Tellmi Operations Manager

What We Do

Our mission is to provide mental health support available to everyone, everywhere. Tellmi is a multi-award winning fully moderated, anonymous, mental health service predominantly for young people aged 11-25. The Tellmi app safely enables young people to talk about difficult things and encourages them to help themselves, by helping each other. Beneath an engaging anonymous peer to peer feed, Tellmi integrates the latest psychological research to promote the development of protective factors such as emotional resilience, empathy, social skills, stress management and coping techniques. Tellmi is commissioned by the NHS and Local Authorities across the UK and works closely with schools, CAMHS and VCSFEs.

The Tellmi app is free to download with premium features in commissioned areas. The app is available 365 days a year, 24/7 and our moderators, counsellors and therapists are available from 8:30am until 11pm everyday.

Your role

Your role is to ensure the operation of the Tellmi Mental Health Service is safe and effective for all users. This role encompasses direct support for our users via the Tellmi app as well as behind the scenes management of operations. You will be one of the counsellors on call to respond to high risk posts during daytime working hours. You will manage the human element of our digital service including the users, moderators, counsellors, therapists and volunteers. You will take a keen interest in the wellbeing of our users and through curiosity and compassion ensure that they receive the best support that we can provide. You will succeed in this role if you have experience of counselling, youth or social work and are a good communicator who is able to win the trust of your team through compassionate accountability.

As Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) you will take primary responsibility for safeguarding and child protection within Tellmi. You will act as a point of contact for staff and volunteers, providing advice and support on child welfare and protection matters relating to our users. You will manage safeguarding concerns, liaise with external agencies especially in commissioned areas and ensure the company’s safeguarding policies are up-to-date and effective. Although an important responsibility the DSL element is a relatively small part of the overall role.

You will report directly to the Co-CEOs. We are looking for someone who is highly proactive, totally reliable and is eager to take the initiative to help us continually improve the service. We will expect you to enjoy learning and actively pursue continual professional development to ensure that you are fully up to date with the latest policies, regulations and guidance related to your role. You will be expected to share in the on-call remote support of moderators, counsellors and therapists in the evenings and weekends.

This role offers considerable opportunity for career progression as the business grows.

Your Specific Duties

Moderation, counselling and supervision (15%)

• Responsible for responding to high risk users during the day including emergency third party disclosures if required.

• Providing occasional cover for moderation or counsellors at any point during the operational hours.

• On call for ad hoc support of counsellors and therapists during evenings and weekends (typically three to four times a week).

Management and oversight of moderators, counsellors, therapists and volunteers (25%)

• Organise and manage rotas for moderators/counsellors.

• Process and monitor referrals for Tellmi Therapy.

• Performance manage and oversee quality control of moderators, counsellors and therapists.

• Maintain and develop guidance, training, policies and operating procedures (SOPs).

• Be the first point of contact for moderators, counsellors and therapists to support with operational issues and queries. 

• Facilitate peer supervision sessions for counsellors and therapists

• Manage recruitment of new moderators, counsellors and therapists including identifying workforce needs.

• Deliver moderation, counsellor and therapist training.

• Provide strategic oversight and operational support for the SuperPeer volunteer programme.

• Provide occasional support with training of the SuperPeer volunteers.

Designated Safeguarding Lead (10-15%)

• Maintain a level 3 safeguarding qualification and other relevant CPD for both children and adults

• Ensure that all staff and contracted staff maintain the safeguarding qualification appropriate to their role.

• Have primary responsibility for safeguarding for children and adults across the company (users and staff).

• Maintain and develop the Tellmi Safeguarding policy.

• Be on call for urgent safeguarding matters.

• Identify, monitor and create support plans for complex Tellmi users.

• Be the named Caldicot Guardian (training provided if needed).

• Write safeguarding and incident reports.

• Liaise with the Service Delivery Contract Leads to determine how to share safeguarding information in commissioned areas.

• Create NHS safeguarding assurance reports and attend relevant meetings in commissioned areas.

• Undertake the duties of Patient Safety Manager for NHS contracts including attending relevant meetings, maintaining patient safety procedures and reporting patient safety incidents.

App Operations (40%)

• Monitor for issues arising on the app and report as appropriate.

• Make use of data generated by the app to monitor and report on the general performance of the Tellmi service.

• Contribute to the management of the Tellmi Directory.

• Use knowledge of user behaviour and app operations to contribute to the development of the app.

• Line manage the Operations Assistant.

• Collate user feedback.

• Manage user accounts and permissions on the Tellmi platform.

• Contribute to the maintenance and updates of company policies.

• Respond to email queries from users and others.

• Manage and setup of in app Notices to users including Tellmi Therapy invites.

• Maintain strong working relationships with Co-CEOs, and other senior staff in order to ensure transparency and rapid response to arising issues.

Contract Support (5%-10%)

• Ensure that the app configuration meets needs of new commissioned areas.

• Ensure that Tellmi meets the quality requirements for the LLR ICB by creating the LLR quality report, attending quarterly review meetings and progressing resulting actions. 

• Oversee quality reporting in future commissioned areas as required.

• Provide updates and insights to feed into the quarterly reporting to commissioners.

• Use knowledge of user behaviour to contribute to development of outreach and engagement campaigns.

Your Experience, Skills and Characteristics

Essential

• Someone who has experience of delivering and managing a support service. 

• Relevant qualifications in psychology, counselling or related field such as social work or mental health practitioner

• At least four years experience managing people in a relevant field

• Curiosity in people, processes and systems

• Some safeguarding experience

• Clean enhanced DBS

• Trustworthy

• Attention to detail/accuracy

• Compansionate

• Excellent standard of written and spoken English.

• Use of standard IT tools such as word processing and spreadsheets.

• Proactive and diligent.

• Organised and self-motivated to manage your workload effectively.

• Able to work independently. 

• Happy to have a varied set of responsibilities and tasks.

• A team player who is willing to be brave, to try and able to learn from failure.

Desired

• Previous safeguarding lead

• Familiar with Google Workspace tools (docs, sheets, etc).

• Familiar with Solution Focused Therapy

• Interest in health technology

• Experience in or knowledge of NHS mental health services or social care.

What We Offer

• A degree of flexibility over working hours.

• Direct impact on our mission to improve the health and happiness of young people.

• Work alongside a highly creative and ambitious team.

• Performance reviews and opportunities to develop oneself in a multitude of different areas.

• Training in offering peer support, safeguarding, moderation and the Tellmi counsellor approach.

• A rare chance to work in a tech focused social enterprise which would highly benefit anyone with ambitions to become more entrepreneurial.

• An opportunity to experience different aspects of the business.

• Insight into a mental health support tool.

• Skill development.

• Additional wellbeing days.

Working Hours, Location and Travel

• You will attend our London office near Waterloo, London at least twice a week.

• Internal meetings take place either at our office near Waterloo, London or Spitalfields, London.

• Expenses will be covered other than for commuting to and from our offices.

Tellmi is committed to the safeguarding of unborn babies, children, families and adults. We aim to both protect users from harm and ensure that their right to confidentiality is properly upheld, in keeping with the law and good practice guidance. This role will involve obtaining an enhanced DBS check.