Independent mental health advocate jobs in birmingham, west midlands

Are you passionate about making a difference in people's lives? Do you thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment? Are you ready to take on a role that impacts your community? We are currently seeking an enthusiastic and dedicated Independent Advocate to join our vibrant team in the bustling heart of Birmingham.

As an Independent Advocate, you will provide crucial support to vulnerable adults facing significant health and social care challenges. You will deliver a range of statutory advocacy services including Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA), Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) and Care Act Advocacy. Your role involves delivering persuasive verbal and written representations on behalf of clients, collaborating with public and voluntary organisations, and taking directed actions to address client issues. This role demands flexibility, excellent communication, and the ability to handle sensitive information confidently.

Hours of Work: Full-Time: 37 hours, working between Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm

Location: Home based with travel around the Birmingham area.
(Applicants must live within the area; have a full driver’s licence and access to their own transport)

Salary: Starting Salary of £24,242.40 per annum

Contract type: Permanent

Independent Advocate Requirements:

• Strong communication and time management skills to successfully work remotely.
• Excellent IT skills, including the use of Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel, and the ability to learn software packages such as client management databases.
• Attention to detail to ensure accurate recording of records and reporting to meet tight deadlines.

Desirable:

• Previous experience in advocacy, information and advice, or a similar role within health, social care, or the voluntary sector.
• Demonstrable experience working with vulnerable adults.
• Working knowledge of public and voluntary organisations.

Benefits:

• 25 days annual leave + Bank holiday (Rising to 30 days after 5 years’ service) with the option to buy or sell up to 5 days leave + your birthday off as an additional holiday day after 1 years’ service!
• Discretionary shutdown days at Christmas with up to 4 additional days leave.
• 1 Community Leave Day per annum.
• Cash Wellbeing Healthcare Plan which covers Optical/dental/alternative therapy and more!
• Auto enrolment Pension plan
• Death in service cover.
• Bike to work scheme.

Meet the Organisation: Who We Are and What We Do
 

At POhWER, we are committed to empowering individuals and enabling their voices to be heard. We provide advocacy and information services to support people in making effective decisions about their health and social care. Our team is dedicated to listening, exploring options, and taking action to meet our clients' best interests.

Think you are the perfect fit for this Independent Advocate role? Don't wait, click apply now!

Closing Date: 9AM, Wednesday 17th December 2025 (We reserve the right to close this vacancy early)

Interview Date: TBC
 

An Enhanced DBS check and National Offender Management Service vetting will be conducted for this position.

We're proud to support our colleagues from the armed forces signing the Armed Forces Covenant in August 2024.

Successful applicants will need to obtain business insurance for their own vehicle.

POhWER is committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, cultures, and abilities, and particularly welcome candidates from groups currently underrepresented in our workforce. Our goal is to foster an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and empowered to contribute. This includes, but is not limited to, people with disabilities, women, men, Black, Asian and other racially minoritised people, LGBTQ+ who are currently under-represented in our workforce.

To help embed inclusion for all, from day one, we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements and employee networks to support people from different backgrounds.

POhWER is an equal opportunities employer, holder of the Investors in People Silver award, and a member of the MINDFUL EMPLOYER scheme. We are a level 2 Disability confidence scheme employer, and disabled applicants who meet all the essential criteria will be guaranteed an interview.

Job Title: Health Advocate Educator - Maternity Cover

Location: Warwickshire
Salary: £25,857.12 per annum
Contract type: Full Time, Fixed Term (from 1 March 2026 until 1 April 2027 - Maternity cover)

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

This is an opportunity to join Refuge as a Domestic Abuse Health Advocate Educator supporting women and children who are impacted by domestic violence. You will work closely with victims of domestic abuse from the point of crisis, to provide high quality independent advocacy and support to survivors of domestic abuse at the highest risk and their children.

The Health Advocate Educator will support healthcare teams to identify domestic abuse at an early stage and ensure appropriate responses and referral pathways are offered to female, male and non-binary survivors of domestic violence and abuse. In addition, the post holder will directly support survivors of domestic abuse and hold their own case load.

