Our commitment to inclusive recruitment

Bristol Mind is a small and friendly team, committed to encouraging equality, diversity, inclusion and equity (EDIE) throughout our workforce.

In practice this means:

  • We actively encourage applications from people with lived experience of mental health issues, and from under-represented groups including people with Global Majority, Neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+ identities and those with protected characteristics. 
  • We foster a culture of wellbeing across the organisation, including regular check-ins, huddles and 121 supportive conversations for staff experiencing stress or personal challenges.
  • We are committed to flexible working practices which make it easier for people to have a healthy work-life balance.  
  • We are curious and respectful of difference, adopt anti-racist approaches to our work and invite constructive challenge in relation to power and voice within the organisation.

Current Vacancies

Job Title: Mindline Coordinator

Reports to:                  Mindline Manager

Direct Reports:           Volunteer Coordination

Location:                     Bristol Mind Offices

Hours:                         10 hours per week: 1 x 6 hours evening office shift and 4 hours meetings/ volunteer supervision.

Salary:                         £26,873 per year FTE (actual pro-rated £7,263) + 6% pension.

Contract Type:           Permanent

Background and Purpose

Bristol Mind is a local and independent charity working at the heart of our community to offer equity-based, inclusive and accessible mental health and wellbeing support.  We work with over 2,000 service-users and 75 volunteers each year, delivering a range of services including:

  • Infoline telephone information and advice service
  • Mindline confidential telephone listening support
  • Meeting Minds 121 counselling, LGBTQIA & Neurodivergence streams
  • Community Wellbeing targeted services for refugees and victims of hate crime

Bristol Mindline offers a unique telephone listening service 5 nights per week and has an excellent reputation across Bristol, South Glos and North Somerset.  Both ad-hoc and regular callers appreciate the care and kindness offered by our dedicated team of volunteers, some of whom may have lived experience of mental distress and/or use their volunteering to progress into further training as mental health practitioners.

The Mindline Manager and Mindline Co-ordinators work together to sustain and develop the service by providing on-shift and post-shift support as well to volunteers and callers as required, and helping to facilitate training opportunities for new and current volunteers. We are looking for an additional sessional co-ordinator to join our staff team on an ad hoc basis, providing occasional cover where needed to ensure continued delivery of this vital service.

You will have had significant experience as a volunteer, on a helpline, and will know how to support and motivate others to deliver a high-quality service. You may have delivered training in the past, or be willing to learn facilitation skills as part of this job. A flexible, collegiate approach, together with excellent communication and organisation skills are also essential for this role.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities: Mindline

  • To take an active part in a small but dynamic team, planning and supervising evening Mindline shifts to ensure that the service is open to calls between 7pm-11pm, Wednesday-Sunday.
  • To oversee one 6hr evening shift per week in the BM office (varied working pattern across Weds-Sun including weekend days, must be able to work one Saturday every 5 weeks): duties include opening the session, welcoming and settling volunteers, responding to safeguarding/ other on-call concerns, completing admin tasks and closing the session and office safely.
  • To attend one weekly staff meeting and complete 2 hrs volunteer supervision per week, using this to identify and share ongoing training, support and wellbeing needs of volunteers.
  • To support with 2 volunteer induction and training events each year, for which overtime payments are made: working with the team to plan, design and facilitate sessions.
  • To work with colleagues to ensure effective internal systems: rotas, supervision, safeguarding, GDPR compliance, volunteer comms/ socials and stakeholder management.
  • To keep accurate records in support of effective monitoring and evaluation of the service, including relevance to user needs and views.
  • To carry out work in accordance with Bristol Mind’s policies and procedures, current legislation, and quality standards, ensuring volunteers are aware and compliant in their activities.
  • To contribute where possible to Mindline promotion, including checking materials are up-to-date and shared widely.     

General Duties: Bristol Mind

  • To ensure that the views of service users are shared with Bristol Mind more widely to inform service development.
  • To ensure that the organisation is presented in a professional manner to its service users and internal and external stakeholders.
  • To take responsibility for your own safety and that of colleagues and visitors in the workplace.
  • To be prepared for, attend, and engage in staff meetings, supervision, appraisal, and training, as agreed with your line manager.
  • To undertake other tasks which may not be included in this job description, but which fall within the scope of this post.

 

Person Specification

 

 

ESSENTIAL

DESIRABLE

Qualifications / Education

1.      Excellent verbal and written communication skills, able to tailor communication styles to different audiences

 

1.      Actively working towards a qualification in counselling or psychotherapy

 

Knowledge & Experience

2.      Experience of supporting people within a community setting, including with people from diverse, minoritised and disadvantaged backgrounds.

 

3.      Knowledge of the social determinants of  of mental health issues e.g. poverty, inequality, trauma etc.

 

4.      Experience of using counselling or listening skills in a volunteering or paid work capacity. 

1.      Experience of working or volunteering on a helpline

 

2.      Experience of developing and delivering training     

 

3.      Experience of monitoring and evaluation of service delivery against outcomes.

 

Skills & Ability

5.      Excellent interpersonal skills with high levels of emotional awareness/ empathy.

 

6.      Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

 

7.      Competency to manage and action safeguarding concerns.

 

8.      Strong organisational skills with flexible multi-tasking abilities.

 

4.      Ability to support the recruitment, development and retention of volunteers

Personal Attributes

9.      Commitment to values of recovery and social inclusion in mental health.

 

10.  Commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion; to anti-racist and anti-discriminatory working.

 

 

To apply:

Please email our Mindline Manager Helen Lister at [email protected] for an application form.

The deadline for applications is 12 o’clock (midnight) 29th April 2025.

Please note, we will shortlist to interview from 30th April– we are aiming to offer interviews from Wednesday 7th May.

Ready to join our Team?

If you feel you are a great match for the job, but do not meet all of the criteria, we invite you to email us for further information or an informal chat.

We look forward to hearing from you!