Social Prescriber

Job title: Social Prescriber

Service: Social Prescribing

Location: Banstead – Hybrid (GP surgeries, community and family centres, home visits, MFT offices, working from home), with occasional travel across Surrey when required

Hours: 37 hours per week, Monday-Friday

Term: Fixed Term (until 31 March 2028 with possibility of this being extended)

Salary: £30,906

Holidays: 25 days plus bank holidays

Closing date for applications: Sunday 4 October

Interviews will be held on: Thursday 8 October

This post is subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check, and the successful completion of a probationary period.

Project

Social Prescribing empowers people to improve their health and wellbeing by connecting them with non-medical support within their communities. The service works with individuals to address the wider determinants of health, including social isolation, poor housing, debt, unemployment, caring responsibilities, and physical inactivity.

The project aims to strengthen personal and community resilience, reduce health inequalities, and improve health outcomes by enabling people to access practical and emotional support through community groups, voluntary sector organisations, and statutory services. The service supports people with long-term conditions, mental health needs, loneliness, social isolation, and complex social circumstances affecting their wellbeing.

Working closely with Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and a wide range of partner agencies, the service creates strong pathways between health, social care, and community resources to ensure individuals receive personalised, holistic support.

Purpose of Job

To provide person-centred Social Prescribing support to individuals referred from a range of health, social care and community-based services. The postholder will build trusting relationships with individuals, identify what matters most to them, and co-produce personalised support plans that improve health, wellbeing, and independence.

The role involves managing a caseload of individuals, connecting them to local community assets, voluntary and community organisations and statutory services, while promoting self-management and social inclusion. The postholder will also work collaboratively with local partners to strengthen community capacity, encourage appropriate referrals and support the development of sustainable community resources.

Key Responsibilities

Referral Management and Partnership Working

Promote Social Prescribing and its role in improving health and wellbeing.

Receive and manage referrals from a range of agencies including GP practices, PCNs, pharmacies, hospitals, social care, housing providers, allied health professionals and VCSE organisations.

Develop and maintain effective working relationships with referral partners and community stakeholders.

Attend relevant meetings and contribute as an active member of multidisciplinary and wider network teams.

Raise awareness of Social Prescribing through training, engagement activities and information sharing.

Encourage appropriate referrals and self-referrals, particularly from underserved and hard-to-reach communities.

Gather and respond to feedback from referral agencies to support service improvement.

Personalised Support

Manage and prioritise a caseload, responding to individual needs and risk levels.

Meet with individuals on a one-to-one basis, including home visits where appropriate and in line with organisational procedures.

Build supportive, trusting relationships using a person-centred, strengths-based approach.

Co-produce personalised wellbeing plans focused on individual priorities, goals, strengths and aspirations.

Support individuals, families and carers to improve wellbeing, independence, and resilience.

Identify and address wider determinants of health affecting individuals’ wellbeing.

Connect people with community groups, activities, services, volunteering opportunities, and statutory support.

Facilitate introductions and follow-up support to encourage sustained engagement.

Support individuals to explore opportunities such as personal health budgets, training, employment, and volunteering where appropriate.

Community Development

Develop and maintain knowledge of local community assets and support services.

Build effective partnerships with VCSE organisations and community groups.

Support the development of safe, inclusive, and sustainable community provision.

Work with partners to identify gaps in local services and unmet community needs.

Encourage community participation, social inclusion and volunteering to strengthen local resilience.

Promote opportunities for community organisations to access available grants, funding, or commissioning opportunities.

Data, Monitoring and Evaluation

Maintain accurate and timely records using agreed case management systems (Halo, EMIS).

Collect outcome and impact data in line with service requirements.

Encourage individuals and partner organisations to provide feedback and share experiences of the service.

Contribute to reporting, audit activities, performance monitoring, and evaluation processes.

Safeguarding, Risk and Governance

Identify risks affecting the health, wellbeing, or safety of individuals and take appropriate action.

