Job Summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for skilled and enthusiastic 16 to 25 Community Mental Health Link Worker within the Hammersmith and Fulham Mental Health Integrated Network Teams (MINT).
We are seeking to recruit individuals with a good understanding of mental illness as well as excellent communication, personal, and customer service skills, who have a passion for wanting to empower and support young individuals with their recovery journey. We are looking for highly motivated, enthusiastic, and caring individuals who can provide the best possible care with patience and compassion to our service users
The community mental health framework for adults and older adults (2019) set out a vision for providing services in local settings that better reflected the needs of the local population. West London NHS Trust is one of a small number of pilot sites and has developed an exciting new Mental Health Integrated Network Teams (MINT) service that offers service users more needs based, episodic interventions integrated with primary care.
Link Work will be a key specialism within MINT, overseeing recovery focused interventions that make use of community assets as well as those of the multi-disciplinary team.
Main duties of the job
You will play a vital role in connecting young people who are experiencing a challenge with their mental health with community supports and resources. As a Link Worker you will specialise in signposting to and supporting with referrals to identified appropriate community resources, fostering autonomy and promoting independence, building on the individual’s strengths and aiding in gaining skills and confidence in collaboratively identified areas of support, as well as escalating concerns should they arise.
You will be comfortable working both on your own and with others from a range of different backgrounds. You’ll need to be resilient, motivated, and committed to adapt to working in an ever-changing environment.
As the role develops, you will also spend a portion of your time working closely with CAMHS to support young individuals to access vital services in their community and ensure a smooth transition into adult services.
Person Specification
Qualifications and Training
Essential
- Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development appropriate to the role in order to ensure competency and the execution of best clinical practice.
Desirable
- NVQ level 3 or working towards an equivalent qualification in a relevant subject area or demonstrable equivalent experience
Experience
Essential
- Experience of 1:1 client work
- One year or more experience of working or volunteering in mental health services
- Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across organisations
Desirable
- Experience of working alongside or supervising volunteers
- Experience and desire to work with young individuals within the 16 to 25 age group.
- Experience of working in a community development context or similar
Knowledge
Essential
- Knowledge of the local community
- A good awareness of different models of understanding of mental health
- A good broad understanding of mental health challenges
- Good level of computer skills with knowledge of Word and Excel and ability to input information, use an email system and produce simple plans/reports
- An understanding of the principles of good partnership working
- Thorough understanding of equal opportunities with particular emphasis on how it applies to users of mental health services
- Thorough understanding of the principles of good customer service
- A good understanding of primary, secondary care and third sector mental health services
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Ability to listen, empathise and provide person-centred support in a non-judgemental way
- Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with strong interpersonal skills
- Ability to take responsibility for key clients
- Ability to produce written materials to a high standard
- Ability to communicate constructively and professionally with service users, staff, colleagues and external agencies
- Ability to work at evenings and weekends, sometimes at short notice, when required to meet work demands
- Ability to implement equal opportunities through anti-discriminatory practice
- Strengths-based recovery approach to client work and person centred practice
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: 06 October 2025
