STU146-26 - Mental Health & Wellbeing Practitioner in Stoke-on-Trent

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a talented professional to join the University of Staffordshire's Mental Health and Wellbeing Team at our Stoke Campus. The team supports students from diverse backgrounds to thrive at university by proactively managing their health and wellbeing. This high-performing team provides emergency duty responses for students experiencing distress and crisis, one-to-one therapeutic interventions, structured support, specialist sexual and domestic abuse information, and contributes to the safeguarding of students at the University.

The successful candidate will be an experienced, qualified practitioner registered with a professional body such as BACP, NCPS, NMC, or Social Work England or similar. You will have a proven track record of delivering wellbeing initiatives and forging positive working relationships. The role requires flexibility, resilience, and the ability to manage competing priorities and risks successfully.

The post requires a passion to continually develop specialist information provision and new initiatives grounded in student feedback, data, and benchmarking across the sector, utilising the latest technology and working in partnership with the Students’ Union. You will also contribute to the wider team by supporting campaigns and initiatives throughout the year. You will need to be culturally aware, sensitive, and have a real interest in making a positive difference to the experience of students. The postholder will work with the Mental Health & Wellbeing Manager and wider student support teams. The successful applicant will be adaptable, innovative, and work well in a busy and demanding environment.

We welcome applications from candidates wishing to work full-time or part-time as part of a job share arrangement. If applying for a job share and do not have a proposed partner, we will consider your application alongside others who have expressed an interest in job sharing. Appointment to a job share will be dependent on another suitable candidate being appointed to share the role. If a suitable job share partner is not identified, we may discuss alternative working arrangements with you, or you may choose to be considered for the role on a full-time basis (if applicable).

Main Responsibilities Of The Role

• Assisting in responding to referrals from students and staff, providing support and guidance on student wellbeing concerns.
• Conducting mental health assessments, working with senior staff to identify appropriate next steps and interventions for referred students.
• Offering supportive listening and practical guidance to students using a 'single session therapy' approach, escalating more complex cases as needed.
• Maintaining accurate and timely electronic records of interactions with students, ensuring adherence to University policies and confidentiality standards.
• Working with University departments to support student wellbeing initiatives, contribute to wellbeing campaigns, and assist in updating related resources like social media and webpages.
• Participating in critical incident response.

For further information about this role, please email andie.alker@staffs.ac.uk. Please note that, if offered this position, the appointment procedure requires an Enhanced level of Disclosure with the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) for Adult and Child workforce.

In return for your contributions to the work of our University, you'll be based from one of our industry leading campuses, enjoying a range of benefits exclusive to members of our community and contributing to our vision, value and culture.

Our Commitment to Inclusion Staffordshire University is committed to promoting and enabling a positive culture where staff, students and visitors are confident to be their authentic selves. We focus on inclusion as a way to ensure equality of opportunity for all our people and to demonstrate our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Human Rights. We promote applications from all sections of the community, regardless of background, belief or identity, recognising the benefits a diverse organisation can bring for the University. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people, who are currently under-represented in the University workforce.