Crisis Text Responder & Community Wellbeing Practitioner in Norfolk

This is a genuinely unique role that sits at the intersection of digital crisis support and face-to-face community mental health delivery. Unlike either a purely clinical or purely digital post, this hybrid position offers the breadth of two complementary workstreams within a single contracted role — giving you the variety, purpose, and professional development that neither strand alone could provide.

Across your working week you will split your time between two distinct but connected responsibilities. Two days per week you will be active in the community — delivering group and one-to-one therapeutic sessions for young people and adults, leading local promotion of NXG's digital crisis services, and building relationships with partner organisations, schools, GP practices, and VCSE referrers from across the East of England. On your remaining three days you will work as a crisis text responder on the NXG Thrive platform, providing real-time digital crisis support to service users. Both elements of this role serve the same mission: reaching people in mental health crisis at the moment they need support, whether that is through their phone screen at 2am or face to face in their community during the day.

Working Pattern

• This role follows a structured hybrid working pattern (37.5 hours per week) combining community-based mental health delivery and remote crisis text support.

Community Delivery – 2 Core Weekdays

• Days: 2 fixed weekdays (agreed at appointment)
• Hours: 09:00 – 17:30
• Location: In-person within community settings across the East of England
• Focus: Therapeutic sessions and Wellness Sessions (group and one-to-one), Community engagement, Service promotion and partnership work

Crisis Text Response – 3 Remaining Days

• Days: Scheduled according to the NXG text service rota
• Location: Remote / home-based
• Focus: Providing crisis text support via the NXG Thrive platform

The three text service days will rotate across day, evening, and occasional weekend patterns in line with service demand. Candidates must be able to genuinely commit to both elements of the pattern. The community days will be consistent week to week; the text service days will vary on a rota basis and will include some evening shifts. Full shift scheduling details will be provided at interview.

Key Responsibilities

Community Delivery — 2 Days Per Week

• Deliver high-quality, group and one-to-one well-being sessions for young people and adults presenting with anxiety, depression, trauma, self-harm, complex family challenges, and crisis-related difficulties, structured in 60-minute group session and 30-45 min appointments with flexibility for intensive support blocks where clinically indicated.
• Develop personalised, goal-focused, evidence-based treatment plans in collaboration with each client, drawing on modalities including CBT, DBT, trauma-informed care, and solution-focused approaches as appropriate to the individual.
• Provide skilled crisis intervention during community sessions, including safety planning, emergency referral, and liaison with NHS 111, local crisis teams, and emergency services where required.
• Act as a community-based safeguarding lead, identifying and escalating concerns in line with Children Act 1989, Care Act 2014, and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023, and maintaining current knowledge of local safeguarding partnership procedures across the Milton Keynes area.
• Maintain accurate, confidential, and contemporaneous clinical records on the NXG Thrive platform in compliance with GDPR and professional record-keeping standards.
• Work collaboratively with internal NXG colleagues, local NHS services, schools, colleges, GP practices, and VCSE partners to ensure holistic, joined-up care around each client.
• Gather and report client feedback and outcome data to contribute to ongoing service improvement and commissioner reporting.

Service Promotion and Community Engagement

• Actively promote NXG's crisis text service within your community patch — attending schools, colleges, community events, GP surgeries, and partner organisations to raise awareness of the service among potential service users, referrers, and community stakeholders.
• Develop and maintain a local referral network, ensuring key partners understand how to access and signpost to NXG's digital crisis offer.
• Represent NXG professionally at community events and stakeholder meetings, acting as a visible and credible advocate for accessible mental health support.
• Contribute to local outreach campaigns targeting underserved or hard-to-reach populations, including young people, ethnic minority communities, and those with barriers to traditional mental health services.
• Provide feedback to the UK Contract Manager on local demand patterns, service gaps, and opportunities for NXG's footprint to grow within your area.

Crisis Text Response — 3 Days Per Week

• Provide empathetic, skilled, and timely crisis text support to service users contacting the NXG 24/7 platform, managing concurrent conversations in line with service protocols.
• Apply NXG's six-stage crisis conversation model — engaging, assessing, de-escalating, safety planning, signposting, and closing safely — consistently across all contacts.
• Respond within service KPI targets, including human first response within 5 minutes and safe conversation closure or escalation within agreed timeframes.
• Escalate high-risk contacts to the on-shift supervisor immediately, providing full context and supporting handover where required.
• Liaise with emergency services and NHS crisis pathways where service users present with immediate risk to life, following NXG's emergency escalation protocol.
• Complete accurate, contemporaneous case records on the NXG Thrive CRM system for every contact, in line with clinical governance and data protection requirements.
• Participate in post-shift debrief and contribute to quality improvement discussions based on your text service experience.

Professional Development and Governance

• Engage actively in NXG's CPD programme, maintaining your professional registration and keeping your clinical skills current across both the community and digital delivery contexts.
• Attend monthly clinical supervision with the UK Clinical Lead and regular peer case review sessions.
• Complete all mandatory training including safeguarding, information governance, mental health first aid, and platform-specific training on NXG Thrive.
• Contribute to service audits, user feedback analysis, and quality improvement initiatives across both workstreams.

Person Specification

• Essential Degree in Psychology, Social Work, Counselling, Mental Health Nursing, or a closely related field. A postgraduate qualification in a mental health discipline is highly desirable.
• Current active registration with one of the following UK professional bodies, with no conditions or restrictions on practice: British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) — Accredited Member or above, Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), British Psychological Society (BPS) — Chartered or Graduate Member, Social Work England.
• Minimum 3 years of post-qualification experience working with young people and/or adults in mental health settings, including direct experience of complex and high-risk cases.
• Demonstrated competence in at least one evidence-based therapeutic modality — CBT, DBT, trauma-informed care, or equivalent.
• Sound knowledge of UK safeguarding frameworks applicable to both children and adults, with experience of making referrals to statutory agencies.
• Confidence working independently in a community setting without direct on-site supervision.
• Excellent written communication — a significant portion of this role is delivered through text and digital channels where clarity, empathy, and precision are essential clinical skills.
• Ability to transition between face-to-face therapeutic work and digital crisis response within the same working week, maintaining quality and appropriate professional boundaries across both contexts.
• Proficiency in digital clinical record-keeping systems and standard Microsoft Office tools.
• Full UK driving licence or reliable means of travel to community locations across the East of England.

Desirable

• Prior experience in a digital or remote mental health delivery role.
• Experience in community outreach, service promotion, or stakeholder engagement.
• Formal safeguarding lead experience or designated safeguarding officer training.
• Knowledge of the East of England or Milton Keynes mental health landscape, local NHS crisis pathways, and VCSE sector.
• Experience working with diverse age groups across a single caseload including children, young people, and adults.
• Familiarity with NHS-commissioned service frameworks, KPI reporting, and clinical governance requirements.

Working Conditions and Benefits

• A genuinely varied role offering both face-to-face clinical depth and digital crisis practice — rare in a single contracted post.
• Monthly clinical supervision from the UK Clinical Lead and structured peer support.
• Access to 24/7 debrief support and a staff wellbeing programme — secondary trauma risk is actively managed across both workstreams.
• Funded CPD and a clear progression pathway — practitioners in this hybrid model are well placed to move into senior clinical, supervisory, or community development roles as NXG's footprint grows.
• Mileage and travel expenses reimbursed for community delivery days at HMRC approved rates.