Senior Mental Health Support Worker, Oxford

Our mission at Response is to enable people of all ages to live a more fulfilled life by providing excellent mental health services, housing, and supported living. Do you have the desire to empower and promote independence and an interest in mental health?

Hours – 37 hours per week, Monday – Friday 8am – 4pm, inclusive of bank holidays, including occasional weekend mornings.

Service – Project 12, Oxford.

What You’ll Be Doing:

Response is looking for an enthusiastic, caring person to join their dedicated team at Project 12. The Project 12 team focus on supporting residents through person-centred planning and individual goals to aid recovery. The service covers two shared houses and staff provide client support from 8am to 4pm and weekend morning medication. The service aims to create a comfortable, safe and pleasant environment while helping residents work towards more independent living in the future.

As a Senior Mental Health Support Worker, you will be responsible for leading shifts, medication management, delegating tasks, managing incidents, and monitoring the health & safety of the project and residents. You will mentor support workers, leading by positive example alongside having your own caseload. You will be responsible for providing person-centred support to clients with serious mental illness including adults who have a primary diagnosis of a psychotic illness often with one or more coexisting conditions such as physical health issues, neurodiversity, drugs & alcohol use, and cognitive impairment.

Overall job responsibility:

• Lead shifts, delegating set diarised and daily tasks.
• Take the lead during incidents, safeguarding and complaints in the absence of the manager, ensuring policies and procedures are adhered to.
• Ensure all staff are completing relevant health and safety tasks.
• Mentor new support workers through induction including the completion of the Care Certificate and medication training.
• Work within a One Team Approach and ensure this culture permeates throughout the team and lead by example.
• Respond to service phone queries and requests from both internal and external customers in a timely manner and delegating where appropriate to other members of the team.
• Undertake assessments of referrals and attend regular assessment and risk management training.
• Provide emotional support, encouragement, and practical assistance to residents with daily living activities. This may include medication assistance, engaging with interests, education, accessing community groups/facilities, employment, teaching life skills such as shopping, budgeting, using public transport, and skills such as planning to prepare and cook meals, maintain accommodation.
• Ensure risk is continuously assessed and risk management plans are kept up to date.
• Comply and remain up to date with all safeguarding policies and procedures for both Adults and Children and Young People.
• Always represent the company in a professional and appropriate manner by considering punctuality, personal appearance and professional boundaries, including equal opportunities.

The Successful Applicant:

Our main priority for all our roles at Response is to find people that can live our values every day – Caring, Safe, Creative and Aspirational.

Essential criteria:

• GCSEs in English and Maths (or equivalent).
• A commitment to undertake continual personal development.
• Detailed understanding of mental health and wellbeing challenges and the level of care and support residents may require.
• An understanding of current approaches to mental health practice.
• Good knowledge of how to support with referrals and assessments.
• An understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion issues impacting people’s lives.
• IT literate with experience using MS Office packages.
• Previous related work experience.
• Good communication skills, written, verbal and listening.
• A genuine interest in mental health and well-being with a commitment to delivering Response's mission.

What We Offer:

• 27 days annual leave and standard bank and public holidays.
• Blue Light card and other discounted shopping.
• Employee Assistant Programme - with access to free counselling.
• Cycle to Work Scheme (after probation).
• Enhanced family friendly leave.
• Professional qualification sponsorship and study leave.
• £500 refer a friend bonus scheme.
• Optional health cash care plan with money off prescriptions and treatments.
• Wellbeing hub and mental wellbeing support app – approved by NHS.
• Free flu jabs.
• Free DBS application.

You will receive the training and confidence to use core therapeutic talk therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Strength-based Trauma Informed Care and Mutual Aid to provide the best possible support to our clients.

If this Senior Mental Health Support Worker position sounds like the role for you then please apply today! We would love to hear from you! This vacancy may be closed early. To learn more about Response and what we do, please visit our website. Closing date – 02/06/2026.

All our roles require a DBS check, two references from most recent employers and you must have the right to work in the UK – Unfortunately, Response are not able to offer sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for the role and require sponsorship, you will be withdrawn from the recruitment process. Our employees and clients come from all over the world, we proudly promote a friendly and inclusive culture and are registered as a Disability Confident Employer.