Job Description

Department: Coaching

Reports to: Head of Coaching

Employment term: Full Time/Perm, 37 hours per week to start at 35 hours a week.

Position based in: South Oxfordshire, UK

Starting salary: Starting on £21,426 per annum (pro rata at 35 hours will be £20,267 pa)

Salary range £21,426 - £24,799

(4 weeks notice period)

Benefits:

Employee Assistance Programme, Pensions, 33 days holiday (pro rata) inclusive of bank holidays, 4 weeks optional unpaid sabbatical after five year’s service and more

Responsibilities

As a coach you will deliver an employment focused service both in Recovery Groups and to clients referred to you by other mental health services.  You will be based in Restore Recovery Group sites as well as liaising with other services in the local community.

Within the Recovery Groups, Employment Coaches provide employment and training support. The role focuses on the challenges and opportunities that people attending our services face in taking up mainstream employment, and work directly to address these. You will provide support and information to staff regarding vocational and learning support that they can offer members in the course of their work.

Working also with other agencies, such as Job Centres, your focus will be to engage and support clients with mental health problems into employment based on the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model, alongside your recovery coaching. You will be directly supporting people with mental health problems to engage in employment and meaningful activity. 

Coaches provide Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) which covers a range of activities and interventions that help service users to become more self-reliant and better able to manage their personal and career development, including learning. This is done using recognised coaching models and techniques.

IAG includes:

• Providing accurate, up-to-date and objective information about personal and lifestyle issues, learning and career opportunities, progression routes, choices, where to find help and advice,
• and how to access it.
• Engaging in coaching conversations to help people understand themselves and their needs, confront barriers, resolve conflicts, develop new perspectives and make progress.
• Encouraging actions that help people to gather, understand and interpret information and apply it to their own situation.

The post holder will be expected to work across allocated Recovery Groups in Oxfordshire, linking closely with the Team Leader who is based at Restore in Oxford City.

As part of your duties, you would be expected to provide leadership and supervision to Restore Volunteer Coaches based in your locality with support and guidance from the Coaching Team Lead.  You would also participate in delivering training to volunteers.

Specific Responsibilities

• To work in a flexible way, recruiting and working with clients to encourage them to consider their options and to assess their abilities and requirements related to employment and other mainstream opportunities.
• To develop and maintain the delivery of coaching to promote meaningful activity and employment alongside Recovery Group Workers
• To develop and maintain contacts with Restore IPS Employment Specialists embedded in AMHTs to facilitate referrals of patients to our services.
• To assess clients’ employment needs and develop action plans with them.
• To support clients to access a wide range of services and activities, which will enable them to build the skills and confidence they need to gain employment.
• To support clients applying for jobs, including helping with the preparation of CV’s and job applications, job search and interview skills coaching.
• To provide on-going evaluation and support for clients in employment.
• To offer clients information and advice about their benefits in relation to employment opportunities, and/or supporting them in gaining further expert support from appropriate advisors.
• Employer engagement: To develop contacts with JobCentre Plus, other agencies in the Partnership  and local employers with a view to supporting employment or work placements for people with mental health problems.
• To ensure that work placements are appropriate, covered by insurance and meet health and safety requirements.
• To facilitate employment support groups looking at employment options and mental health issues.
• To deliver training to groups in line with the remit of the role, including courses offered by the Oxford Recovery College.
• To offer practical supervision for Volunteer Coaches and to contribute towards their training programme.
• To participate in the research element of the project by maintaining the appropriate records and adhering to research guidelines in practice.
• To maintain records and time sheets, gather case studies and produce reports.

