Independent mental health advocate jobs in wolverhampton, shropshire

The successful candidate will be expected to endorse and promote the objectives set out as part of AvMA’s five year strategic plan.

Lawyers Service

• Providing high quality services to our lawyers including identifying and recommending appropriate medical experts to clinical negligence solicitors; maintaining and developing the medical expert database. Routinely considering the Experts’ Protocol and ensuring that it remains relevant and fit for purpose.

Inquest Service

• Assessing cases for eligibility for AvMA’s pro bono Inquest Service according to AvMA’s criteria.
• Preparing cases for the coroner’s court to include sorting medical records; liaising with bereaved families by phone and in writing; researching medical literature; taking and preparing initial statements; liaising with the Coroner’s officer; securing appropriate disclosure documents; instructing counsel; assisting with preparation of bundles of documents for the hearing. Identifying general and specific patient safety issues; considering need for Prevention of Future Death Reports and or Action Plans.
• Attendance at pre-inquest hearings and inquest hearings with counsel and the family. This may involve travel and overnight stays. Out-of-pocket expenses are paid. Although overtime is not payable, time out of the office is recoverable in accordance with AvMA Time Off in Lieu (TOIL) policy. Attendance may also be required to attend partial remote hearings via Teams/Zoom
• Capturing and recording key data from inquests, securing feedback from clients.
• Working with Medico Legal Team Leader to ensure appropriate publicity on case outcomes where appropriate to include obtaining relevant client consents and that the case is written up for potential publication in AvMA’s Lawyer Service Newsletter ​​​​​​​

Advice & Information Service

• Providing advice, support and information to the public through written casework. This involves helping people affected by medical accidents to obtain an understanding of what has happened to them, their rights and the most appropriate option(s) for resolving their concerns and meeting their needs including referrals to panel solicitors.

Helpline

• Providing advice and assistance to the public on AvMA’s specialist helpline. Training will be given and in due course assisting the Helpline Development Officer to train helpline volunteers.

Other Duties

• To endorse and promote the objectives set out as part of AvMA’s five year strategic plan: AvMA's 5 Year  Strategic Plan
• Junior Certification: Promoting the Certificate Competence Scheme (junior lawyer scheme) to include assessing applications received
• Feedback from clients: Working on the direction of ML Director and ML Team Leader to secure maximum feedback from clients on inquest and advice and information services
• Website: Helping to keep AvMA self-help leaflets up to date on the website
• Occasional representation of AvMA at meetings and events
• Conference: To help develop AvMA’s annual conference programme and other conferences as appropriate.

The Vacancy

The Independent Monitoring Service is seeking to recruit professionals with experience of working with children and vulnerable adults to the role of Independent Visitor in West Midlands, in particular Birmingham, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Stafford and Stoke-On-Trent. 

The role of Independent Visitors is to provide visiting services on behalf of NYAS which are consistent with the National Quality Standards for Children’s Homes, Residential Special School Standards, Welsh National Minimum Standards, Health and Social Care Standards Scotland and CQC regulations. The main duties are:

• To undertake monthly visits to identified homes in accordance with the requirements of the relevant NYAS manager.

These visits will be:

Regulation 44 visits to residential children’s homes, short breaks and secure units.

Regulation 25 visits to residential family centres.

Care Quality Commission visits to residential adult homes.

Care Inspectorate Wales regulation 8 visits to residential children’s homes.

RSS20 visits to residential special schools.

Health and social care standards Scotland residential children’s homes.

Monitoring visits to unregulated provision.

• To undertake all tasks as identified by the relevant NYAS manager, during the visits and thereafter, in order to fulfil all aspects of the role.
• To provide factual reports within set timescales as required by the relevant NYAS manager.

Candidates should have demonstrable knowledge and understanding of regulated services and their inspection frameworks and also knowledge of current legislation and statutory guidance relating to children, young people and adults at risk particularly those in residential care.

Candidates must have experience of working within a social or health care organisation, safeguarding and experience of managing complex relationships across a diverse field, e.g. OFSTED inspectors, social workers, residential care workers and registered managers, health care professionals.

Candidates should also possess a professional qualification in a related field, i.e. social work, residential care, health care professional, advocacy or youth work.

This is a self-employed position and you will be paid a sessional rate.

You will also be required to complete annual safeguarding and compliance including, Personal Safety, Data Protection, Information Security, Safeguarding and Equality and Diversity. You will be able to subscribe to an e-learning platform provided by NYAS. The platform will provide you with the opportunity to undertake a number of other professional courses that you can complete in your own time to maintain your own CPD. You can do this on the e-learning platform at a significantly reduced cost compared to undertaking each course individually with different providers.

Note for candidates - when completing the application form, it is important that you refer to the person specification within the contract delivery specification and detail how you can evidence the criteria.

NYAS operates robust safe procedures to ensure the protection of the children, young people and adults at risk we work with. To comply with NYAS’s Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check, references and a Digital Risk Assessment.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early once we receive a high number of applications.

About NYAS

As an established leading rights-based charity, NYAS (National Youth Advocacy Service) is well positioned to ensure that children, young people, and adults across England and Wales are fully respected, represented, and supported in expressing their views and having their rights upheld.

