Job Description

Please download an application form from our website www.cbmeforum.org

JOB DESCRIPTION AND PERSON SPECIFICATION

Title

:

Croydon Health and Wellbeing Space Helpline and Administration Support Officer

Reports to

: Croydon Health and Wellbeing Space Manager

Location

: Croydon Health and Wellbeing Space (CHWS), Whitgift Centre, North End, Croydon CR0 1LP (additional locations may be identified in the future)

Salary Range:

25,000

Hours:

28 hours per week (part-time), Monday to Thursday, with occasional weekend working required

(Approximately one weekend every 3 weeks)

Contract

: Fixed Term until 31 March 2026 - with potential to extend

About the Croydon Health and Wellbeing Space:

Croydon Health & Wellbeing Space (CHWS) is an exciting and dynamic service, run in partnership with Mind in Croydon and Croydon BME Forum and commissioned by South London and Maudsley Mental Health Service (SLaM). The CHWS opened in 2022 with the aim of providing advice, information, and specialist support to Croydon residents with mental health concerns, who drop-in, or have been referred to the via the local Integrated Care Network Plus multi-disciplinary clinical and community mental health support teams.

The Helpline and Administration Support Officer will be part of a friendly team, including advice workers, crisis workers and clinical mental health professionals and function as the first point of access for those who contact the CHWS by telephone or email. Following an initial conversation to ascertain the clients' needs, the Helpline and Administration Support Officer will provide signposting and guidance, will be responsible for booking sessions, and make any necessary referrals to specialist services, such as the Mental Health Personal Independence Co-ordinators, Social Prescribers and Community Link Workers, in addition to the wider voluntary and statutory services in the borough. The role will be fast-paced and vary each day, offering a fantastic opportunity for the postholder to develop their knowledge and skills and make a difference to the users of this service.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Provide signposting information and guidance to people who contact the Croydon Health and Wellbeing Space via telephone or email. The post-holder will be based in the back office and will be responsible for managing the CHWS waiting list, responding to and managing calls to the service phone, and emails to the CHWS inbox.

Provide a reassuring and friendly initial contact with the service ensuring that clients are referred to the correct person or service within the Croydon Health and Wellbeing Space and re-direct members of the public to internal and external services where necessary.

The post holder will be responsible for contacting clients on the CHWS waiting list - assessing their needs and either booking them in for 1:1 or group support or signposting/referring to other more appropriate services.

Provide signposting and guidance about issues affecting clients, including mental health, housing, employment, and welfare benefits.

Provide signposting, guidance and reassurance to clients who contact the CHWS in crisis.

Ensure that each person is listened to and connected with the support they seek as far as possible. A key skill will be to identify when a client presents with 'surface level issues' and when a deeper conversation is needed to identify the underlying issues.

When the Volunteer Lead Support Worker is unavailable, provide support to the Croydon Health and Wellbeing Space volunteers in their welcoming duties.

Work as a member of a multi-disciplinary team.

With the rest of the team, attend staff meetings and participate in whole staff planning and strategic development of the service in accordance with our aims and objectives.

Provide updates and feedback to the other Croydon Health and Wellbeing Space teams to facilitate multi-disciplinary partnership working.

Work in partnership with local professionals in statutory and voluntary sector organisations to ensure that appropriate referrals are made and to enable effective inter-agency relationships to be developed.

Contribute positively and constructively to the development of Croydon Health and Wellbeing Space.

Attend training, forums, and meetings to ensure knowledge remains relevant and current.

Keep up to date with relevant legislation, policy, and practice in mental health, as well as within the field of information & advice more generally.

Accept line management and supervision from the post holder's designated line manager and engage constructively in this process.

Accept the need to learn from experience, to actively take part in reflective practice, to change where necessary, develop new skills, undertake training, and keep up to date with current mental health practice.

Maintain accurate and up to date client records using online triage and database systems in accordance with service policies and procedures.

Collect and collate statistics and qualitative feedback from users of the Croydon Health and Wellbeing Space for the purposes of effective monitoring for commissioners and other key stakeholders.

Work within the Advice Quality Standard, the mark of quality for independent advice organisations and other relevant quality and performance standards.

