Parental Engagement Practitioner

Purpose of the Job 

Hammersmith and Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow Mind have secured funding from the National Lottery Community Fund to deliver a new outreach programme, designed to increase awareness and access to mental health support for children, young people (CYP) and families from underserved communities, or who may not be able to travel to use our services. This key new post will focus on engaging parents and carers to increase their understanding of mental health, grow confidence in supporting their children, and to navigate the landscape of available services.

Job Summary

• Launching a parental peer support group offered at our Circle café in Ealing and in the other community-based locations.
• Developing engaging and accessible resources that increase awareness and understanding of CYP and parental mental health issues.
• Upskill HFEH Mind practitioners on engaging with parents from diverse communities who do not currently access our support.
• Work alongside detached community workers to attend community groups and partner agencies.
• Create and manage partnerships with local community groups.
• Training of parental champions, who conduct awareness raising in the community.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop the parental-based provision offered by HFEH Mind, including parental peer support group and champions’ programmes.
• Use trauma informed approaches (e.g., ARC, Tree of Life) to support CYP and their parents and carers.
• Develop partnerships with local community agencies for the purposes of joint working and outreach.
• Help CYP and parents to overcome logistical challenges to accessing support.
• Participate in a mapping exercise of local communities, languages and knowledge of mental health.
• Signpost anyone accessing the provision to appropriate and local on-going support; and build up your knowledge and networks of such support.
• Deliver interventions at our Circle and community settings.
• Meet the KPIs and complete outcome measurements required by our funder and in order to improve and develop our support.
• Work with the Fundraising department to support ideas for new funding.
• Work alongside our young advisors and parental support group to ensure new ideas for engagement are co-produced.
• Understand and implement safeguarding procedures, and be familiar with safeguarding law, and how it applies to our work.
• Document work done on our database, and ensure that service user feedback can be recorded, and can provide evidence of our effectiveness.

You will have:

• At least 2 years of experience of working with CYP and parents, with an understanding of mental health.

• An understanding of the mental health landscape of services for children and young people, and what the barriers to access may be.

• A person-centred approach to work.
• A creative outlook on work, and ability to develop new ideas.

• Working knowledge of child and adult safeguarding.

Hours for this role:

• 10am - 6pm 
• Occasional evenings or weekends 

Please see full list of requirements for the role in JD.

Benefits of working with us

• Contributory Pension Scheme
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays per year, increasing by 1 day per full year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days) [pro rata].
• Employee Rewards and Benefits Platform/Wellness Hub (Perkbox)
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) including free counselling sessions
• Paid time off for medical appointments
• Training and personal development opportunities
• Access to shared resources and training opportunities via Mind Federated Network

How to apply

Please provide your CV, and a cover letter demonstrating how you meet the requirements of the Person Specification (see JD attached) and why you want this role.  

We are an equal opportunities employer; and are proud to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons from all backgrounds.

HFEH Mind are committed to creating and fostering a culture that promotes safeguarding and the welfare of all children and adults at risk. Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and thorough process of obtaining, collating, analysing and evaluating information from and about candidates to ensure that all persons appointed are suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults.

Post is subject to an enhanced DBS check.