We work with care-experienced children, young people, and adults who are often reliant on statutory services suffering the negative impact of the cuts in public expenditure. Our combination of social care and legal services places us in a unique position to ensure that they receive the services they need and that their voices are heard.

We are an equal opportunities employer and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment which means NYAS welcomes applications from all individuals regardless of age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or belief, or any other protected characteristic.

NYAS is proud to share that we are a Disability Confident Employer and we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for our vacancies.

Work with us to help change young lives.

At Cranstoun, we are always in search of talented and experienced individuals to join our team.

Our Vulnerable Adult Lead Worker service provides targeted housing, health, wellbeing and social support to vulnerable citizens over the age of 25 in the city. The service works alongside other housing, health and social support service providers within Birmingham City Council’s Vulnerable Adult Housing Pathway; the Pathway is designed to help vulnerable citizens avoid homelessness, reduce harm, live healthier and more independent lives, and integrate into their local communities.

Our Vulnerable Adult Lead Worker service provides interventions to help citizens to sustain their current accommodation if it is at risk and/or source alternative accommodation if they are unsuitably housed.  We also provide support and work alongside key partners to help citizens address other social related issues, such as benefit/welfare reform processes, helping to maximise people’s incomes, signposting to relevant primary and secondary health care services and more.

The citizens we support will be experiencing several current and/or historic health and social complexities, including substance use, poor mental health, a history of homelessness, an offending history, and may have been excluded from other services, or risk being excluded from services. Our Vulnerable Adult Lead Worker service provides flexible, personalised, community-based support and interventions to citizens for up to two years.

Citizens will be offered face to face and virtual interventions based on risk, need and citizen preference. Lead Workers can expect to deliver their interventions from citizen’s homes, community venues, our office base and from home, utilising our hybrid-working service design.

We are proud of our teams who have a positive attitude, a desire to go the extra mile to make a difference and create a world class service.

The core service operates Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm, however there may be a need for and scope to work outside of core business hours including evenings, weekends and bank holidays.

You don’t need to tick every box; if you care about making a difference, we want to hear from you.

We’re looking for two Place Leads to help drive our work in Stoke-on-Trent and East Staffordshire. Each role will be rooted in its local area, but both will work across the whole county, helping us build more connected, inclusive systems that support people to be active in ways that matter to them.

This work is part of a wider investment from Sport England, focused on changing how systems support people to be active. That means shaping how physical activity is understood, prioritised, and embedded, not just in programmes, but in policies, partnerships, and everyday decisions. That includes health, local government, community development, and beyond.

You’ll work with partners, communities, and decision-makers to make sense of what’s already happening, spot where things are stuck, and help shift both the culture and the practice. The work will be messy, layered, and relational. Some days will be about strategy. Others will be about trust.

You’ll be part of a small, committed team working across policy, systems, community insight and practice. And you’ll be trusted to bring your own judgement, experience, and clarity to the role.

If you’re someone who can see the potential in people and systems, even when they’re tired or fragmented, we’d love to hear from you.

Role Outcomes:

• Improve wellbeing outcomes for families as part of place expansion work
• Connected, vibrant, proactive system of partners working in core priority places
• Grassroots, community organisations in our priority places are part of decision making
• Robust learning and evaluation framework in place the can effectively demonstrate the our impact across systems and directly for people living in place
• The people who need to understand and demonstrate system leadership do
• Coordinated, coherent approach has been developed to place based working in areas of focus.

What does this mean day to day?

• You’ll spend time listening to what’s emerging in communities, building trust with partners, and making sense of how insight, decisions, and action travel across the system.
• You’ll support our governance groups, coordinating agendas, shaping recommendations, and helping hold people gently but clearly to account for the things they’ve committed to.
• You’ll track where energy is building, where its leaking, and where attention needs to shift. That means spotting patterns, asking difficult questions, and making sure conversations lead to decisions, and decisions lead to change.
• You’ll need to hold contradictions without forcing resolution: where different truths exist at once, where progress creates new tensions, and where outcomes are unclear. Critical thinking is key; this role is as much about reflection and challenge as it is about delivery.
• Some days you’ll be co-designing a development session. Other days, you’ll be reflecting on what’s working, what’s drifting, and how we bring things back into focus. You’ll be supported by a small team who care about doing this work well, with clarity, kindness, and a shared sense of purpose.

How do we value you?

• Generous annual leave allowance: 27.5 days upon commencement of employment plus bank holidays. This rises by an additional 1 day of leave per year after 2 years of continuous employment, up to an additional 5 days leave in total. (Pro rata for part time staff)
• Three concessionary days leave over Christmas and New Year (pro rata for part time staff)
• Death in service scheme up to the value of three times actual salary
• Volunteer day to spend either as a team or individual helping out with an organisation or cause you select
• Up to 8% employer contribution to pension scheme
• Reimbursement of the cost of a standard eye test as a user of visual display equipment
• Health & Wellbeing Cashplan – including access to a virtual GP any day anytime, Discounts to gym memberships, Retail discounts such as cinema tickets and your weekly shop.
• Access to Cyclescheme
• Annual CPD courses offered by Staffordshire University
• Online skills training platform – for employees to use to broaden their professional and personal development across a range of online courses.
• Access to counselling service.

