Wellbeing Advisor Job Description
CLOSING DATE
The closing date for return of completed applications is 5pm Friday 16th April 2021.
Your application should be returned by email to: recruitment@bmeforum.org
Main responsibilities and key tasks:
- Provide 1:1 mental health holistic support for people (particularly, those from Black and minority ethnic communities) who reach out from the general public and those who are referred to us by their care team (i.e., identified service-users) by;
- Identifying needs of individual
- Signposting to relevant agencies/services tailored to their individual needs
- Attending initial classes, events, workshops and/or sessions with individual to encourage their take-up of agencies and services
- Having recurring meetings with individual to determine helpfulness of agencies/services and identify potential new needs
- Encouraging independence throughout
- Build strong relationships with – and develop own database of – agencies, organisations, businesses, and education establishments that can provide:
- Social services that are catered towards Black and minority-ethnic (BME) communities
- Resources for a (mental health-related) creative, cultural, and interactive event
- Mental health academics who are willing to engage with the community
- Organise, and host, various events, and workshops throughout the year, including:
- Drop-in sessions aimed at supporting BME communities who may be less willing to engage with formal services
- ‘Edutainment’-style sessions where BME communities, and mental health professionals, can develop a better understanding of mental health experience and the culturally specific contexts that can lead to developing specific mental health disorders (e.g., spoken word or poetry on past traumatic experience with migration, stand-up comedy on experience of covert racism)
- Regular, informative meetings on current mental health research and training/education opportunities
- Track progress, according to agreed KPI’s, and write up quarterly reports to agreed Supervisor or Manager
In addition to the tasks and duties outlined in this job description, to undertake such duties as may be identified and which are generally compatible with the functions of the post.
Project Background
Wellbeing Advisor
This role was conceived after identifying a considerable demand for one-to-one support based at the Croydon BME Forum. It became clear that our Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) members, as well as the wider BME community, require access to dedicated support in a reachable area. Currently, our workforce cannot adequately meet this demand due to focus on specified projects, initiatives, and primary care settings.
One of the Wellbeing Advisors’ priorities will be to respond to referrals from mental health services and the general public. They will then schedule regular appointments with these referred individuals to establish what type of support they require and make suitable arrangements to address these needs. Further, the Wellbeing Advisor will also host and organise drop-in sessions (e.g., at the Wellness Centre), where BME individuals can get more information on various topics related to their wellbeing (e.g., housing advice, employment, education).
The Wellbeing Advisor will deliver or host around 80 interactive sessions per year, touching on mental health issues that disproportionately affect BME communities. Racial trauma, psychosis, suicide, and drug dependency (addiction) are just a few of the topics that will be addressed. They will also organise events for BME-specific obstacles leading to poor mental health. Thus, the impact of discrimination, treatment in the criminal justice system and immigration will also be topics covered within these interactive workshops.
To improve engagement, the Wellbeing Advisor will organise culturally influenced ‘edutainment’ (e.g., short films, comedy, role-playing) to attract those who may not respond to formal, presentation-style sessions. Further, the Wellbeing Advisor will encourage participation in mental health research and promote mental health further education. They will be particularly focussed on improving the BME experience within mental health services. These steps will ensure People of Colour (POC) are consistently represented, considered, and treated fairly in the mental health sphere. Thus, common barriers faced by minorities in accessing mental health services can be minimalised.
Primarily, the Wellbeing Advisor will act as a culturally aware consultant and provide helpful insight into the varied support services catered towards POC. Further, this role will be outcomes-focussed. Equality Monitoring Forms and surveys will be distributed to their client base and interactive-event attendees. This information can determine if the role has targeted the groups intended, and whether support has been sufficient in addressing individual needs. Any gaps in provision can then be addressed and altered, where necessary. The outcome data collected can also be used to inform future, similar initiatives.