The post holder will collaborate with the local ICB and Service Manager to strengthen connections with healthcare teams and create effective partnerships that support survivors. 

This post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.

Closing Date: 09:00am 6 January 2026

Interview Date: 15 January 2026

Job Title: Health Advocate Educator - Full Time

Location: Warwickshire
Salary: £25,857.12 per annum
Contract type: Full Time, Permanent 

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

This is an opportunity to join Refuge as a Domestic Abuse Health Advocate Educator supporting women and children who are impacted by domestic violence. You will work closely with victims of domestic abuse from the point of crisis, to provide high quality independent advocacy and support to survivors of domestic abuse at the highest risk and their children.

The Health Advocate Educator will support healthcare teams to identify domestic abuse at an early stage and ensure appropriate responses and referral pathways are offered to female, male and non-binary survivors of domestic violence and abuse. In addition, the post holder will directly support survivors of domestic abuse and hold their own case load.

The post holder will collaborate with the local ICB and Service Manager to strengthen connections with healthcare teams and create effective partnerships that support survivors. 

This post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.

Closing Date: 09:00am 7 January 2026

Interview Date: 19 January 2026

ob Title: Health Advocate Educator

Location: Warwickshire
Salary: £12,928.56 per annum 
Contract type: Part Time, Permanent

Hours: 18.75 hours per week. Monday and Tuesday – 9am-5pm and Wednesday – 9am-12:45pm. Occasional late shift: 12:30pm – 8:30pm on a rota basis (approximately 2-3 days a month) 

This is an opportunity to join Refuge as a Domestic Abuse Health Advocate Educator supporting women and children who are impacted by domestic violence. You will work closely with victims of domestic abuse from the point of crisis, to provide high quality independent advocacy and support to survivors of domestic abuse at the highest risk and their children.

The Health Advocate Educator will support healthcare teams to identify domestic abuse at an early stage and ensure appropriate responses and referral pathways are offered to female, male and non-binary survivors of domestic violence and abuse. In addition, the post holder will directly support survivors of domestic abuse and hold their own case load.

The post holder will collaborate with the local ICB and Service Manager to strengthen connections with healthcare teams and create effective partnerships that support survivors. 

This post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.

Closing Date: 09:00am 5 January 2026

Interview Date: 12 January 2026

This is a new role within our client following functional changes over a number of years. The Head of Supported Living is a senior leadership role responsible for overseeing and developing supported living services for adults with learning disabilities within the charity including our client's Shared Lives schemes and their residential home.

The role ensures that services are person-centred, high-quality, and compliant with regulatory and organisational standards, while empowering individuals to live independently and achieve their goals.

Leading culture and change with experience, integrity, collaboration and transparency sits at the heart of the role. 

The role responsibilities will ensure that our client is able to support more people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health problems to lead healthy, active and equal lives. Their ambition is to become a leader in social and green care integration through the alignment of the personalisation agenda, technological enhancement and advancement and holistic health and wellbeing. 

To achieve this ambition, they will transform their services to ensure that they are effective, efficient and impact and outcomes focused. There will be clarity of the offer, understanding of the financial modelling in a very challenging political environment and respect of the unique culture and history of the Charity whilst innovating through the power of accessible technology.

The post will be responsible for ensuring that services are targeted at people who will gain the most benefit from the Trust’s community (campus) offer within rural and urban contexts. The role will create an “expert driven” provision which is evidence based and provides independent living and a life of opportunity through an ethos of co-production, health and wellbeing.

The role will implement agreed strategy, developing delivery plans that are executed with high quality communication and engagement ensuring that the voices of both staff, people supported and families are heard.

The role will be responsible for continuous value for money service enhancement and will deliver significant growth ensuring close and meaningful relationships with authorities, commissions and private markets resulting in increased funding and healthy waiting lists for the homes and services provided. The post will be responsible for a significant budget and will require the financial acumen to manage this effectively. 

