Mental Health IDVA

Are you looking for a dynamic and rewarding role working for an organisation with the feminist agenda at the core of its ethos? Then Advance Charity could be the career choice for you!

We are looking for a Mental Health IDVA

Salary: £27,000 - £32,000 depending on experience.

Location: Hammersmith

Hours: 35 Hours per week

Contract: Permanent

This post is open to female applicants only as being female is deemed to be a genuine occupational requirement under Schedule 9, Paragraph 1 of the Equality Act 2010.

Please note : Any offer of employment will be made subject to references, confirmation of the right to work in the UK, and satisfactory enhanced DBS check.

About us

Advance is an award-winning and innovative women-only organisation, established in 1998, providing emotional and practical support to women and girls survivors of domestic abuse and supporting women with short-term sentences to reduce offending. We believe in empowering women and girls to lead safe, non-violent, equal lives so that they can flourish and contribute to the community.

We are a community-based organisation who lead in best practice approaches to supporting women in their local community. We achieve this by being available to meet and support women in local settings and at our women’s centres, and by working in close partnership with other agencies.

Our values are to listen and support, to empower and respect, collaboration, innovation, and accountability.

About the role:

We work within a coordinated partnership response to violence against women and girls as part of the Angelou Partnership. Within the partnership ADVANCE provides independent domestic abuse advocacy and support for women, children and young people who have experienced domestic abuse.

As the Mental Health IDVA you will work within a dynamic, fast paced, crisis intervention, advocacy and support service to ensure the voice of survivors informs every stage of the process specialising in working with clients for whom mental health is a factor. You will work within the team to make proactive contact and provide high quality advocacy and support based upon a client led needs and risk assessment to women, focusing on working with those aged 18 and over who access the domestic abuse service.

You will be delivering one-off drop-in sessions for clients referred via LBHF Talking Therapies and we are aiming to expand these drop-in sessions to the other two boroughs in this new financial year (RBKC & WCC).

To be successful as the Mental Health IDVA you will need the below experience and skills:

You’ll need to have an excellent understanding of domestic abuse and its effects on women and children and of best practice within the domestic abuse sector. As an experienced domestic abuse advocate who has worked with complex and multiple needs, you will be skilled in risk management and safety planning, remaining calm in a crisis and in handling sensitive information on a daily basis. Experience of direct work with female survivors of domestic abuse, of supporting women involved in mental health services, and of working within safeguarding procedures is essential for this post, as is the need to adopt and promote a strong partnership approach to service provision.

In short, you will:

· Establish positive, proactive and innovative working relationships with mental health services and partner agencies.

· Provide high-quality crisis intervention, information, advocacy, and proactive support to women referred to the service, in respect to risk management and safety planning, criminal and civil remedies, housing, health, welfare rights, and children’s legislation.

· Assess the needs and risks of survivors, carry out short and longer-term risk management, safety planning and support and identify and refer to services appropriate to their needs.

· Advise women of their rights and options for seeking help and support from other agencies and proactively advocate to ensure barriers to accessing support and protection are reduced.

· Work with mental health service providers to introduce the service and encourage practitioners to identify domestic abuse, respond appropriately and refer to the service.

We recognise that women often only apply to roles if they meet 100% of the criteria. We encourage you to demonstrate how your skills and experience would make you an asset to the role, and if you don’t have the exact skills/experience, tell us in your cover letter how you think you might grow and develop in the role.

How to apply:

Please apply with an up to date copy of your CV and a cover letter via our careers site.

• Closing Date for Applications: Sunday 26th April 2026

• Interviews are taking place on a rolling basis

*Advance reserves the right to close the advert early, or on the appointment of a candidate.

What we can offer you - Employee Benefits:

• A 35-hour working week

• An exceptional 30 days of paid holiday per year (pro rata for part time), PLUS public holidays on top (that's nearly 40 days paid holiday per year!)

• Additional days off to celebrate International Women’s Day , and for religious observance and moving home

• Perkbox - an employee discount platform where you can receive free rewards as well as take advantage of savings on clothes, groceries, travel, leisure and more

• Pension scheme

• Enhanced maternity/adoption provision

• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme

• Employee eye-care scheme

• Clinical supervision for front line staff and first line management roles

• Refer a Friend Scheme - £250 for each referral who passes probation

• Organisation wide away days

• Thorough induction and training

• Career development pathways

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Under the Equality Act 2010, we are required to make any reasonable adjustments. If you have a disability as defined under this act and/or have special needs, please email the Talent Acquisition Team via the Advance website and will aim to make the necessary arrangements to accommodate your needs.

Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunities

We are committed to providing equality of opportunity and actively seek to recruit people from groups underrepresented in our current team. We have policies and processes in place to ensure that all employees are offered an equal opportunity in recruitment and selection, promotion, training, pay and benefits.

Safeguarding

Advance is committed to safeguarding and creating a culture of zero-tolerance of harm and expects all staff, including volunteers to share this commitment. We believe all individuals have the right to live their life free from violence and abuse and the right to feel and be safe. We have a suite of safeguarding policies, procedures and practice guidance, accessible to all staff, which promotes safeguarding and safer working practices across all our services and activities. When we recruit staff, we follow rigorous safer recruitment practices, this involves carrying out pre-employment checks including references, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, and identity checks. We ensure all staff undertake mandatory safeguarding training relevant to their role and responsibilities, to empower them to be competent and feel confident in recognising and responding appropriately to safeguarding issues and promote wellbeing.