Trustees Vacancies Recruitment
Hear Us Board of Directors/Trustees
Are you someone who has had an experience of mental distress and/or using mental health services?
Are you interested in being a Trustee of an independent mental health charity run by survivors and service users?
Hear Us has been running for over 20 Years as a not-for-profit organisation in Croydon. On 15th April 2010, Hear Us registered with the Charity Commission for charity status to give Hear Us a more independent and stronger voice in the community of Croydon.
Hear Us want to build a well-balanced and rounded board, hear us is looking for trustees with experience
Lived Mental Ill Health
Social Media and Marketing
Fundraising and Income Generation
Human Resources
Data Protection
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Financial Management and Strategy
We are looking for new trustees to join our committed and friendly Board. The Board appoints independent Trustees from a wide range of backgrounds and walks of life. Our membership elects member Trustees to ensure that all our work is grounded in the insight, practice, and ambitions of the organisations who make up our membership work directly with people and communities.
We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly encourage applications from people from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, disabled people and people from the LGBT+ community with skills in the areas identified above as we work towards becoming a fully representative Board.
We currently run the following projects
Our Welfare Rights Advice Project has helped thousands of vulnerable people make and maintain benefit claims. We also attend assessments and have won over 100% ESA & PIP tribunals. We support claimants to maintain their On-Line Universal Credit (UC) Claims; which is a major obstacle as many of our clients are illiterate or have no computer experience. We address immediate financial poverty through access to food banks and Discretionary Payments. Currently, we work very closely with Mind’s Welfare Benefits service and have close relationships with SLaM, Croydon Council and the DWP.
We run 10 Mental Health Open Forums each year. It is designed for service users to come together in a safe environment to meet commissioners and Service Providers, giving them a chance to ask questions and debate current and topical issues/services relevant to their recovery and wellbeing. Our forums also attract large numbers of carers and professionals.
Our Linkworking Project has been running for 17 years. Following the COVID-19 pandemic we currently run sessions weekly on the inpatient wards at the Bethlem Royal Hospital and in the community resource centres, Jennette Wallace House and Queens Resource Centre. These sessions are followed by a handover with ward/service managers to address immediate needs. Our project supports service users to understand their treatment, and services available to them and brings hope during dark and difficult times, in fact, many of our team joined after coming into contact with the project themselves. Our outcomes and qualitative data provide insight for the ICB and have a positive impact on local commissioning.
For our new Campaign Project, we wish to build a movement run and led by people with lived experience of mental ill health representing all communities initially in Croydon. This movement will educate, inform and influence change to improve the lives of some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in our communities through awareness raising, and campaigning for change in our public services and in the wider community.
If you think you have the skills, experience, and abilities or you are simply interested to know more please contact Tim Oldham on Tel: 020 8681 6888 or email: tim@hear-us.org
Tim Oldham
CEO
Orchard House
15a Purley Road
South Croydon
Surrey
CR2 6EZ
Tel: 020 8681 6888
Mobile: 07594 373 104
Email: tim@hear-us.org