Rethink Mental Illness exists to lead the way to a better quality of life for everyone severely affected by mental illness. This includes people with lived experience, their carers, families and friends. As a campaigning organisation, we bring to bear our experience of working directly with carers and people severely affected by mental illness to shape and direct the health system, public attitudes and the wider social and economic environment. We also provide services directly to people who are severely affected by mental illness, (including carers). We call this unique combination of service provision and campaigning ‘One Rethink’.

All our work is guided, shaped and co-produced with people with lived experience of mental illness, who are at the heart of everything we do. Our vision is equality, rights, fair treatment, and the maximum quality of life for all those severely affected by mental illness. Becoming an anti-racist organisation is critical to our mission, given the great inequity in the incidence of severe mental illness in racialised communities and also in the way that people of colour affected by severe mental illness are treated.

Our Corporate Strategy sets the aim of making our ‘Communities that Care’ framework become a working reality for all. If we’re to achieve this, we will need to see significant improvements in access and provision of care and support for people from minority backgrounds who are living with severe mental illness. Reporting to the Associate Director of Policy and Practice, this new role will play a key part in addressing inequalities and injustice in the health and social care system, particularly around race. You’ll lead on setting, shaping and delivering an ambitious inequalities strategy which will involve influencing national and local decision makers. As well as working collaboratively with team members to expand our reach and impact, you’ll deliver practice improvement and promote the spread of learning to bring about change. A strong and visible spokesperson, you’ll represent us at conferences, meetings and in the media. In addition to providing expertise on issues of inequalities and racial justice, you’ll encourage us to stretch our ambition and drive positive change.

It’s an excitingly broad remit, and you’ll need to bring a similarly extensive range of skills and experience. As well as a comprehensive knowledge of race and mental health inequalities, you need to bring a track record of planning and delivering programmes of work that make a difference, and a wide repertoire of change and improvement techniques. This must include experience of working with community organisations, the ability to work in a matrix model, and to communicate and influence others with concision and clarity. An entrepreneurial, optimistic and collaborative approach will be a significant advantage, as will general team and budget management experience.

For further information, please visit www.rethink-equality.co.uk