Recognise when needs fall outside the scope of the role and refer or escalate to appropriate professionals or services.

Follow organisational policies relating to safeguarding, confidentiality, information governance, health and safety, lone working, and risk management.

Report incidents, accidents, concerns, and service issues in accordance with organisational procedures.

Participate effectively within multidisciplinary teams and contribute to collaborative working across services.

General terms of reference

Work within organisational policies, procedures, professional standards and relevant legislation.

Participate in regular line management, supervision, appraisal and caseload review processes.

Take responsibility for maintaining and developing professional knowledge, skills and competencies through continuing professional development.

Contribute to service development, business planning, quality improvement activities, and team objectives.

Maintain accurate records and provide information required for audits, monitoring, and reporting purposes.

Undertake any other duties commensurate with the grade and responsibilities of the post.

Duties may be amended from time to time to meet service needs, provided they remain consistent with the overall purpose and level of responsibility of the role.

The postholder will receive regular management and caseload supervision from their line manager.

Person Specification

Qualifications and experience

Diploma, Degree or equivalent qualification in a relevant subject such as Psychology, Counselling, Social Work, Mental Health, Health and Social Care (Level 3) or NVQ Level 3 or above – Essential

2+ years’ experience of supporting individuals to improve their health, wellbeing, independence or social outcomes – Essential

Experience of partnership working and building effective relationships across a range of organisations and professional groups – Essential

Commitment to ongoing personal and professional development – Essential

Experience of working directly with individuals in a community development, health improvement, public health, adult health and social care, learning support, or related environment – Desirable

Training in motivational interviewing, coaching, behavioural change approaches, or equivalent transferable experience – Desirable

Experience of working within, or in partnership with, the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector – Desirable

Experience of working within a primary care or healthcare setting – Desirable

General

Commitment to providing person-centred, non-judgemental and inclusive support – Essential

Commitment to maintaining confidentiality, professionalism and high standards of record keeping – Essential

Ability to travel across the local area and wider service locations, including visiting GP practices, community venues and service users in their homes – Essential

Ability to work from home when required, maintaining confidentiality and professionalism – Essential

Legally entitled to work in the UK – Essential

Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion – Essential

Knowledge and skills

Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors that impact individuals, families, carers and communities – Essential

Excellent verbal and written communication skills – Essential

Ability to build rapport, actively listen and work empathically with a diverse range of people – Essential

Ability to provide person-centred support using a strengths-based approach – Essential

Ability to identify, assess and appropriately manage risk – Essential

Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues, stakeholders and professionals from a range of disciplines and organisations – Essential

Ability to organise, prioritise and manage a varied workload independently, using initiative and sound judgement – Essential

Ability to maintain accurate records and contribute to monitoring, reporting and evaluation activities – Essential

Ability to build knowledge of local community services, support groups, voluntary organisations and community resources – Essential

Information Technology

Competent in the use of Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Outlook and Teams – Essential

Ability to use case management, data collection and reporting systems accurately and effectively – Essential

Ability to maintain electronic records and produce reports to required standards – Essential

Ability to use IT systems securely and in accordance with information governance and confidentiality requirements – Essential

Amendments: This job description accurately reflects the present position; it may be amended and reviewed. Any change will be made following a period of consultation.

Equal Opportunities Statement

We acknowledge the unique contribution that all host organisations employees and patients can bring to our organisation in terms of their culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital status, nationality, age, religion or belief and any physical disability or history of mental health or additional problems. All appointments and promotions are based on merit and no job applicant or employee will be treated unfairly or discriminated against. All staff have equal access to staff development. Any member of staff who breaches this policy may be subject of grievance and/or disciplinary procedures. This post if subject to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check at an enhanced level. Please note past drug and/or alcohol or criminality history will not necessarily discount you from undertaking this role.

About Us

Mary Frances Trust (MFT) is a mental health and emotional wellbeing charity, supporting Surrey residents since 1994 in Banstead, Elmbridge, Epsom & Ewell and Mole Valley.

