Head of Wellbeing

The Head of Wellbeing is new post within LMH created to coordinate all the support activities for students within College. Our College Strategy actively seeks to promote wellbeing within the community, particularly mental wellbeing. We wish to foster a diverse and inclusive community founded on respect, and which attends carefully to issues such as unconscious bias and consent. We recognise that particular kinds of support may be needed by students with disadvantaged backgrounds and with disabilities, and we are committed to ensuring that all our students flourish.

The appointee will be a coordinator of provision and a first point of contact for students’ non-academic difficulties. The appointee will have a relevant professional qualification and/or significant experience related to support or wellbeing (this might be in social work, mental health, counselling or wellbeing) and will have the capacity to understand and develop all the procedures and policies related to our duty of care to students. The role focuses on triaging and does not involve individual student counselling or therapy. The appointee will refer students to the most appropriate provision, both internal and external, for ongoing support across a range of areas from medical needs to study skills.

The appointee will be responsible for proactive initiatives to promote wellbeing within the College.  This might include building on our current ‘wellness weeks’ and fitness provisions.  The appointee will commission or run events aimed at encouraging respectful attitudes and behaviour in students, building on our consent course and equality workshops. The appointee will be the safeguarding lead in College.

The appointee will be the College contact for estranged students and will be aware of the needs of students from disadvantaged backgrounds including, but not restricted to, students progressing from the LMH or University (Astrophoria) Foundation year schemes. Particular programmes of support may be necessary for particular groups of students, at induction and throughout their time in College.

The appointee will liaise with Personal Tutors, who have the primary academic and pastoral relationship with undergraduates in the College. The appointee will also liaise with the Senior Tutor, Tutor for Graduates and Director of Visiting Students (who have academic oversight of the students) over study support and fitness to study issues. In cases where students may need to suspend their studies, the appointee should assist with arranging available external support for them. The appointee will also liaise with the Dean on student disciplinary issues.

The appointee will be line manager to the College Nurse, the study skills lecturers and the junior deans (graduate students employed to provide emergency contacts out of hours) and will co-ordinate the peer supporters (students, trained and supervised by the University Counselling Service). The appointee will also liaise with relevant student representatives, for example the graduate (MCR) and undergraduate (JCR) welfare representatives, to co-ordinate wellbeing provision across the College and to ensure good communication with, and support for, student representatives.

The appointee will liaise with various contacts across the collegiate University: the counselling service, the disability service, the student sexual harassment and violence service (see: https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/welfare). The appointee will be a member of the Welfare Forum which meets termly to share best practice between Colleges and the University. 

As the role is a new one, the duties are likely to develop over the first few years.

This appointee needs to be visible across the College and there would be limited scope for home working.

Reports to the Principal

Liaises with Senior Tutor, Personal Tutors, Student Finance Manager, Dean (student discipline), Chaplain and student representatives

Line manages: the College Nurse, the study skills lecturers and the junior deans and will co-ordinate the peer supporters

• A professional qualification in a related field (e.g. social work, metal health, counselling or wellbeing) and/or significant relevant experience
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including active listening; to be both approachable on an individual basis and have the ability to make presentations to groups of students.
• Good judgement to evaluate and deal appropriately with the issues presented
• The personal credibility to be a respected and supportive and influential presence in College.
• The ability to develop and implement a wellbeing strategy for the College
• The ability to manage staff, ideally in a wellbeing-related context
• The ability to work co-operatively with a wide variety of people, from a range of backgrounds
• The administrative and IT skills to keep records, to manage a budget and to draft policies
• An understanding of the student experience in Higher Education
• An understanding of mental health issues, particularly in the student context
• An understanding of issues of confidentiality and GDPR in relation to communications and record keeping
• An understanding of unconscious bias and discrimination issues

Desirable

• Experience of running workshops and training courses
• An understanding of the collegiate University and the Oxford student experience
• Experience of managing or supervising staff, ideally in a wellbeing-related context
• Relevant training e.g. in Mental Health first aid training, active listening, dealing with reports of Sexual Assault

The salary will be £45,000 - £50,000 per annum (negotiable) for a 37.5-hour week.

Applicants must be eligible to work in the UK.

Benefits of working for the College include 36 days holiday (including bank holidays), the option to join a University pension scheme and one free meal per working day.

Additional benefits include a free annual flu jab, a parking permit scheme, a childcare salary sacrifice scheme, a bicycle purchase scheme, a bus and Train Season Tickets

To apply for this position, please send a CV, cover letter and equal opportunities monitoring form to recruitment@lmh.ox.ac.uk, or by post to the HR Office, LMH, Norham Gardens, Oxford, OX2 6QA by 9am on Monday 6th June 2022.

Interviews will be held on Friday 17th June 2022.  Shortlisted candidates will be asked to give a 10 minute presentation on “Priorities for promoting Student Wellbeing” to an audience including student representatives.

For an informal discussion of the post, please contact the LMH vice-principal Dr Fiona Spensley by email: fiona.spensley@lmh.ox.ac.uk to arrange a call.

Equal Opportunities

The College’s Equal Opportunities Policy aims to ensure that in the recruitment, selection, training, appraisal, development and promotion of employees, the only consideration must be that the individual best meets, or is likely to meet, the requirements of the programme or course or post.

Lady Margaret Hall is committed to provide a learning, working and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its members are respected, and which is free from prejudice, intimidation and all forms of harassment, including bullying. We seek to ensure that no-one suffers, either directly or indirectly, as a result of discrimination.

Lady Margaret Hall has a range of family-friendly policies.

Equal Opportunities Form PDF | Equal Opportunities Form Word Document

Issued by the HR Office

May 2022