Job Description Job title Reporting to Responsible for Department/section Remit of post covers Salary Hours of work Located at Type of contract Senior Local Leadership Officer Local Leadership Manager NA Networks and Communities/Community Leadership and Equalities England and Wales Grade D 35 hours per week, full time Stratford / homebased Permanent Main purpose and scope of the job We re Mind, the mental health charity. We won t give up until everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets support and respect. We provide advice and support to empower anybody experiencing a mental health problem and we campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding. The Networks and Communities (N&C) Department at Mind has a crucially important role in enabling Mind to reach more people, increase our influence and effect long lasting change in all communities across England and Wales. We support people with lived experience of mental health problems to be involved in designing and delivering our work and to develop their own ability to lead. Our increased impact comes about through supporting and strengthening our relationships with our network of 130+ affiliated local Minds organisations. We will develop joint strategies and equip them to take ownership and leadership of Mind s mission in local areas across England and Wales. The Community Leadership and Equalities Unit works to strengthen our approach to community leadership and equalities improvement. The unit builds capacity of local Minds and Mind to put people and communities at the centre of our organisations and delivery, and to effectively influence local decision making and change.
The purpose of the job is to play a key role in delivering an approach to support local Minds to effectively lead system and social change in their communities, to improve the lives of the one in four people across England and Wales who experience mental health problems. The team will support local Minds to develop the skills and confidence to influence local decision making. The team will link local Minds to resources to ensure that they are fully connected to and working alongside their local communities. The team will work closely with Mind colleagues in the policy and campaigns team to ensure that Mind s campaigns and influencing strategies are initiated, developed and delivered alongside local Minds to have maximum impact. You will report to the Local Leadership Manager. Under the guidance of your manager you will work closely with the following colleagues and teams: Policy and Campaigns Unit, Community Leadership and Equalities Unit, the Networks Data Officer, Community Services Unit, Network Growth team, Media and Communications teams, as well as other relevant Networks and Communities department colleagues. Under the guidance of your manager you will provide support to all local Mind organisations. Mind aims to ensure that the needs and interests of mental health service users, women, black and minority ethnic communities, disabled people, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender and people of all ages are reflected in all its activities. All staff are expected to contribute to this aim. Key responsibilities 1. Under the guidance of your manager you will contribute to the development and delivery of a strategy for Local Leadership at Mind. You will link with colleagues who have undertaken related work and thinking to date, including those in local Minds, the department and Policy and Campaigns colleagues. The team will need to consider the policies, political systems and service structures across both England and Wales, including the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health strategy in England and the Together for Mental Health strategy in Wales. The Mind Local Leadership strategy will ensure that people and communities are at the heart of this work. 2. You will contribute to the further development of resources, training, events, communication and mentoring approaches to support local Mind leaders to influence decision-making, alongside their local communities. 3. You will work closely with colleagues within Mind to ensure that your team s activities closely align with the Community Services, Policy and Campaigns, Network Growth, Equalities Improvement, Lived Experience Leadership and Service Design strategies. 4. Under guidance from your manager you will work closely with Policy and Campaigns and Networks Unit data colleagues to ensure that intelligence from local Minds feeds into
policy development and that local Minds are involved in the initiation, development and delivery of campaigns and influencing strategies for England and Wales. 5. Under guidance from your manager you will work closely with local Mind and Policy and Campaign s colleagues in England and Wales, to deliver joint local and national influencing activities and campaigns. 6. Under guidance from your manager you will work closely alongside Time to Change Community Leadership team and Making Every Adult Matter team colleagues, to share learning from these programmes of systems leadership with colleagues across local Minds and Mind. 7. Under guidance from your manager you will promote the value of local Minds being people- and community-led organisations, with expertise in local partnership working, in order to support them to have long-term sustainability and be credible local influencers. You will link with colleagues in the lived experience leadership and equalities improvement teams to achieve this. 8. Under guidance from your manager you will work closely with colleagues within the wider department to ensure that local Minds are clear about the support they can receive from the team and that local leadership approaches are embedded across Mind s offers to local Minds. 9. You will contribute to effective internal and external communications and engagement about the team s work. 10. To contribute to the development of clear plans and quarterly reporting processes within Mind (narrative, targets and influencing and participation activity) and other funders as appropriate. 11. Ensure the views of people with experience of mental health problems inform and guide your work and actively seek opportunities to involve people with lived experience, including those from racialised and other disadvantaged and marginalised communities, in planning, delivery and review. 12. Undertake other duties that may from time to time be necessary, and that are compatible with the nature and grade of this post. Expectations 1. To ensure our work reaches people from a wide range of backgrounds, including people from racialised and other disadvantaged and marginalised communities
2. To ensure that people with experience of mental health problems, including those from disadvantaged and marginalised communities, inform the design, take part in the delivery and review the work of the team as fully as possible 3. To be responsible for working collaboratively with others in the Unit, Department and organisation, where relevant, and to meet regularly to develop joint solutions and actions. This includes working with colleagues in Mind Cyrmu to make sure activity is proportionally delivered across both England and Wales. 4. To attend and contribute to meetings, training and other events as required. 5. To attend and contribute to the supervision and appraisal process. 6. To ensure that all responsibilities and activities within this post are in accordance with the terms and spirit of Mind s policies 7. To travel to meetings in England and Wales, which may require the need to occasionally work unsociable hours e.g. attending evening events. This will take into account any family and caring responsibilities you may have. 8. To adhere to relevant legal and statutory requirements including GDPR and the Health and Safety at Work Act 9. To use Mind s resources responsibly 10. To contribute to making Mind a Greener workplace 11. To be flexible in undertaking the role as the nature of the post requires 12. To work to Mind s values: Open. We reach out to anyone who needs us. Together. We re stronger in partnership. Responsive. We listen, we act. Independent. We speak out fearlessly. Unstoppable. We never give up
Person specification: Senior Local Leadership Officer Essential criteria Experience 1. Experience of developing learning resources and contributing to event content and planning. 2. Experience of being involved in projects that enabled community groups to influence and guide that project. 3. Experience of ensuring that individuals or groups from racialised and other disadvantaged and marginalised communities effectively influenced, developed and participated in projects and services that you have worked in. Knowledge and understanding 4. Knowledge of the voluntary and community sector and the current challenges and opportunities facing local organisations providing services and support. With an understanding of the overall health and social care structures in England and Wales, locally and nationally. 5. An understanding of how local organisations can lead local social and systems change and the challenges and opportunities this presents them. 6. Understanding of co-production and co-design techniques and knowledge of design led approaches to service development. Skills and/or abilities 7. High level project and management skills, including the prioritisation of tasks, the effective management of milestones, risk, managing an activity budget and the use of ongoing review and evaluation processes. 8. Demonstrable oral and written communication skills, including a track record of group facilitation, and delivering workshops and training sessions. Experience of working successfully with a wide range of partners and working through conflict when it occurs.
Desirable criteria 1. Knowledge of national voluntary sector federation or membership organisations 2. Knowledge of the mental health policy and service delivery landscape, locally and nationally. 3. Direct / Indirect experience of mental health problems