We offer a variety of face-to-face and online services, available to adults (aged 16+) living in Surrey who would like to restore and/or maintain their mental and emotional wellbeing (no diagnosis needed).

Our services are free of charge, with no waiting list and no time limit (you can use us for as long as you need and register again at any point).

To see all of our services, please visit the How We Help section of our website.

Our Vision

We believe anyone experiencing any kind of mental or emotional health issues should feel unafraid to ask for help, receive appropriate support for as long as they need, and be inspired to develop the skills that will help them to restore and maintain their own wellbeing, and lead a fulfilling life.

Our Values

Inspiring
We believe that everyone can lead a fulfilling life and achieve their goals and full potential. We encourage people to recognise and use their own strengths and resources. We inspire people to develop the skills that will empower them to become experts at managing their own mental wellbeing. To accompany people on this journey, we offer personal, tailored support to help them regain a sense of hope and control.

Inclusive
The people we support aren’t passive recipient of our services and are not being “done to”. Through our commitment to Co-Production, we involve people with mental health lived experience in every aspect of our organisation, including the design, delivery, monitoring, review and evaluation of our services.

We believe in the power of connection. We encourage the people we support to fully participate in their local communities. As an organisation, we also strive to be part of and reflect the diverse population we serve.

Agile
We live in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment, so we’re always ready to adapt and innovate to meet the evolving needs of the local communities we serve. We are an integral part of a wider mental health system and are dedicated to providing easy access first-class mental health support by working in partnership and collaboration.

Respectful
We work hard to establish mutual honest and trustworthy relationships. We actively listen and treat people we support with the same kindness and respect as we do our staff and volunteers. We strive to be an organisation where people feel safe and that they belong.

Our Mission

Our mission is to:

Work alongside people experiencing any kind of emotional or mental health issues for as long as they need and inspire them to develop the skills that will help them to restore and maintain their emotional wellbeing.

Involve people with lived experience of mental health issues at every level of the organisation so together we can design, deliver, monitor and review our services and ensure they respond to their changing needs.

Consistently challenge stigma attached to mental illness and raise awareness of the importance of looking after your mental wellbeing.

Lead and co-ordinate the development and delivery of first-class, voluntary mental health services in Surrey.

Maintain sufficient funding streams to be able to provide person-centred services to people experiencing any kind of emotional or mental health issues.

Safer Recruitment

We are committed to following Safer Recruitment practices to ensure the safeguarding of the whole community we serve, from members of the public and clients using our services, to our staff, volunteers, partners, and external facilitators.

A criminal record does not automatically exclude you from applying for the position. MFT will assess each application on a case-by-case basis.

This post is Exempt from the Protection of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974).

All successful candidates will be required to undertake Enhanced or Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks as well as reference checks. These will be a condition of any offer of employment being made.

All candidates must disclose both ‘spent’ and ‘unspent’ cautions and convictions on application – other than ‘protected’ cautions and convictions which have qualified for filtering.

Disclosure should be included in a separate covering letter on application, marked ‘Confidential’.

Guidance on Filtering: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-filtering-guidance

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We believe in a fair, equal, diverse and inclusive society. As an organisation, we believe we are stronger and richer when we bring together different experiences and perspectives to better serve our clients and local community. We are committed to creating a workforce that is diverse, inclusive of all, representative of the community we serve, promotes positivity, and instils a can-do attitude in everyone, no matter their background or characteristics at every level of our organisation from our staff and volunteers, all the way to our Trustees and Patrons. We strongly encourage applications from members of every community and actively seek to hire people with lived experience of mental health issues.

How to apply

To apply for this role, please fill in our Online Application Form (button below) where you’ll be able to upload your CV and covering letter (in which you’ll explain how you feel your experience is suitable for the role). Thank you!

If you are encountering any difficulties applying for the position, please email Emma our Administration and Communications Assistant, at: emmal@maryfrancestrust.org.uk