actions through to conclusion (assessed at: application/interview)
• Ability to support academic staff, friends, and family with a concern for students, communicating on the phone or via email, to talk through any concerns and assist in thinking through options (assessed at: application/interview)
• Ability to work to the university’s policies on equality and diversity, showing patience, tolerance, and sensitivity and being non- judgmental whilst working with people from a range of different backgrounds (assessed at: application/interview/presentation)
• Excellent interpersonal and communications skills, both written and verbal, including robust note making skills, with a proven ability to articulate complex information to students and staff with and without a clinical background (assessed at: application/interview/presentation)
• Good IT skills, such as the use of Google Drive, word processing, email, use of telephone and video conferencing for working with clients (assessed at: interview)
• A standout colleague with a commitment to working flexibly and as part of an integrated mental health service within a multidisciplinary team (assessed at: application/interview)
• A keen collaborator with an ability to build effective working relationships with other individual stakeholders, internal teams and external agencies and organisations (assessed at: application/interview)

Further Information

Grade: 7

Salary: £38,249 - 46,735 per annum

Work arrangement: Full-time (35 hours per week) 

Line manager: Mental Health Service Manager

Direct reports: Support with managing the Faculty based Wellbeing Service

Our website: Support | Study at Sheffield | The University of Sheffield

For informal enquiries about this job contact Ann-Marie Sloman, Mental Health Service Manager: on a.sloman@sheffield.ac.uk or on 0114 2224134

Next steps in the recruitment process

It is anticipated that the selection process will take place in May 2025. This will consist of an interview and presentation. We plan to let candidates know if they have progressed to the selection stage week commencing 12th May 2025. If you need any support, equipment or adjustments to enable you to participate in any element of the recruitment process you can contact Julian on j.a.hermoso@sheffield.ac.uk

Our vision and strategic plan

We are the University of Sheffield. This is our vision: sheffield.ac.uk/vision (opens in new window).
 

What we offer

• A minimum of 41 days annual leave including bank holiday and closure days (pro rata) with the ability to purchase more.
• Flexible working opportunities, including hybrid working for some roles.
• Generous pension scheme.
• A wide range of discounts and rewards on shopping, eating out and travel.
• A variety of staff networks, providing opportunities for social interaction, peer support and personal development (for example, Race Equality, LGBT+, Women’s and Parent’s networks).
• Recognition Awards to reward staff who go above and beyond in their role.
• A commitment to your development access to learning and mentoring schemes; integrated with our Professional Services Shared Skills Framework
• A range of generous family-friendly policies
  • paid time off for parenting and caring emergencies
  • support for those going through the menopause
  • paid time off and support for fertility treatment
  • and more

More details can be found on our benefits page: sheffield.ac.uk/jobs/benefits (opens in a new window).

We are a Disability Confident Employer. If you have a disability and meet the essential criteria for this job you will be invited to take part in the next stage of the selection process.

Criminal record

An enhanced with barred lists DBS check will be needed for this role. More details on the checks can be found on the Government website: gov.uk/criminal-record-checks-apply-role (opens in a new window).

Possession of a criminal record is not an automatic bar to employment at the University of Sheffield. We recognise the value of steady employment in the rehabilitation process and examine each case in its own right. More information can be found on our Information for candidates page: - sheffield.ac.uk/jobs/candidates (opens in a new window).

The University of Sheffield is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our staff and students. It is an offence to apply for this role if you have been barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children. Applicants will be subject to relevant safeguarding checks in line with the requirements of each role and the guidance from the Department for Education.

Our recruitment process follows the keeping children safe in education guidance.
Offers of employment may be subject to the following checks (where relevant):
- Childcare disqualification
- Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
- Medical
- Online and social media
- Eligibility to work
- Satisfactory references
- Suitability to work with children
You must tell us about any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.

Safeguarding policy

Employment of ex-offenders policy