Mental Health Volunteering & Employment Officer

The role is part of an existing project funded by the Community Mental Health Transformation Fund, supported by the North East and North cumbria Integrated Care Boards. The Step Forward into Volunteering and Employment aims to support individuals with Severe Mental Health experiences to find and retain employment and find a path to paid employment via volunteering. The project aims to improve self-esteem and overall wellbeing as well as financial independence, to aid in their recovery and minimize their needs for primary and secondary mental health services.

The Mental Health Volunteering and Employment Support Officer role is to support individuals with Severe Mental Health Experiences (SMHE) in North Cumbria to access volunteer and paid work opportunities, working with a range of partner organisations in North Cumbria.

Key Duties:

To interview, advise, refer and support people with serious mental health experiences into volunteering or employment opportunities.

Working with key partners and third sector organisations to enable service users to positively contribute to their communities by investing in skill development, training, and sourcing or providing tailored work readiness programs.

To contribute and support the development of the MH Volunteering and Employment publicity for Cumbria CVS social media, website and email bulletins in tandem with the CVS Communication Manager, with the support of admin team to help to promote this project and to aid referrals for the project.

To organise mental health awareness training or events to support all partners, third sector organisations and volunteers to understand mental health experiences and how best to support people with SMHE.

Maintain effective follow up monitoring and reporting for the project.

· Experience of working with or supporting people with Serious Mental Health Experiences (SMHE)

· Experience of partnership working and providing advice, information and guidance

· Experience of successful project outcomes (to time, to budget, achieving objectives).

· Experience of liaising, communicating and facilitating meetings with a range of individuals and partners.

· Experience of volunteering, working in the voluntary sector and working with volunteers

Cumbria CVS offers help, advice, training and support to the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector (VCFSE) throughout Cumbria, offering support to over 2,500+ organisations. We aim to make a real difference across Cumbria in pursuit of our mission to increase Impact, Influence and Investment in and from Cumbria CVS and the Third Sector VCFSE.

We are currently recruiting to a range of rewarding and flexible roles so now is a great time to join us. We are looking for people to be part of our team and make a real difference to local communities.

Our generous employment benefits include:

· Pension Scheme with 7.5% employer contribution

· Supportive working environment with a focus on mental health and wellbeing

· We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in all that we do

· Hybrid/flexible working - a lot of our staff work part time so we are used to different working patterns

· 25 days holiday entitlement plus bank holidays (pro rata for part time staff)

· 5 Additional days off per year

· Company sick pay

· Training plan with opportunities for continuing professional and personal development

Join us and help support Cumbrian charities to undertake their critical work responding to emerging needs, helping vulnerable people and improving lives.

Mental Health Volunteering and Employment Officer (1 year contract in the first instance)

Salary - £24,672 (actual pro rata £12,336)

Part Time - 18.5 hours per week