Locality Primary Care Mental Health Support Worker @ Touchstone

Job summary

Touchstone is a multi-award-winning mental health and wellbeing charity operating in communities across Yorkshire. Touchstone understands that we can only deliver excellence to the people we serve if the people we recruit are happy, empowered, supported to reach their potential and trusted to lead.

Main duties of the job

As a Mental Health Support Worker within the Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service (LMWS) you will be part of multi-disciplinary team which delivers an integrated service to offer primary care based mental health support for people with mild to moderate common mental health problems. You will also focus on increasing access to mental health services for people in some of the most deprived areas of Leeds and those who traditionally face barriers to accessing this support.

Information session via TEAMS on Tuesday 17th November 2026 at 5:30pm. Please email [email protected] for a link to join.

As an employee of Touchstone, you will benefit from the following:

Working for a diverse and inclusive organisation e.g. 36% *BME staff, 25% *LGBTQ+ staff, 16% *staff with a disability. Staff and peer support networks (*as above and many more)

28 days annual leave (rising to 31 after 2 years) + 8 bank holidays (pro-rata)

Flexible working opportunities

Access to HealthHero - Employee Assistance Scheme and Virtual GP service for staff

Personal wellbeing and training budget.

Access to 24/7 confidential staff helpline.

Health and wellbeing activities and fun staff team away days

Inclusive maternity and parental policies and pay

Additional day of leave as a celebration day or health and wellbeing

Learning and personal development opportunities

About us

Touchstone is an equal opportunities organisation, an equal rights employer and applications are welcome from all sections of the community, particularly, BME and LGB and Trans communities and/or people with disabilities who are under-represented within Touchstone. All applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria will be interviewed. Additional information can be obtained from our equal opportunities policy. Please note that we do not hold a sponsor licence and we do not intend to offer sponsorship for this particular role.

You should therefore ensure that you have/will have the right to work in the UK to be able to undertake this role, if appointed, you will be required to provide relevant right to work documents at the point of an offer being made to you. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Background

Touchstone is part of Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service (LMWS) which delivers an integrated service to offer primary care based mental health support for people with mild to moderate common mental health Needs. Together, our partnership supports thousands of people in Leeds to increase their resilience and live their best lives within their community.

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

To work within Leedss locality based Local Care Partnerships and integrated hubs, providing mental health support as an integral and critical part of a multi-agency and multi-disciplinary team.

You will increase the inclusivity of the LMWS, especially among communities most at risk of developing poor mental health and developing health and social inequalities, using a wide variety of engagement and delivery techniques.

There are three main elements to this role which include:

• 1) Short term one-to-one support with individuals that are referred into LMWS this may include having helpful conversations or supporting them to access other community support (approx. 3 days per week)
• 2) Health Equity work to provide focussed and evidence-based support to individuals and communities that are highlighted as a focus area within the Health Equity action plan (approx. 1 days per week)
• 3) Co-facilitation of wellbeing groups and short-term interventions with other practitioners and specialists within the service (approx.1 day per week)

ROLE DESCRIPTION

Inclusive engagement

• 1. To understand mental health inequalities in Leeds and how some communities are at higher risk of poorer mental health than others.
• 2. To deliver active in-reach into communities as prioritised by the Health Equity action plan (HEAP) for the LMWS, working alongside specialist organisations.
• 3. To work as part of a team attending or delivering open access and targeted drop-ins / information sessions across Leeds, helping a broad range of people get access to the LMWS, with a focus on the most deprived communities as highlighted in the HEAP.
• 4. To facilitate helpful conversations with prospective service users / patients, carers and referrers, so that they understand the offer and limits of the LMWS and are guided to the right support for them.
• 5. To signpost and support people to the right intervention or service for them, internally or externally.
• 6. To widen LMWS inclusivity through developing relationships with key stakeholders, networking and promoting the service.

Service delivery

• 1. To use your knowledge of protected characteristics and the latest demographic intelligence to plan and facilitate interventions and activities alongside colleagues and service users.
• 2. To support people to overcome barriers to accessing mental health interventions in the LMWS this could mean accompanying people to appointments, ensuring that a buddy is in place, helping people with online resources etc.
• 3. To work alongside volunteers who deliver peer support interventions as part of the LMWS.
• 4. To carry a caseload of service users and support them through brief one-to-one interventions, groups and/or enabling them to take part in or lead peer-led groups.
• 5. To support a diverse range of colleagues (for example Cognitive Behavioural Therapists or Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners) to co-deliver clinical interventions together.
• 6. To co-design and deliver structured and non-structured group interventions which protect and improve mental health. These could be targeted at specific communities of interest, neighbourhoods or universal.
• 7. To take a co-productive and inclusive approach to service user involvement, encouraging and supporting a diverse range of service users to get involved in the delivery and ongoing leadership of the service.