As a direct report to a member of the Executive Management Team (EMT) the role becomes a member of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and will be pivotal in delivering an ambitious transformation agenda and delivering the charity’s Brilliant Future Strategy.

Location & Travel
West Midlands, Gloucestershire and Hertfordshire

The role will cover our communities at Stourbridge (West Midlands), Grange Village & Oaklands Park (Gloucestershire) and St Albans & Delrow, Watford (Hertfordshire). 

You will be based at one of the communities within the region, with regular travel between communities.

You will be required to attend quarterly leadership away days and other meetings which will require overnight stays.

Duties & Responsibilities

Leadership

• Lead, manage, inspire and develop high performing, highly respected and skilled supported living teams across three communities, supporting and line-managing direct reports to achieve agreed objectives, which will in turn support the delivery of the wider strategic objectives of the Trust.
• Foster a culture of excellence, inclusion, and respect.
• Actively contribute to the Senior Leadership Team, sharing collective responsibility for the development, delivery and evaluation of cross-departmental projects and activities.
• Implement the operational delivery plan that delivers the strategy for supported living services, aligning with the charity’s mission and values.
• Drive continuous improvement and innovation in service delivery to meet the evolving needs of service users with a particular focus on an ageing population and integration of younger people’s services.
• Monitor and respond to sector trends, legislation, and best practices to maintain a leading-edge in-service provision.
• Lead evidence based, high quality communication and engagement opportunities at community level that support the Trust to become an irresistible employer, measured through agreed annual and pulse survey results, positive feedback and clear understanding of the Trust’s direction of travel and objectives.
• Understand, contribute and support the fundraising needs of the charity to ensure added value for those that we support.
• Working with peers, people supported and practitioners; develop digital innovation and technology solutions to create a modern, flexible service and opportunities to support and evidence healthy lifestyle choices that align to the Trust’s Green Care goals.
• Support the development of a Theory of Change for Supported Living and Housing Management across the region and be responsible for implementation of agreed outcomes.
• Ensure effective recruitment, training, and professional development of staff.

Supported Living Operations

• Ensure the delivery of measurable and high performing supported living services. Manage and drive improvements in the performance and quality of all services by setting clear objectives, targets and KPIs, evidence regular monitoring and implementation of actions to address under performance.
• Ensure all supported living services meet or exceed regulatory standards (e.g. CQC or equivalent) and internal quality benchmarks.
• Develop and implement systems to measure and report on service outcomes and impact.
• Lead on contract negotiations with funding bodies and across the region to maximise income for the delivery of supported living services.
• Ensure services are co-produced and that co-production is central to the work of the supported living teams and services are delivered in line with the ‘I-statements’.
• Through the Theory of Change, develop a clear model of active support that enables independence and clarity of needs led provision.

People We Support Advocacy

• Promote a person-centred approach, ensuring that people we support have choice, control, and opportunities to achieve their Life of Opportunity aspirations.
• Establish systems for gathering and responding to feedback from those supported and their families.
• Embed the Family Charter and support a culture of transparency.
• Ensure safeguarding policies and procedures are rigorously implemented and adhered to.

Housing Management

• Ensure properties are fully let to minimise void loss to the target groups identified in the approved strategy.
• Work with colleagues in the Property and Land Services to secure alternative use for unlettable properties to maximises income aligned to agreed plans, tenure and opportunity.