• To work with other Coaching staff as part of a team and participate in, and make use of staff meetings.
• To participate in, and make use of supervision.
• To proactively establish networks with employers and community groups in order to foster partnership working and encourage referrals.
• To proactively work under supervision with the media and others in order to promote Restore’s services, challenge stigma and promote social inclusion.
• To address issues of race, culture, gender, class, disability, sexual orientation, age and other discrimination in relation to mental health issues
• To enable clients to access a wide range of mainstream services and activities.
• To undertake any other duties as may be required by Restore, as an Oxfordshire Employment Coach

Person Specification

The post holder will have:

Essential criteria

• Full, current driving licence and car available for work (for flexible working in rural and remote regions)
• Experience of working in supported employment services, HR or recruitment
• Experience of working with people with vulnerable service user groups
• Knowledge of disability and special needs issues.
• Good understanding of the principles and practice of supporting people into employment
• Able to use IT and tools such as MS Word, Powerpoint and Excel
• Flexibility to occasionally work out of ‘normal office’ hours when required

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working as part of a dedicated service for people with mental health problems.
• Knowledge of a range of interventions used in IPS.
• Careers Guidance or Mental Health qualification.
• Knowledge of the Benefits system, particularly in relation to employment.
• Experience of partnership working, negotiation and liaison work with other agencies
• Experience of opening up job opportunities with a range of employers
• Lived experience

Skills

• Outstanding interpersonal skills and ability to build rapport with a range of people
• Team orientated and works collaboratively within a mixed-disciplinary team
• Compelling written and verbal communication skills, tailored to a variety of audiences
• Coaching and active listening skills, ability to ask perceptive questions that tease out important information through mentoring and coaching
• Abilities to persuade and negotiate in a constructive and appropriate manner
• Able to work independently and use initiative to think quickly on the spot in different, and often challenging, situations
• Creative problem solving to tackle obstacles that arise and fulfil requirements of the role in innovative ways to deliver greater impact
• Can effectively manage time to meet deadlines and balance competing demands while maintaining high standards
• Maintain effective and organised administration systems
• Non-judgemental and trustworthy
• Capability to be warm and empathetic whilst respecting professional boundaries
• Belief that people with mental illness can gain and sustain meaningful work
• The ability to motivate and empower others – consistent with the Recovery Model
• Instil hope and encourage agency in others, building on their own experience and choices
• Responds positively to failure and is able to translate it into a valuable learning experience
• Thick-skinned and doesn't take rejection or negative experiences personally. Able to remain resilient and tenacious despite setbacks and frustrations
• Ability to self-reflect and understand own reactions and use that insight to not impose one’s own beliefs and experience on others.
• Reliably deliver excellent results and go the extra mile for service users and employers
• Self-aware of personal strengths and weaknesses and actively invest in continuous personal and professional development.

Please note that we are unable to shortlist any applications that do not demonstrate how you meet the criteria outlined in the person specification responsibilities above.

Other work related criteria
Any offer of employment is subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service.

There is a probation period of six months for new employees, during which time your employment will be monitored. Your employment will be subject to you completing your probationary period to the satisfaction of RESTORE.

This job description is likely to change over time, subject to discussion with the post holder, and in line with the expectation of funders and the strategy for the organisation agreed by the Chief Executive and Trustees.

About Restore
Restore is part of the Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership. A partnership that formally brings together six local mental health organisations: Oxford Health Foundation NHS Trust, Connections Floating Support, Elmore Community Services, Oxfordshire MIND, Response and Restore.

The partnership is committed to better integrate services across the county in order to make it easier for people in need to get the best support, possible.

Restore receives statutory funding: a contract held with Oxford Health. In addition it raises a substantial amount of its income from grant making bodies and fund raising activities.

It is a medium sized charity, employing just over 80 staff, assisted by over 100 volunteers, and delivering services to over 1,100 people each year. It has six sites in Oxfordshire (four in Oxford, one in Didcot, and one in Banbury), plus two sub-contracted sites (in West Oxfordshire) and staff who work across a range of other sites in the county.

Restore provides  Coaching Services and Recovery Groups.

• Coaching provides one to one support enabling members (service users) to achieve their aims. Restore's coaching support focuses on supporting people who have experienced challenges to their mental health to achieve paid work, start volunteering or  undertake training/educational courses.
• Recovery Groups provide members with the opportunity to work on their journey of recovery together. Members have access to coaching as part of this process.

Restore also act as the lead partner, for the Partnership, managing  The Oxfordshire Recovery College, an innovative shared learning environment for people with mental illnesses, their families and carers and professionals working in the field.

Restore offers Mental Health First Aid training and Working With Mental Health, the former aimed at both individuals and organisations, the latter aimed specifically at large corporates.