Children's Mental Health Alliance Manager

Location

Birkenhead, Merseyside | United Kingdom

Job description

Overview

The Alliance Manager will be responsible for the planning, delivery, governance and growth of Branch, the forthcoming new central point of access for emotional health and wellbeing for children and young people (0-18) in Wirral. The role will involve multi-faceted project delivery, people management and overseeing the pre-launch, launch and delivery of Branch. The role will report to the Head of Services and will involve strategic planning with the charity’s leadership colleagues, external stakeholders, alliance members and alliance associates, and management of the Branch team.

Our alliance is made up of members Open Door Charity, Action for Children, Kooth, Hatch and Koala NW, with support from Family Toolbox and our associate member CAMHS. We have been jointly commissioned by Wirral Children’s Services, Public Health and NHS Cheshire and Mersey and have come together to radically improve the access to emotional health and wellbeing support for 0-18’s in Wirral through Branch, a central point of access for emotional health and wellbeing. Our goal is to get children and young people matched to the help they need as humanly, smoothly, and quickly as we can. Our contract starts in April 2024, and we are in the process of contract mobilisation currently.

Open Door Charity will provide the backbone matching function of Branch through an online platform, over the phone, and through face-to-face conversations, in our Joy office just off Hamilton Square at the Make Hamilton Building. We want to bring warmth and colour to what can be a stressful, painful time in people’s lives. The alliance members will be delivering a range of support options for different issues and needs, and across age ranges. We will work together to bid for funding to make the most of opportunities or fill gaps. We will be working closely with other services who aren’t in the alliance to make sure people know about what they offer and ensure that the brilliant support we have in Wirral is accessible to the people who need it.

Duties and Responsibilities

Alliance Project management

• Develop and be accountable for the implementation of Branch enabling and achieving detailed milestones using a project management framework ensuring that outputs and outcomes are delivered on time.
• Agree timelines and oversee actions that deliver key milestones relating to data reporting, digital platform, communications strategy, service delivery, governance, and the matching function.
• Organise the alliance and develop service level agreements with partners and detailed specifications for work.
• Develop a risk register and risk management process and deliver effective risk and issue management to proactively uncover and resolve blockers.
• Ensure relevant legal documentation and insurances are in place and that Open Door Charity are delivering contractual obligations.

Alliance Governance and relationships

• Develop and embed the governance structure of the alliance, including membership and delivery of the alliance leadership team, meeting schedules and any relevant subcommittees or other groups.
• Develop relevant policies and procedures and ensure these are embedded.
• Act as the contract lead for commissioners, managing relationships and agreeing clear key performance indicators and monitoring arrangements.
• Manage relationships with alliance members, alliance associates and wider emotional health and wellbeing stakeholders to ensure the success of the Branch.
• Develop a key relationship with stakeholders at CAMHS and ensuring developments allow for closer working and a more accessible emotional health system for all children, young people, and families.
• Identify and develop new potential key partnerships, including service delivery and funding and co-production.

Leadership

• Ensure that the vision of easier, more human access to emotional health support at the right time, remains at the forefront of all decision making.
• Embed a culture of trying new things, making mistakes, learning and being open to opportunities.
• Ensure alliance members to seek out, develop and deliver opportunities for co- production, development and learning with professionals, children, young people, and families.
• Enable the new alliance members to come together to work as a group, develop and share a new identity and purpose.
• Represent Branch and Open Door Charity at meetings and external events including Future in Mind (the main stakeholder meeting for children’s emotional health and wellbeing in Wirral)

Monitoring, Controlling and Evaluation

• Work closely with internal Data and Insights Team, alliance members reporting teams and partner organisations, to collect, collate and reflect on data and act based on learning.
• Developing outcomes framework for emotional health and wellbeing.
• Ensure effective performance management of the programme, by creating and implementing an evaluation framework.
• Monitor, control, and evaluate progress against agreed performance targets, measuring the effectiveness Branch.
• Lead on reporting to the alliance leadership team, funders as well as the Charity Director and Board of Trustees.

Management and delivery of the matching function

• Day to day oversight of the matching team and line management of the senior matcher.
• Oversight of the skills development plan for the matching function, including staff and volunteers, ensuring that the delivery of high-quality work and job satisfaction.
• Development and review of matching tool and process with the senior matcher.
• Joint responsibility and oversight for safeguarding policy and practice across Open Door Charity (shared with Programmes and Projects Manager) working with our trustee responsible for safeguarding.
• Oversight of volume of referrals, spotting, highlighting, and responding to any areas of opportunity or risk.

Innovation and development of Branch

• Identify gaps, emerging trends, keep up to date with best practice and learning, including working with other alliances and central points of access.
• Identify opportunities to work together on bids and fundraising and take a lead role in alliance bid writing ensuring any opportunity to grow the emotional health support in Wirral and improve access are used.

You will be a great fit if...

You have this experience...

• Demonstrable experience of working on complex contracts, projects or programmes (E)
• Experience of managing multi stakeholder projects (E)
• Experience of implementing a monitoring and evaluation and/or performance management framework (D)
• Experience of managing teams or people (E)
• Experience of performance management and delivering successful results for a funded programme or project (D)
• Experience of working directly with children, young people, and families (D) Experience of managing complex safeguarding (E)
• Experience of working within the children’s or adults’ mental health or emotional health and wellbeing system (E)
• Experience of working with or for CAMHS, Children’s Services or a child or young person’s organisation(E)
• Previous experience of working with boards and committees (D) Experience of successful bid writing (D)
• Experience of project mobilisation (D)

You have these skills...

• Highly developed project management skills, processes, practices, and governance requirements (D)
• Excellent leadership skills, including the ability to manage and motivate teams, coach, and mentor others (E)
• Experience in identifying problems, obstacles and risks and being able to provide solutions in a timely manner (E)
• Ability to handle tricky conversations and provide challenge while retaining good relationships(E)
• Ability to think through situations, understand all points of view and make rational decisions based on purpose and outcomes(E)
• Confidently working with senior leaders and external stakeholders(E)
• Clear and effective written and verbal communication skills including public presentation (E)
• Self-reliant IT skills, in particular Microsoft Office programmes (E)
• A willingness to learn about, engage with and support our efforts to become a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organisation (E)
• An enthusiastic, flexible, and positive approach (E)
• Confident in delivering presentations and progress updates(E)
• Ability to independently make informed decisions to drive forward tasks and deliverables (E)

You demonstrate these behaviours...

• Self-starter and self-motivated, with ability to work both independently and collaboratively with team members and colleagues (E)
• An ability to think laterally and creatively, and drive to make a real difference (E)
• Personable, professional and able to comfortably communicate with a variety of stakeholders, tailoring communication and influencing style accordingly (E)
• Understanding and empathic leader and manager (E)
• Calm under pressure, excellent multi-tasker and project manager (E)
• Flexible and responsive, effectively seeking solutions and solving problems (E)
• An ability to analyse information quickly and communicate in a concise and
• articulate manner (E)
• Passionate, enthusiastic and empathetic (E)
• Tenacious with a commitment to achieving and exceeding targets and KPIs (E)
• Able to travel to partner locations for meetings (E)

This opportunity closes on Monday, 11th March 2024 at 5pm.

Previous applicants need not apply.

Job tags

Salary

£40k - £42k per annum