GENERAL

• 1. To proactively feed information and intelligence into working groups and management structures, in order that the insight you gain as a front line deliverer of the service influences its future activities, service development and direction.
• 2. To establish respectful, sensitive, professional relationships with people recognising the assets and strengths of individuals, maintaining professional boundaries.
• 3. To represent Touchstone in a knowledgeable and professional manner at all times.
• 4. To positively manage risk and recovery to enable people to meet their full potential.
• 5. To ensure that client records and other information systems are completed accurately and within agreed timescales and complete monitoring (including diversity monitoring) and evaluation of work undertaken in line with required timescales and to a high standard.
• 6. To undertake out of hours work as required by the service.
• 7. To be inducted, supervised, performance managed and appraised in line with the organisations performance management policies and procedures.
• 8. To be responsible for personal learning and development where appropriate and undertake training, both mandatory and optional, to increase knowledge, skills and awareness.
• 9. To be aware of and implement the general practices of Touchstones Health, Safety and Security policies and keep Managers informed about any serious and untoward incidents, safeguarding issues, health & safety concerns, financial issues, staff welfare.
• 10. To operate within the aims, policies and practices of Touchstone at all times and to be committed to and promote the organisations equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory policies.
• 11. To ensure information is dealt with in accordance with Touchstones policies around Confidentiality, Communications, Internet, Email and Telecommunications and steps are taken to ensure that confidential information is secure e.g. service user data.
• 12. To ensure that Data Protection, Health & Safety, Complaints Handling and Corporate Governance requirements are met.
• 13. To be aware of and apply the principles of Trauma Informed Practice.
• 14. To undertake any other duties as directed by the Manager, in line with the responsibilities of this post.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Understanding

Essential

• Understanding of mental health inequalities in Leeds and how some communities are at higher risk of poorer mental health than others.
• Knowledge of mental health issues and its effects on individuals functioning.
• Knowledge of protected characteristics.
• Black and minority ethnic people, culture and community.
• Knowledge of social inclusion and co-production.
• Knowledge of Leeds mental health services, particularly primary care mental health services.
• Excellent understanding of discrimination and its impact on individual wellbeing.

Desirable

• Mental Health Legislation
• Change Management

Attitudes and Disposition

Essential

• Commitment to Touchstone aims and values
• Commitment to respecting diversity, anti-discriminatory/anti-oppressive practices and equal opportunities
• Commitment to personal development, learning and reflective practice.
• Demonstrate a commitment and enthusiasm for working with our service user group
• Commitment to the principles of coproduction and supporting others to deliver according to these principles.
• Able to build and maintain relationships whilst maintaining appropriate professional boundaries
• Demonstrate a willingness to participate in shaping the future of the organisation by taking on responsibilities and projects in addition to core workload.
• Commitment to Touchstone Personal Responsibility Framework and promoting this with other people.
• Open to change and able to work flexibly in line with the needs of the service / organisation.
• A commitment to working in partnership with service users, peers and volunteers
• Willingness to be managed and supervised.
• Willingness to work flexibly according to needs of the service.
• Commitment to maintaining confidentiality (within the policy of the organisation).
• Commitment to ensuring that the client group remains the primary focus of the Centres work.
• Solution focused approach to work.
• Reliable and resilient.

Experience

Essential

• Direct professional experience with people experiencing mental health difficulties and challenging behaviour.
• Experience working as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
• Experience of working with Black and other Ethnic Minority people and / or disadvantaged communities.
• Experience of working one to one, or community based with client group.
• Experiencing liaising and developing links with other agencies.
• Monitoring and evaluating systems including record keeping.
• Experience working with statutory and voluntary sector agencies.

Desirable

• Advocacy work

Skills

Essential

• Mental health assessment skills including risk assessment and support planning.
• Case management skills and record keeping skills.
• Ability to provide emotional and practical support.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to prioritise own workload, including agreeing and meeting targets / priorities.
• Ability to use common IT packages e.g. databases, spreadsheets, Microsoft word and outlook.
• Demonstrate the ability to undertake work with high degree of accuracy and strong attention to detail
• Effectively work under pressure, work on own initative without direct supervision.

Desirable

• Ability to speak a community language
• Qualification in plain English
• Second Language e.g. Urdu, Polish, BSL

Equal Opportunities

Essential

• Must be able to recognise discrimination in its many forms and be willing to put into practice Touchstone Equality Policies.
• Must be sensitive to the needs of disadvantaged groups in the planning and delivery of services and interventions.
• A commitment to provide high-quality services to the diverse communities of Leeds.
• Must be able to communicate effectively with a broad range of diverse service users, management and staff, from both organisations and the community

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details

Employer name

Touchstone

Address

Touchstone LMWS

179 - 181 Haslewood Drive

Leeds

LS9 7RE

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://touchstonesupport.org.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)