Recovery College Manager

South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust

This is a rare opportunity to join an inspiring team passionate and proud of its service, the first Recovery College in the UK. This is a wonderfully fulfilling role in a supportive team.

Your role will be to manage the 2 teams to ensure they deliver to high standards. Both teams have significant peer involvement and require support and understanding to enable the team to work to its full potential. The Welfare Benefits team is a specialist team, one of only a few in the country to deliver specialist benefits advice and representation in a mental health setting. The Recovery College was the first of its kind to open in the UK and it leads the way in many areas. It is a highly successful service that has a large number of students attending courses every term with glowing feedback.

The role is an extremely fulfilling one with dedicated staff, proud of their services and the impact they have on their clients and students. You will already be familiar with recovery college courses and the principles behind self management courses and coaching style teaching. You will be using this experience to continue to co-develop excellent courses focused on supporting self management and recovery. You will need to have excellent communication skills and be able to work well with your teams.

Main duties of the job

• To provide effective day-to-day management of the Recovery College and the delivery of the educational prospectus in accordance with the Recovery College Operational Policy and Trust Operating policies.
• To provide effective management of the Welfare Benefits Team (WBT) which provides benefit advice and interventions to support those with a serious mental illness with claiming the benefits to which they are entitled. Day to day support is provided by the team co-ordinator.
• This includes ensuring that the performance standards of the team are met and information on performance is provided. A key component is the production of termly timetables with a selection of courses and excellent marketing to enable bookings to be maximised. The Manager will co-ordinate the team and work with them to put into action the values of the Trust Recovery and Social Inclusion strategy. He/she will also represent the team locally and within the Trust.
• Marketing the Recovery College which is a national leader in this field is also an important component of this work and the manager will work alongside the Marketing & Communications lead within the College. This will include senior management within the boroughs to enable communication and encouragement from both the RC and Trust management with the understanding that the College is of support to service users and care co-ordinators.
• Constant development of the College curriculum is important to ensure the College remains relevant.

About us

We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.

This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.

We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti-racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

We offer flexible working, career development and a variety of benefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.

Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.

Job responsibilities

1. Ensuring a range of courses and training are provided in line with the college prospectus in the most effective and efficient way. (RC)
2. The quality and effectiveness of courses is regularly reviewed and appropriate action taken. This is currently carried out monthly by the Quality Assurance panel within the College.
3. The operational management of the Recovery College/ Welfare Benefits Team, in line with the Trust Policies and Procedures, to include safeguarding, staff supervision and appraisal, health and sickness, safety and equal opportunities. (RC/WBT)
4. Working in conjunction with team members of all disciplines to provide a range of courses and training within a safe and effective environment. (RC/WBT)
5. Working closely with the administration team to ensure that termly timetables are produced on time, key stationery is available, cover is provided when facilitators are unwell and procedures are adhered to.
6. Championing the Trust Recovery and Social Inclusion strategy in the team. (RC)
7. Working with other professionals to ensure the delivery, development and evaluation of the educational content of the Recovery College. (RC)
8. Managing the allocated resources in conjunction with the relevant Clinical Manager. (RC/WBT) This will involve the direct management of the budget for the Recovery College, ensuring accurate financial management and forecasting of the allocated resources within budget. This also includes management of the budget for rental of premises used for the spokes, i.e. building rented from other organisations at cost where courses are provided by Recovery College staff. To maintain responsive and effective financial management within an agreed and ensuring the Clinical Managers are informed on financial performance. Ensure services are delivered within the budget set for the service, advising and consulting with the line management and designated finance lead regarding anticipated over/under spends and taking corrective action as advised.
9. The Recovery College Manager will have overall responsibility for the safe and effective running on a day to day basis of the Recovery College building. This includes overall responsibility for accessibility; health and safety matters and the promotion of the hub as a safe and welcoming centre for service users to obtain information utilize library and IT facilities and undertake courses. The Welfare Benefits Team will also be sited in the building and provision of a Welfare benefits Drop in is part of the building requirements.
10. Co-ordination and recruitment and selection of the staff within the team. (RC/WBT) This includes planning to ensure that the College has a selection of bank peer facilitators that are being trained and ready to take up roles when required.

Person Specification

Training & Qualifications

• Educated to degree level or have substantial relevant experience of management within the health or social care setting.
• Evidence of continuing professional and personal development
• Professional management qualification at diploma level or above

Experience

• Demonstrable experience of working in a health or social care management role
• Experience of working with people who experience mental health problems
• Experience of working in a mental health care environment
• Experience of working in a multidisciplinary team
• Experience of managing and supervising staff
• Project or change management experience
• Developing or working within an organizational marketing strategy
• Managing an educational programme/ curriculum or establishment or working within education.

Knowledge & Skills

• Knowledge of Safeguarding issues and child protection requirements/legislation and how these apply to the role
• Demonstrates an understanding of general mental health problems and the recovery principles and philosophy
• Knowledge of legislation related to nursing, social workers and other professions
• Knowledge of psychosocial interventions
• Audit and Research skills

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

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

South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust

£54,320 to £60,981 a year per annum inclusive of inner London HCAS