Reports to:             Projects Lead
Location:                 Bristol Mind Offices and in Community Outreach venues
Hours:                      14 per week (part-time)
Salary:                      £9,354 actual (pro-rata from £24,720 p/a) + 6% pension contribution
Contract Type:      Fixed term 1 year with the possibility of extension dep. on funding.

Please note, an additional temporary role is also available, 11hrs per week from Nov 24-Jan 25.

Background and Purpose
Bristol Mind is a local and independent charity working at the heart of our community to offer equity-based, inclusive and accessible mental health and wellbeing support.  We work with over 2,000 service-users and 75 volunteers each year, delivering a range of services including:
Infoline - telephone information and advice service
Mindline - confidential telephone listening support
Meeting Minds - 121 counselling, LGBTQIA+ & Neurodivergence streams
Community Wellbeing - targeted services for refugees and victims of hate crime
Our Community Wellbeing Coordinators form a key part of our service delivery team, working to engage and inspire people who may not normally benefit from easy access to wellbeing or therapeutic support. This role sits within our Refugee Services team and will be responsible for providing a warm and supportive drop-in-service for people housed in Initial Accommodation Hotels in Bristol, and/ or wellbeing activities within other community spaces. Working closely with our delivery partner Borderlands and the wider refugee sector, Bristol Mind holds responsibility for wellbeing, including offering supportive one-off conversations, signposting and referrals into more specialist NHS therapeutic services.

This role will suit a warm and engaging ‘people person’ with either paid or voluntary experience of supporting others with mental health, and a keen interest in equalities and anti-discriminatory practice. Some prior knowledge of the refugee sector, forced migration and the impact of trauma will be an advantage, as is the ability to speak Arabic and/or another community language.

You will join a small, diverse and friendly team, with opportunities to develop skills in mental health, creative facilitation/ training, safeguarding and project management. As Bristol Mind continues to develop our community services, there may be further opportunities to expand or divert this role to work with other groups including people on low-incomes and/ or with other protected characteristics.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities: Refugee Services
- Design and deliver creative and accessible workshops and activities for refugees and asylum seekers in Bristol across a range of projects and site locations
- Ensure adequate risk assessments are undertaken prior to any activities and that confidentiality and safeguarding protocols are followed and clearly explained to service-users. 
- Build relationships with external health, wellbeing and trauma services to facilitate joint delivery, learning, cross-referrals and signposting for service-users and volunteers.
- Support the Projects Lead to recruit, train and supervise a team of volunteers, some of whom have lived experience of the asylum system. 
- Work with the team to gather and record service-user data and feedback from every session to support effective and timely evaluation/ reporting.
- Produce simple and engaging publicity ensuring translations in Arabic, Somali, Kurdish and other community languages.
General Duties: Bristol Mind
- To ensure that the lived experience /views of service users are represented within Bristol Mind.
- To ensure that the organisation is presented in a professional manner to its service users and internal and external stakeholders.
- To take responsibility for your own safety and that of colleagues and visitors in the workplace.
- To be prepared for, attend, and engage in staff meetings, supervision, appraisal, and training, as agreed with your line manager.
- To carry out work in accordance with Bristol Mind’s policies and procedures, current legislation, and quality standards.
- To attend occasional evening or weekend fundraising and community events, for which time off in lieu (TOIL) will be given.
This job description is subject to periodic review.

Person Specification - Essential

1. Experience of volunteering or paid work in mental health and wellbeing.
2. Excellent communicator, able to relate with emotional intelligence to people from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences.
3. Organised and independent approach to work in the community.
4. Good creative facilitation skills in holistic and intercultural wellbeing e.g. arts & crafts, gardening, mindfulness, walking or cooking for wellbeing.
5. Good natural problem-solving and mediation skills.
6. Competent IT skills, including the use of Word, Teams/Zoom, Excel, PowerPoint, databases and email.
7. Commitment to the rights and self-determination of all people.
8. Commitment to values of recovery, social inclusion and anti-racist practice in mental health.

Person Specification - Desirable

1. Awareness of refugee sector and the lived experiences of people seeking asylum.
2. Ability to speak a community language and/ or use ESOL skills to communicate.

To Apply

Bristol Mind is committed to developing our workforce in line with equitable principles. We encourage applications from people with lived experience of mental health issues and from people from minoritised groups who are under-represented within our services. This includes people who identify as from a Global Majority, refugee or migrant, neurodivergent or LGBTQIA+ group, or who have faced discrimination based on any protected characteristic.

Please read the job description and person specification carefully. Fill in the application form by answering each point on the person specification form, using examples from paid or voluntary experience.

Please submit your application to our CEO Emma Brech at emma.brech@bristolmind.org.uk no later than Sunday 13th October at 5pm.

Please apply early, as we may interview depending on applications received.

Thank you for applying to Bristol Mind.