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

As an experienced Mental Health Practitioner at the University of Sheffield, you will have the  exciting opportunity to make a positive impact on the wellbeing of our students. You will join our Student Mental Health, Counselling, Therapies and Wellbeing Service, working closely with a diverse student population. You will play a crucial role in assessing mental health difficulties and managing risk. Your expertise will ensure that students receive the vital support and interventions to help them thrive academically and personally.

Through delivering psychoeducation and follow up sessions, you will empower students to develop the skills and strategies needed to navigate their mental health challenges successfully.

In this role, you will also participate in screening students' self-referral forms and staffing the Mental Health Guidance and Liaison Desk. Offering guidance to university staff, you will be an integral part of our collaborative approach to supporting student mental health. Working closely with other departments in Student Support Services, you will join a team committed to promoting student well-being through a comprehensive and inclusive approach.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Conduct robust initial assessments, determining the most appropriate intervention or set of interventions for students (these are offered by video call or in person)
• Provide students with a written action plan/care plan: this may include: self-help material, advice and signposting and referral to internal and external services.
• Refer appropriately and liaise with a wide range of internal and external services, ensuring that students access the most appropriate service to best fit their needs.
• Manage urgent and complex cases taking appropriate action, in line with policy.
• 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.
• Provide advice and support to members of staff in academic departments regarding concerns about student mental wellbeing via Mental Health Guidance and Liaison Desk.
• Maintain accurate and timely records on a computer system, working in accordance with confidentiality policies and General Data Protection Regulation.
• Contribute towards service monitoring of student user outcomes using clinical measures and open to taking part in research.
• Attend regular meetings, discuss policy and casework and 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.
• Operate at all times from an inclusive values base which promotes trauma informed practice, recovery, and recognises and respects diversity.
• As a member of our 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 will be encouraged to make ethical decisions in your role, embedding the University sustainability strategy into your working activities wherever possible.
• 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 fully registered/ accredited with a professional body, e.g. social worker, OT, mental health nurse, psychologist, 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/test)
• Experience of working within NHS statutory services with a broad client base and range of social or mental health presentations (assessed at application/interview/test)
• 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 & caseload management skills, ensuring review & follow up of students & seeing actions through to conclusion (assessed at application/interview /test)
• Experience of delivering psychoeducation and implementing follow up based on therapeutic approaches, e.g. brief solution focussed or psychosocial interventions, DBT, strategies for self harm, group work (assessed at application/interview/test)
• An understanding of delivering mental health support within an educational context and the issues students tend to encounter (assessed at application/interview/test)
• 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 for a student and assist in thinking through options (assessed at application/interview)
• Excellent interpersonal and communications skills, written and verbal, robust note making, presentation skills, a proven ability to articulate complex information to others with and without a clinical background (assessed at application/interview/test)
• An ability to build effective working relationships with other teams within an organisation and with external agencies (assessed at application/interview)

Desirable criteria

• Training and presentation skills, plus a willingness to lead training sessions on mental health issues (assessed at application/interview/test)

Further Information

Grade: 7

Salary: £38,249 - 46,735 per annum

Work arrangement: Full-time

Line manager: Mental Health Service Manager

Direct reports: N/A

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 the week commencing 2nd June 2025. This will consist of an interview and a test. We plan to let candidates know if they have progressed to the selection stage on the week commencing 19th May 2025. If you need any support, equipment or adjustments to enable you to participate in any element of the recruitment process,s 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).

Closing Date : 11/05/2025 

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