Work within all policies and procedures of the Croydon PIC Partnership, ensuring that information remains confidential and adheres to the General Data Protection Regulations 2018 (GDPR).

Maintain quality standards in accordance with Mind in Croydon policies and procedures.

Respect and maintain personal and professional boundaries concerning relationships with service users, volunteers, and other staff.

Act in a professional and responsible manner which does not have a negative impact on the service or the organisation as a whole and which is in accordance with the policies and procedures of Mind in Croydon.

In addition to the tasks and duties outlined in this job description, undertake other duties as required.

Agreement

The is not exhaustive and is subject to change considering the service, work, priorities, or requirements. Such change will be discussed and consulted on with the post holder. Mind in Croydon Ltd and Croydon's BME Forum reserve the right to vary or amend the duties and responsibilities of the post holder at any time in accordance with the needs of the service. The statements contained in this description, reflect general details as necessary to describe the principal functions of the job, the level of knowledge and skill typically required to undertake the role.

It should not be considered an all-inclusive listing of work requirements. Individuals may perform other duties as assigned, including work in other functional areas to cover absences, peak work periods or otherwise to balance the workload.

The dated signature of the current post holder is an agreement that the provides an accurate outline and picture of the job as it currently exists.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

Desirable

Qualifications

Relevant mental health, housing, social care or psychology related training or qualifications.

E

Demonstrable evidence of equivalent learning or training.

D

Experience

At least one year's employment in advice work, covering topics such as welfare benefits and entitlements, housing, employment, training, etc.

E

Demonstrable lived or learned experience and understanding of mental health and related issues and difficulties or challenges.

E

Working knowledge and experience of person-centred approaches and recovery models.

D

Experience of working in uncertain situations and with clients presenting in crisis.

E

Experience of working in voluntary or community settings and building relationships with local groups and organisations.

D

Experience of creating, managing, and maintaining high quality records of contact and interaction with people, working within a caseload.

E

Experience of peer support approaches and asset/strengths-based care and support systems.

D

Knowledge, Skills, and Capabilities

Detailed and up-to-date knowledge of welfare benefits, housing, and mental health legislation

E

Ability to write and record clear and concise case records and letters and understanding of the need for detailed case recording using a database.

E

Ability to work alongside clients in non-directive ways - helping the person find solutions that work for them (rather than suggesting solutions).

E

Ability to focus on and build a person's strengths and their ability to make use of the resources available to them.

E

Ability to remain recovery-focused, working with empathy, building autonomy, empowering the person to define, lead and own their recovery.

E

Ability to quickly build rapport with clients to create an effective, safe, and trusting relationships with people using services and with professionals in multi-disciplinary teams.

E

Excellent numeracy, literacy, IT, and verbal communication skills.

E

Ability to deal in an impartial, courteous, and culturally competent manner, with people from diverse backgrounds and with various levels of communication skills.

E

Ability to make people feel heard and understood in a short space of time.

E

Ability to give effective help to people who may be withdrawn, distressed and/or confused and to manage exposure to dealing with difficult and emotional circumstances/situations.

E

Ability to maintain excellent standards of work under pressure.

E

Ability to work alone on specific tasks, to prioritise tasks and time effectively, and manage workload to meet appropriate standards and performance measures.

E

Understand the implications that a confidentiality policy has for the service.

E

Ability to work flexibly across the team and localities and some evenings and weekends as required.

E

Be willing to work in any other place within the community to fulfil the Service Level Agreement Requirements.

E

Personal Attributes and Approach

Value people and see their potential, worth and strengths.

E

Develop effective and trusting relationships, characterised by respect - being non-judgemental and not making assumptions about the person's experiences and beliefs.

E

Work inclusively, respecting the diversity of each person's experience, and their background or cultural context.

E

Highly motivated and able to learn quickly, willing to seek advice appropriately and accept supervision and training as required.

E

Share responsibility for own personal development.

E

Use own imitative to problem solve issues as they present.

E

Job Types: Part-time, Fixed term contract
Contract length: 2 months

Pay: 25,000.00 per year

Application question(s):

We are unable to offer sponsorship visa Please download an application form on our website www.cbmeforum.org
Work Location: In person

Application deadline: 09/01/2026