King's College London

About Us

The King’s community is dedicated to the service of society. King’s Strategic Vision 2029 sets out our vision for the future, shaped around five priority areas: educate to inspire and improve; research to inform and innovate; serve to shape and transform; a civic university at the heart of London; and an international community that services the world. Our ambitious Education Strategy sets out the actions that we must take to transform how we teach, how and where our students learn and how we support them during their time with us. 

We are the Disability Support Team. We offer information, advice and guidance to disabled students (both prospective and current students) as part of an overarching Student Support & Wellbeing team. Through offering practical and professional advice and guidance, we aim to complement the support provided within academic faculties and tailor it to ensure the bespoke needs of individuals are both considered and met. In addition the Disability Support Team play a crucial role in embedding inclusive practices as standard across the university. 

We are part of the Students & Education Directorate, a collection of wide-ranging professional services in place to support King’s students and their education. As a directorate we manage the student lifecycle from application to graduation and beyond, to ensure a coherent and seamless student experience and effective administrative processes, working closely with King’s faculties to do so. 

About the Role 

The Disability Adviser (Mental Health) is responsible for providing accurate and relevant information, advice, and guidance, impartially and confidentially to disabled applicants and students. The primary responsibility will be for applicants and students with long term mental health conditions and autistic spectrum conditions. 

They will work collaboratively across King’s College London’s faculties, departments, and professional services, as well as with external agencies to provide a high-quality disability support service to ensure that disabled students can participate fully in their studies. They will liaise with colleagues within the university to review, develop and implement policies, practices, and procedures to enhance access and inclusion of students with long term mental health conditions and autistic spectrum conditions. They will also work to support initiatives that raise awareness of the needs of students with long term mental health conditions and autistic spectrum conditions throughout King’s, and to develop and deliver associated training.  

This is an exciting opportunity for candidates looking to students, and who wish to utilise their skills and expertise in mental health conditions and/or Autistic Spectrum conditions. 

We encourage applications from candidates who have experience from both within and outside of the Higher Education sector where they can demonstrate the skills needed to succeed in this role. 

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract. 

This is a full-time post, but we welcome applications from candidates seeking a flexible work pattern within our necessary service operating hours.

Key Responsibilities

The Disability Advisor (Mental Health) is responsible for: 

• Providing information, advice, and guidance to disabled applicants and students on disability support provisions available to them 
• Undertaking appropriate an initial assessment of the student’s needs and risk assessments, and if appropriate referring the student for clinical/counselling support 
• Providing on-going support for individual students, maintaining a case work portfolio, and accurate, confidential records of activity 
• Providing recommendations for reasonable adjustments following policies and common practice within King’s College London 
• Providing support to students struggling to keep up with studies, providing an informed opinion and/or, taking part in case conferences if required, and supporting students’ mitigating circumstances applications as appropriate 
• Working with colleagues to help in the containment of student crisis situations involving mental health issues and facilitating effective contact with appropriate internal and external parties 
• Working with colleagues to support the Support for Study process as appropriate and taking an active role in providing knowledge to colleagues of how the student has been supported 
• Maintaining the Service’s confidentiality consent and disclosure policy and the College’s data protection policy 
• Ensuring regular updating of skills and knowledge in line with developments in mental health research and practice and keeping up to date with changes in legislation, and government policy with, but not exclusive, regard to the implications for HEI’s 

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

About You

Please clearly address how you meet the essential criteria in your application, and where possible how you meet the desirable criteria as well. 

Essential criteria

1. First degree or equivalent work experience, including practical experience working with individuals with mental health conditions and/or autistic spectrum conditions 
2. In depth knowledge of mental health and UK health care systems / services 
3. Understanding of disability support issues for students in Higher Education and knowledge of funding and support available to disabled students 
4. Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal; ability to deal effectively and sensitively with people making varied and complex enquiries, providing accurate and clear guidance 
5. Competent at operating appropriate IT systems, ideally including a case management system as well as being organised, with experience of working under pressure to agreed deadlines whilst remaining methodical and accurate 
6. Experience of providing training to staff of disability and mental health awareness. As well as providing training for embedding inclusive practices to support their students. 
7. Experience of providing information, advice and guidance and/or experience of providing disability-related support (preferably with a mental health or autism focus) 
8. Good working knowledge of the Equality Act 2010 and the Mental Health Act and how this applies to students in an HEI environment. 
9. Genuine commitment to disability rights, diversity and inclusion and the development of quality services for disabled people and those supporting them 
10. Ability to remain calm, effective, and professional in circumstances where clients might be in crisis, distressed, vulnerable or aggressive 

Desirable criteria

1. Experience of contributing to publications, websites, annual reports and guidance (such as factsheets), and in contributing to training collateral 
2. Experience of contributing to the development and improvement of systems and procedures 
3. Experience of working with disabled students 

Further Information 

Please submit a personal statement when applying for this vacancy, clearly setting out how you meet the essential criteria, as this is how we shortlist applications. Learn more about how we recruit, including tips on writing your application and supporting statement on our website: https://jobs.kcl.ac.uk/gb/en/applying

If you are a student or alumni of King’s there are resources from King’s Careers & Employability to support you in your application and interview. 

Interviews will be held using Microsoft Teams and will consist of competency­ based questions linked closely to the essential and desirable criteria mentioned here. 

Although we have made improvements over the last number of years, our team is still under-represented in terms of staff from global majority ethnicities, LGBTQ+ identities, and from people with disabilities. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries, and are committed to employing a team that has diverse skills, experiences and abilities. 

Interviews are scheduled to take place on W/C 29th July 2024.