Job summary
Are you interested in supporting people to rebuild their lives after a mental health crisis?
In this rewarding role, you will support individuals recovering from a first episode of psychosis to move forward into education, training, and volunteering. Your work will help them regain independence, purpose, and confidence. You will also play a key role in reducing financial stress by providing practical welfare benefits support, enabling service users to focus fully on their recovery.
Over time, you will develop strong partnerships with educational institutions, local providers, and community services, ensuring our service users can access a wide range of opportunities to support their goals and aspirations.
We’re looking for someone who is:
- Experienced in benefits advice, employability, education, or support work
- Skilled at working with people facing complex barriers to engagement
- Confident completing detailed benefits applications and paperwork
- Able to build trusting, therapeutic relationships
- Organised, proactive, and able to manage their own workload
Main duties of the job
- Supporting service users to explore and access education, training and volunteering opportunities
- Providing hands-on support with benefits applications (Universal Credit, PIP, Mandatory Reconsideration Requests, UC Journal Support etc)
- Helping individuals set goals and overcome barriers to participation
- Delivering 1:1 and Group sessions at team base and out in the community
- Working collaboratively with care coordinators and other professionals as part of a multi-disciplinary mental health team
- Building links with local providers, colleges, and community services
- Keeping up to date with benefits changes and local educational opportunities
- Updating records and sharing progress with the wider MDT
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- At least 3 years employment in a relevant role or NVQ in relevant area
Desirable
- Educated to degree level or L4 IAG training / IPS training /benefits training/ mental health training or equivalent would be beneficial but not essential
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working in an educational, volunteering or benefits advisory role
- Experience of working with individuals experiencing complex barriers to participating in education, training, or volunteering
- Experience in coaching or mentoring others to meet their goals
- Experience of working collaboratively within a multi-disciplinary team
Desirable
- Experience working in a mental health setting
- Experience running of groups for service users in particular those with mental health difficulties
- Vocational assessment and profiling skills
Knowledge / Skills
Essential
- Knowledge and understanding of link between vocation, purpose, and mental wellbeing
- Good working knowledge of the welfare benefits system
- The ability to form trusting, therapeutic relationships with service users (A/I)
- Good understanding of Equality and Diversity issues, including knowledge of the Equality Act 2010 (I/A)
- Ability to work independently, prioritise workload and carry out work efficiently and effectively (I/A)
Desirable
- Knowledge of Early Intervention in Psychosis interventions and the EI standards.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Closing Date: 05 August 2026
