Perinatal Mental Health Social Prescribing Link Worker

Perinatal Mental Health Social Prescribing Link Worker - Part Time

Telford Mind are contracted to deliver a trailblazing Perinatal Mental Health Social Prescribing service. The service offers non-clinical interventions, connecting parents in the perinatal period with a wide range of community resources, and holistically addressing their emotional, social and practical needs.

Telford Mind are committed to providing equal opportunities to all current and prospective employees and welcomes and encourages applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law.

Telford Mind aspire to have a diverse workforce because we strongly believe that diversity enables better organisational outcomes. We also believe that a more inclusive workplace, where people of different backgrounds work together, ensures better outcomes for our service users who are the heart of everything that we do.

In particular, we strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply for our vacancies and join Telford Mind. In particular, we welcome and encourage those with lived experience of mental health difficulties to come and work for us.

Contract:

Fixed Term for 12 months.

Hours:

25 hours per week, Monday – Friday between 9.00 am – 5.00 pm (flexible working is required to suit the needs of the service, this may include evenings and weekends).

Place of Work:

You will be based at Telford Mind (TF7 5EE) but will be required to work across Telford and Wrekin.

Salary:

£14.40/hr

Disclosure:

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure, and any subsequent rechecks, to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

This position is subject to a 3-month probationary period and satisfactory references.

Job Purpose:

You will be required to develop and deliver a Perinatal Mental Health Social Prescribing service, ensuring that the service supports Individuals to take control of their wellbeing and live happier, healthier lives. There will be an emphasis on mental health, supporting people with their emotional health and wellbeing needs.

Mental health problems in the perinatal period are very common, affecting 1 in 5 women. Mental Health problems such as Postnatal Depression can also affect fathers or partners. Some may find the transition to parenthood challenging, requiring additional support for their mental health and wellbeing. Perinatal mental health problems occur during the period from conception to the child's second birthday. Social prescribing complements existing health and social care interventions by referring people to a range of local, non-clinical services such as breastfeeding groups, baby groups Parent support groups and Family Hubs.

You will be required to provide support to Individuals face-to-face, via telephone and email. You will carry out an initial assessment to help them identify their health, social and well-being goals. You will then work closely with those referred to develop a personal plan of desired outcomes and actions referring them to voluntary sector services, community groups, and activity clubs and, where relevant, public sector services in order to achieve these outcomes and actions. You will develop a strong and coherent knowledge of the local voluntary and community sector, thus ensuring that clients are referred appropriately with your support. Additionally, you will build links with voluntary sector organisations, community groups, health and social care partners engaging and acting as an advocate for the project, building relationships for the future referral of Individuals.

You will be based at Telford Mind's office but will be required to work across Telford & Wrekin, you may be required to work across any of the four surgeries within the Network.

As social prescribing is continuously evolving, you will also be feeding back what works well in order to develop models of good practice. You will work closely within a range of multi-disciplinary teams to achieve positive, sustainable outcomes for our service users.

You will need experience and qualifications relevant to the role but experience and a desire to make a difference. You will need your own vehicle.

Main Duties

Development

· Raise awareness and understanding of the Social Prescribing function and link worker role

· Develop referral processes with primary care staff which make the service as accessible as possible to people who could benefit

· Work in partnership with primary care staff to meet people's needs, including ensuring staff get feedback

· Work in partnership with perinatal, maternal mental health and maternity services to understand their people's needs, using local knowledge and patient data to target specific cohorts of people and ensure service data is captured

Delivery

· Proactively engage people into the service using a variety of approaches, including receiving electronic referrals from GPs, Health Visitors and midwives and contacting people directly over the phone to discuss the service

· Deliver a service that is flexible, person centred, focuses on people's strengths and personal goals and provides them with choice

· Co-produce a personalised support plan with the person to improve their health and wellbeing, introducing or reconnecting people to community groups and statutory services as appropriate

· Where people may be eligible for a personal health budget, help them to explore this option as a way of providing funded, personalised support to be independent

· Support to adapt to motherhood, increase confidence as a new parent and create new friendships with other parents.