Strategy Implementation, planning, budgeting, and reporting

• Contribution to and implementation of the approved strategies and tactical plans that support the delivery of a Brilliant Future (e.g. Older People, Community Development, Stakeholder Engagement) . 
• Develop and manage a significant and comprehensive operational annual budget and set of KPIs in line with income constraints and create evaluation & monitoring systems that drive value for money and agreed delivery objectives.
• Develop and manage budgets for supported living services, ensuring financial sustainability recognising that the Charity does not fundraise for statutory provision.
• Monitor and control expenditure, ensuring cost-effectiveness without compromising quality.
• Provide monthly insights, performance reports and analysis using proportionate systems appropriate to different audiences and including Executive, Board of Trustees and Trust strategic documents (such as Annual Report and Impact Reporting).
• Ensure contracts are approved and in place for the delivery of all commissioned services.
• Ensure the service procures goods and services in line with the established governance frameworks in place at the Charity.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Lead on the development and maintenance of purposeful operational relationships with key stakeholders within the region including funders, commissioners, health services and other partners.
• Work with stakeholders to develop and transform services to meet evolving needs of the local community.
• Support fundraising activity by providing impact reporting as required by the fundraising team and our supporters and local development of volunteering programmes that add value to the unique services of the trust.
• Build meaningful relationships with families in a way that is transparent and aligned to good practise and safeguarding/MCA principles.
• Advocate for the needs and rights of adults with learning disabilities within local and national forums.
• Represent the charity at key events, meetings, and networks.
• Identify and pursue relevant funding opportunities including grants, contracts and partnerships ensuring that key stakeholders are informed and aware of relevant opportunities.

Transformation and Change

• Contribute to, and support, the Theory of Change development of the current model for delivery of supported living 
• Lead the services across the region through transformational leadership and collaborative implementation of the new model for supported living

Governance, Regulation and EDIB

• Ensure that all supported living activities adhere to charity and housing legislation and meet contractual obligations
• Ensure supported living services comply with the regulatory requirements of the Care Quality Commission.
• Represent the charity internally and externally, including Trustee meetings, as required.
• Observe and comply with all Camphill Village Trust policies, including the key policies and procedures on Confidentiality, Data Protection, Health & Safety, Safeguarding and Information Technology Policies and Procedures.
• Own, develop and review the suite of policies and procedures and delivery frameworks for Green Care and Education and Skills.
• Ensure the development, implementation and review of risk registers and business continuity plans for communities and services in the region.
• You will champion a culture of equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging ensuring all team members feel valued, respected and empowered to carry out their role successfully and support the delivery of our strategy.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to degree level or equivalent.
• Leadership in Health and Social Care level 5 or equivalent.

Desirable

• Safeguarding Adults level 5 or equivalent.
• Professional Housing Qualification level 5 or above.

Knowledge & Experience

Essential: 

• Experience of working and leading teams in not for profit and voluntary sector organisations which deliver services for adults with learning disabilities and autism.
• Can demonstrate a strong understanding of the needs and rights of adults with learning disabilities.
• Experience in coaching and mentoring for success.
• Experience in significant budget management responsibilities.
• Experience in seeking new growth opportunities that are aligned to business strategy.
• Significant experience of managing change, successful service redesign and transformation, in particular lean thinking and other typical models.
• Experience of successfully leading teams to affect and embed change through powerful communications and engagement.
• Knowledge of housing management and housing legislation.
• Experience of leading housing management services within a context of delivering supported living.
• Experience in the development and implementation of policy and procedure.
• Knowledge of Care Quality Commission regulations as they relate to supported living, residential care and shared lives.
• Experience of leading teams over a wide geographical location combining hybrid working styles.
• Know what constitutes excellent safeguarding practice.
• Track record of successful contract negotiation.
• Experience in developing and implementing systems that evidence performance, outcomes and impacts.

Desirable: 

• Experience of developing digital transformation opportunities and the implementation of innovation and digital systems.
• Experience in the development and implementation of Theory of Change methodology.

Personal Attributes

• Excellent communicator – who can communicate with a wide range of people and using a variety of methods.
• Excellent interpersonal, rapport building and active listening skills.
• Good organisational and project management skills.
• Strong leadership skills.
• Able to support and coach others.
• Good team player - able to lead teams and be part of a team.
• Be an ambassador for the Trust and represent the Trust at events and meetings.
• Ability to manage complex information and present it in a coherent manner.
• Ability to travel between communities and stay overnight as required.

Our client is an equal opportunity employer.

Our client is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all adults who use their services and as such expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Successful applicants will be required to complete the relevant pre-employment checks including a DBS check

They reserve the right to close this advert early if they receive a sufficient number of applications.