Mental Health Adviser

at  University of Bristol

YOU SHOULD APPLY IF

You should apply if you are a qualified Mental Health Nurse, Mental Health Occupational Therapist, Mental Health Social worker or Clinical Psychologist, who holds current registration with a relevant professional body.
The professional body registration must include a responsibility to maintain professional accreditation through updating skills and knowledge, and which upholds a code of ethics and a complaints procedure.
You must be a registered mental health practitioner with and be able to work very collaboratively with colleagues to meet the needs and objectives the team. You will also have exceptional knowledge and in person experience of supporting people with complex mental health needs and have a good understanding of the specific needs of a diverse and unique population of university students.
The Mental Health Advisors are based on site, due to the nature of the work. The MHAS operates 9-5 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday and 9-6:30pm on Tuesdays. We do not offer condensed hours within the Mental Health Advisory Service as our client facing hours line up with the key services that we liaise with in order to appropriately manage risk and referrals. The standard minimum contact we are aiming to recruit is 21 hours or more, this is to allow the time needed for essential meetings and handovers, internal liaison and the individual and development required.

THE ROLE

The Student Counselling Service, is excited to share that we are expanding our Mental Health Advisory Service (MHAS) provision and are therefore looking to appoint several Mental Health Advisors to join us. MHAS welcomes applicants who want part time hours to appoint the total of 3.5 full time equivalent. Our standard minimum contract is 21 hours per week (3 days).
MHAS is a team of Senior Mental Health Advisors & Mental Health Advisors, within the Student Counselling Service (SCS). We are positioned within the Education and Student Success Division and work in partnership with the Student Wellbeing Service, Residential Life, Disability Service and Student Health Service. MHAS works particularly with students with severe and enduring, complex mental health difficulties. The Mental Health Advisors are a group of highly skilled practitioners who work 1-1 and in groups with students and key functions of the role include triage and assessment, formulations, care planning, brief skills-based interventions, liaison, risk management and risk reduction work with students.
In line with the wider University strategy, we are committed to fostering equality, diversity and inclusion, and anti-racism. We particularly encourage applications from candidates who come from, or have significant experience of working with Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, gender non-conforming communities and/or speak a global majority language (in addition to English) We are currently under-represented in these areas, although all appointments will be made on merit.
The Student Counselling Service is working hard to create a welcoming, exciting and joyful place to work, meeting the demographic of the student population and offering more diverse and inclusive therapeutic support. As a team we are genuinely passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion; it forms a key thread through all the work we do. We want everyone that joins to be a part of this and to contribute to the friendly and fun community we are creating.

We have a total of 3.5FTE hours to fill. The suggested job patterns are as follows though there is flexibility to request for more hours (minimum offer is for 3 days; 21 hours):

• 28 hours (4 days) - 2 posts available
• 5 hours (3.5 days) - 1 post available
• 21 hours (3 days) – 2 posts available

While there is some flexibility in the hours on offer, we require all Mental Health Advisors to work 9am to 5pm on Thurs and preferably Friday.

WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING?

The MHAS team supports students with severe and enduring, complex mental health difficulties. As part of the team, you will work using the recovery model (hope, personal responsibility, education, self-advocacy and support) with students and are responsible for case formulations, care planning, risk assessments, and the subsequent risk reduction and stablisation interventions. You would be working with awareness of the different needs of the student population such as neurodivergent students, international students etc. Mental Health advisors deliver 1-1 and group sessions with students and may create group session material. A Mental Health Advisor may also liaise with internal and external partners.
You will work alongside and be supported by Senior Mental Health advisors, wider university support and external Mental Health Pathways to provide the most appropriate package of support to the students accessing our service.
The Mental Health Advisory Team meet regularly to coordinate complex case work, for team meetings and development and supervision.