Mental health peer mentoring worker jobs in East of england

As a Service Manager, you will lead the day-to-day delivery and ongoing development of the Newham Together Cafe, ensuring the service provides safe, high-quality, recovery-focused support to people experiencing or approaching a mental health crisis.

What you'll do 

• Lead the operational delivery and development of the service, ensuring it meets contractual requirements, quality standards and the needs of the local community
• Provide effective leadership, line management, supervision and support to staff and volunteers, promoting a positive, inclusive and high-performing team culture
• Monitor service performance, outcomes, capacity, safeguarding and risk, using data and feedback to drive continuous improvement and ensure effective service delivery
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with NHS services, commissioners, local authorities and community organisations, representing the service at partnership meetings and multi-agency forums.

Please see the job pack for more information. 

The arts for mental health – peer support delivered creatively

Sound Minds is a user-led charity transforming lives through music, film and art. We are a thriving community bound together by creativity and a shared belief in mutual learning and peer support.

Main purposes of the job:

Sound Minds is recruiting a Head of Operations to join our team in Wandsworth.

The Head of Operations is a member of the senior leadership team at Sound Minds and leads the management and day-to-day operations of a vibrant community premises.

Sound Minds is in a period of review and consolidation, following growth of its programmes and having secured Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation status. The Head of Operations will further develop and implement robust systems to support this growth and the charity’s future aims.

The role leads on all operational, health and safety, premises, IT, systems, human resources, evaluation, and reporting activity. The Head of Operations manages the delivery of Sound Minds’ Peer Support service and will act as Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead. They deputise for the CEO as required.

They will assist the CEO on maintaining key relationships with external stakeholders and external communications.

Sound Minds is a creative place, and the Head of Operations will need a passion for organisation and administration.

Salary: £42,833 per annum(pro rata) & 3% contribution to pension

Hours: 28 hours per week

This fixed term contract ends on 16th June 2030 and is renewable depending on funding.

Strong IT skills are essential for this role. You will be required to have a DBS (criminal records check) and satisfactory written references before starting.

The full job description and application pack are available from Sound Minds’ website.

Closing date: 10:00am, Monday 7th September 2026

First interviews: Friday 18th September 2026

Spectra is looking for a Research and Community Development Coordinator to join our growing Sex Worker Support Service.

Spectra is a health and wellbeing not-for-profit with a strong LGBTQ+ heritage. We design and deliver programmes for people from marginalised communities, including LGBTQ+ communities, particularly trans and gender diverse communities, sex worker communities, young people, and people living with and affected by HIV. Our work includes sexual health programmes, HIV and STI testing and outreach, counselling, advocacy, peer support and mentoring. 

Our Sex Worker Support Service has grown significantly since it was formed in 2023, and we are now looking for someone who can support the next stage of its development through community engagement, partnership work, participatory research and shared learning.

About the role

This role will support the ongoing development of Spectra’s Sex Worker Support Service by working closely with the Head of Sex Worker Support Services and the wider team. The postholder will help develop collaborative working with community and grassroots organisations, experts by experience, statutory agencies and other stakeholders.

You will lead on developing projects that support cross-community development in the sex worker support sector across London. This will include building external partnerships, helping to develop training, and supporting Spectra to play a positive and useful role in the wider sector. 

The role will also involve recruiting for and facilitating community participatory research projects and focus groups, contributing to data analysis and report writing, and sharing learning with colleagues and external stakeholders. The postholder will also occasionally contribute to outreach sessions and community support training, to build a direct understanding of the needs of the sex workers we work with.

Key areas of work

In this role, you will:

• Support the development of collaborations with agencies, grassroots organisations, collectives and experts by experience.
• Assist with the production of peer-led needs assessments and reliable, usable data and research. 
• Facilitate regular community participatory groups with service users and share learning with colleagues. 
• Create and distribute a monthly newsletter to stakeholders.
• Coordinate training opportunities and awareness-raising sessions with external organisations, delivering training alongside the Head of Service and/or other colleagues.
• Assist with funding proposals and applications. 
• Contribute to monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
• Help create, review and monitor resources for service users. 
• Work with Spectra colleagues and external partners to increase community engagement and develop resources for service users.

About you

We are looking for someone who is organised, thoughtful and community-minded, with good communication skills and a strong commitment to the rights and wellbeing of people from marginalised backgrounds.

You will have lived experience of sex work or transactional sex, or substantial experience working in trusted, peer-led sex worker support settings. Spectra delivers this service using a peer-led model, and lived experience is considered essential to this role because it supports trust-building, meaningful engagement, culturally competent service delivery, and the development of services that reflect the needs and experiences of sex workers and people engaged in transactional sex. 

You will also bring experience of developing good working relationships with stakeholders while maintaining professional boundaries, and experience of community research projects, data analysis and report writing.

We would particularly welcome applications from people who have experience of direct work within sex work community projects, online or in-person group facilitation, and/or knowledge of community participatory research methods.

About Spectra

Spectra’s values shape how we work, how we support one another, and how we work with the communities we serve. Our values are grounded in lived experience and reflect our commitment to equity, care and collaboration. We aim to be inclusive, supportive, emotionally aware, accessible, anti-oppressive, lived experience-centred and community-driven. 

We strive to provide a strong and supportive working environment for our staff team, many of whom have lived experience and are from the communities we serve.

How to apply

To apply, please complete the application form and return it by Thursday 3 September at 9am.

Interviews will take place in person on Monday 14 September.

Job Title: Community Engagment Lead

Location: Lambeth, London
Salary: £25,107.11 per annum (Inclusive of London Weighting, which may not be applicable depending on your home location and any agreed permanent homeworking arrangement)
Contract type: Permanent, Part Time

Hours: 27 hours per week (days to be discussed)

The successful candidate will lead on mapping services in the Borough; forming partnerships with statutory and voluntary agencies based on identified needs of the service to enhance and extend multi-disciplinary knowledge available at and through the Gaia Centre.

The post holder will be responsible for managing relationships with partner agencies and coordinating co-locations within the Gaia service as well as negotiating for staff from the service to co-locate with partner agencies.

You will build capacity for a community response to meet the needs of survivors of VAWG by drawing on the expertise of other specialist and by-and-for service providers, such as those working with LGBTQ+ victim/survivors, disabled victim/survivors or victim/survivors of so-called ‘honor’-based violence in order to provide a wraparound support as part of a broader service offer.

The post holder will also support a team of the Peer Support Mentors and volunteers who will be leading on some practical aspects of individual and group support for survivors accessing the Gaia Centre.

The successful candidate will be skilled at working with a diverse range of audiences and will be adept at creating and developing new partnerships and pathways that contribute towards coordinated community response and improve the lives of survivors of domestic abuse and gender-based violence.

The post holder will also have experience of developing teams and supervising people.

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 on 7 September 2026

Interview Date: 14 and 16 September 2026