· Deliver a range of direct interventions depending on individual needs including;

· Emotional support including support to develop effective coping strategies (working therapeutically)

· Support to better manage or improve physical health

· Support to regain or maintain relationships with friends and family

· Support to develop more confidence and a greater ability to gain choice, control and responsibility in their lives

· Support to engage with appropriate specialist support or advice services

· Support to engage in community groups and activities, including activities which promote citizenship and involvement

· Use person centred approaches to assess and manage risk and vulnerability with the individual, in line with Telford Mind's policies and procedures

· Work collaboratively with Individuals towards a planned end set of goals and their exit from the service

· Gather and record progress and outcomes with individuals, using an agreed outcome measurement tool, electronic database/case management systems and qualitative data capture

· Involve people who engage with the project in co-production where possible

· Engage with processes to capture, understand and learn from the feedback provided by people using the service

· Build relationships with key stakeholders, attending relevant meetings, becoming part of a wider team, giving information and feedback on social prescribing.

· Provide primary care and other referral agencies with regular updates about social prescribing, including information to encourage appropriate referrals.

· Seek regular feedback about the quality of service and impact of social prescribing on primary care and wider referral agencies.

Connecting with community groups and organisations

· Develop supportive relationships with local VCSE organisations, community groups and statutory services, to make timely, appropriate and supported referrals for the person being introduced

· Work with the other Social Prescribing Link Workers to develop ways to gather and share information about local community activity with people using the service and other stakeholders

· Identify intelligence about gaps in services and support available to people and feed this into line management processes

Other Responsibilities

· Work within the values, beliefs and policies of Telford Mind and promote these to those referred, their families and other stakeholders

· Take part in line management supervision, clinical supervision and appraisal

· Ensure any information processed for both Individuals s and staff is kept accurate, confidential, secure and in line with the Data Protection Act and Telford Mind's Confidentiality Policy

· Have a duty and responsibility for personal health and safety and the health and safety of colleagues, service users and visitors

· Attend training and events as required

· To undertake other tasks commensurate with the position as required

Person Specification

This sets out the skills and experience required for this post and will be used for shortlisting and interviewing candidates.

Qualifications

· Level 3 health and social care qualification or Level 3 Counselling skills or equivalent experience

Experience

· Close partnership working with other organisations/services

· Engaging and working with individuals under-represented communities with complex health and social issues

· Assessing suitability for services and working with people in person-centred and strength-based ways

· Experience or knowledge of Perinatal support

· Working independently in the community

· Using outcome measurement tools with individuals

· Project development (desirable)

· Developing and designing new systems and processes (desirable)

· Working closely with or within primary care settings (desirable)

Skills

· Well-developed skills to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex or sensitive information to people, their families, carers and other professionals

· Able to use different approaches to assess individual needs and make appropriate decisions collaboratively with people about their goals and their support needs

· Clinical risk assessment and risk management skills

· Able to develop good therapeutic relationships with people using services

· Excellent relationship building and influencing skills

· Ability to work under pressure

· Ability to manage own caseload and varied workload and prioritise effectively

· Ability to work with minimum supervision, use own initiative and make appropriate decisions

· Able to secure advice/guidance on practice issues when necessary

· Computer literate

Knowledge

· Barriers and difficulties faced by people with health and social issues

· A range of emotional, health, social and vocational interventions and techniques

· Child and adult safeguarding issues and other relevant legislation

· Community and specialist services and support available to people in Telford (desirable)

· Structures and systems within primary care and secondary care health settings (desirable)

· Local geographic knowledge of Telford and its communities (desirable)

Other Requirements

· Caring, compassionate and person-centred approach

· Recovery focused, promotes independence, autonomy and personal control

· High level of enthusiasm and self-motivation

· Ability to use supervision and personal development positively and effectively

· Ability to be self-reflective, whilst working with beneficiaries and in own personal and professional development and in supervision

· Car driver and use of own transport for work purposes (ESSENTIAL)

· Commitment to Mind's values and objectives

· Ability to work hours in a flexible way, including occasional evenings and weekends to meet the needs of the service

· Undergo any training relevant to the role either internally or externally.

PLEASE NOTE INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

Job Types: Part-time, Fixed term contract

Contract length: 12 months

Pay: £14.40 per hour

Expected hours: 25 per week

Application question(s):

• Please tell us about your experience of working in the voluntary and community sector.
• Do you have access to your own vehicle?
• Please tell us about your experience of working and supporting people within the perinatal period.
• Please tell us about your experience of working within a Health or Social Care setting
• Please tell us what difference you think you could make and why you want to work for Telford Mind.
• This is a 25 hr/wk role and will require flexibility to suit the needs of the service, please tell us your availability for this role.

Licence/Certification:

• Driving Licence (preferred)

Work Location: In person

Application deadline: 26/11/2025