Assistant director of mental health & autism

Assistant Director of Mental Health & Autism

Location: Central Office - Reigate / Hybrid Working with a requirement to travel to services.

Service Descriptions

Supported living, Crisis Intervention, Specialist services, and multisite management.

The Assistant Director of Mental Health & Autism is responsible for overseeing the operations of Active Prospects' Mental Health and Autism services, ensuring that support provided is tailored to individuals, flexible, and promotes independence and personal development. This role requires creativity, enthusiasm, a strong commitment to values, and significant strategic management experience in health and social care commissioned provision.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage operations of Mental Health and Autism services across Active Prospects, and develop and apply operational best practice.
• Drive positive cultural change, embodying and promoting the values and behaviours of Active Prospects, empower people to reach their full potential and lead an aspiring life. Implement and lead wellbeing outcomes to measure and drive the impact of support delivery.
• Safeguarding, incident management, clinical support, managing multidisciplinary teams and risk management for individuals and Active Prospects.
• Manage voids, referrals, marketing opportunities, cost models, local council and health commissioning frameworks and tenders.
• Lead on the care systems within the designated areas to ensure utilisation of support staff is in line with delivery of contracts and support hours, and analyse trends and concerns including under or over provisions of budgets.
• Develop partnerships with local and national health and social care organisations, lead on social value and collaboration initiatives that benefit Active Prospects and share relevant knowledge internally.
• Deputise in the absence of the Director of Care; pursue opportunities for further qualifications and lifelong learning, maintain up‑to‑date knowledge and skills, and engage with broader social care networks at both local and national levels.

Qualifications and Experience

We seek a professional who has significant experience in developing and providing health and social care services for people living with mental health conditions and autism, especially those who have spent extended periods in hospital. The ideal candidate will possess commercial finance expertise, understand the political context within Adult Social Care and ICB NHS partners, and can effectively build relationships to drive actions and results.

Demonstrate exemplary leadership in promoting innovation and implementing best practices, drawing on extensive senior management experience and a thorough understanding of dual diagnoses within neurodiverse groups. Expertise should include mental health, self‑harm prevention and suicide prevention initiatives, and consistently excel in fostering collaboration between health and social care sectors.

Key Competencies

Proven collaboration, strategic insight through partnership with colleagues and stakeholders, and an integral role in Active Prospects' ongoing improvement, achievement of strategic goals, and delivery of high‑quality services for those we support.