To apply, please visit our website, read our recruitment pack, and send us your CV along with a cover letter answering the three questions below.

We’re recruiting on a rolling basis. If your application feels like a good fit, we’ll be in touch within a week to arrange an interview.

Questions to answer:

• What draws you to place-based systems work, and what helps you stay with it when it gets messy or slow?
  We’re interested in your motivation, but also in your mindset; how you approach complexity, pace, and change that doesn’t always follow a plan.

• Tell us about a time you helped hold people or partners to account in a way that built trust rather than eroded it.
  This could be from work, volunteering, or anywhere you’ve had to navigate power, tension, or different agendas with care.

• How do you recognise when systems change is happening, and when it isn’t?
  We don’t need a textbook answer. We want to hear how you spot movement (or drift), and what you pay attention to when trying to shift something deeper than outputs.

You don’t need to tick every box; if you care about making a difference, we want to hear from you.

We’re looking for two Place Leads to help drive our work in Stoke-on-Trent and East Staffordshire. Each role will be rooted in its local area, but both will work across the whole county, helping us build more connected, inclusive systems that support people to be active in ways that matter to them.

This work is part of a wider investment from Sport England, focused on changing how systems support people to be active. That means shaping how physical activity is understood, prioritised, and embedded, not just in programmes, but in policies, partnerships, and everyday decisions. That includes health, local government, community development, and beyond.

You’ll work with partners, communities, and decision-makers to make sense of what’s already happening, spot where things are stuck, and help shift both the culture and the practice. The work will be messy, layered, and relational. Some days will be about strategy. Others will be about trust.

You’ll be part of a small, committed team working across policy, systems, community insight and practice. And you’ll be trusted to bring your own judgement, experience, and clarity to the role.

If you’re someone who can see the potential in people and systems, even when they’re tired or fragmented, we’d love to hear from you.

Role Outcomes:

• Improve wellbeing outcomes for families as part of place expansion work
• Connected, vibrant, proactive system of partners working in core priority places
• Grassroots, community organisations in our priority places are part of decision making
• Robust learning and evaluation framework in place the can effectively demonstrate the our impact across systems and directly for people living in place
• The people who need to understand and demonstrate system leadership do
• Coordinated, coherent approach has been developed to place based working in areas of focus.

What does this mean day to day?

• You’ll spend time listening to what’s emerging in communities, building trust with partners, and making sense of how insight, decisions, and action travel across the system.
• You’ll support our governance groups, coordinating agendas, shaping recommendations, and helping hold people gently but clearly to account for the things they’ve committed to.
• You’ll track where energy is building, where its leaking, and where attention needs to shift. That means spotting patterns, asking difficult questions, and making sure conversations lead to decisions, and decisions lead to change.
• You’ll need to hold contradictions without forcing resolution: where different truths exist at once, where progress creates new tensions, and where outcomes are unclear. Critical thinking is key; this role is as much about reflection and challenge as it is about delivery.
• Some days you’ll be co-designing a development session. Other days, you’ll be reflecting on what’s working, what’s drifting, and how we bring things back into focus. You’ll be supported by a small team who care about doing this work well, with clarity, kindness, and a shared sense of purpose.

How do we value you?

• Generous annual leave allowance: 27.5 days upon commencement of employment plus bank holidays. This rises by an additional 1 day of leave per year after 2 years of continuous employment, up to an additional 5 days leave in total. (Pro rata for part time staff)
• Three concessionary days leave over Christmas and New Year (pro rata for part time staff)
• Death in service scheme up to the value of three times actual salary
• Volunteer day to spend either as a team or individual helping out with an organisation or cause you select
• Up to 8% employer contribution to pension scheme
• Reimbursement of the cost of a standard eye test as a user of visual display equipment
• Health & Wellbeing Cashplan – including access to a virtual GP any day anytime, Discounts to gym memberships, Retail discounts such as cinema tickets and your weekly shop.
• Access to Cyclescheme
• Annual CPD courses offered by Staffordshire University
• Online skills training platform – for employees to use to broaden their professional and personal development across a range of online courses.
• Access to counselling service.

To apply, please visit our website, read our recruitment pack, and send us your CV along with a cover letter answering the three questions below.

We’re recruiting on a rolling basis. If your application feels like a good fit, we’ll be in touch within a week to arrange an interview.

Questions to answer:

• What draws you to place-based systems work, and what helps you stay with it when it gets messy or slow?
  We’re interested in your motivation, but also in your mindset; how you approach complexity, pace, and change that doesn’t always follow a plan.

• Tell us about a time you helped hold people or partners to account in a way that built trust rather than eroded it.
  This could be from work, volunteering, or anywhere you’ve had to navigate power, tension, or different agendas with care.

• How do you recognise when systems change is happening, and when it isn’t?
  We don’t need a textbook answer. We want to hear how you spot movement (or drift), and what you pay attention to when trying to shift something deeper than outputs.