Work for Think Ahead

We believe everyone living with mental health needs should be empowered to live the life they want and deserve. To achieve this we need a thriving mental health workforce.

We’re proud to have a talented and passionate Head Office team, working towards our vision of a thriving mental health workforce.

Whether your skills lie in project management, communications or finance, the work you do with us will have a direct impact on helping people with mental health needs to live the life they want and deserve.

Any vacancies for our Head Office team will be posted here.

Communications officer

  • Salary: £30,600
  • Contract: 6-month fixed term contract, with potential to extend to 12 months
  • Working pattern: Full time (4 days a week or condensed hours considered)
  • Location: Hybrid until March with one or two days required in the office in Farringdon. (Think Ahead’s hybrid working model is currently under review).
  • Closing date: 9am, Wednesday 26 November
  • Interview dates: Tuesday 9 December and Wednesday 10 December

Download our Communications Officer job pack

If you have a passion for storytelling, digital communications and using your creativity to make a social impact, this is an exciting opportunity to join our mental health charity as our Communications Officer, working across the full communications mix.

Think Ahead supports people living with mental health needs by supporting a strong and thriving mental health workforce. We know that good mental health care means looking at the whole person and the social determinants of their health – their home, relationships, finances, work and community.
As Communications Officer you will:

    • Support the organisation to secure new work and diversify our income streams through effective, targeted communications.
    • Advocate for mental health practitioners, and for social approaches in mental health, including through our campaigning, research and external engagement.
    • Amplify Think Ahead’s profile and key messages through compelling storytelling, content creation and media work.

This is an excellent opportunity for a creative and proactive communicator to develop their skills in a collaborative team and make a real difference at a pivotal time for Think Ahead.

It is an exciting time to join Think Ahead as we diversify our income and drive new business across our portfolio of training, workforce development, research and campaigning.

We are currently funded by the Department of Health and Social Care until August 2027.

Who we’re looking for

We’re looking for someone who is creative, proactive and motivated, with a talent for clear, compelling and engaging communication, and a genuine interest in mental health and social change. You’ll bring strong writing and digital skills, and an eye for engaging content that connects with different audiences.

You’ll have experience working in a communications or media role, ideally within a charity, public sector or values-driven organisation. You’ll be confident managing content across websites, social media and email marketing. An understanding of media relations and curiosity about how communications can support growth, influence and impact will also be valuable.

You’ll be comfortable juggling multiple priorities, collaborating with colleagues, and taking initiative in a fast-paced environment. Most importantly, you’ll share our commitment to improving the lives of people with mental health needs.

What we can offer you

We offer excellent employee benefits, including generous annual leave entitlement (28 days) plus additional office closure over Christmas, enhanced family-friendly leave, flexible working around our core hours of 10am to 4pm, a matched pension scheme with up to 7% employer contributions, an employee assistance programme and more.

How to apply

Please provide a CV and a supporting statement (max 2 pages) outlining your fit for the role based on the person specification and email these to hr@thinkahead.org. Please also fill in our equality and diversity monitoring form.

We will use both the CV and the supporting statement to enable us to shortlist and invite candidates for interview.

Download our Communications Officer job pack 

Our benefits

We know that choosing a job goes beyond pay. When working at Think Ahead, you’ll be surrounded by a great team of people driven by the same motivation for mental health.

Our benefits are a way of recognising and rewarding employees for the important work they do. Our benefits offer is regularly reviewed to ensure that we have the best offer we can.

Office & commuting

  • Hybrid until March with one or two days required in the office in Farringdon. (Think Ahead’s hybrid working model is currently under review).

Pay & pension

  • Transparent pay structure.
  • Auto-enrolment in our Aviva pension scheme.
  • Up to 7% employer contributions dependent on matched contribution from employee.

Family life & work

  • Enhanced occupational maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave policies and time off for IVF/fertility appointments.

Holidays & time off

  • 28 days annual leave per annum plus UK bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time employees).
  • Entitlement rising to 29 days (pro-rata for part-time staff) after three years’ service.
  • Office closure between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.
  • Opportunity to carry over up to five days (pro rata for part-time employees) into the following annual leave year.
  • Support for external volunteering including two paid volunteering days.

Community & wellbeing

  • Access to mental health first aiders.
  • Staff away days.
  • Access to an employee assistance programme through Health Assured and We Care.

Flexible working

  • Hybrid working environment, with expectation staff will be in the office roughly one to two days per week.
  • Core hours of 10.00am to 4.00pm to enable flexibility within the workday to accommodate individual preferences.
  • Provision of equipment needed to work comfortably at home and on the move.
  • Flexible working options to support those with caring responsibilities.

Health

  • Free eye test every two years and contribution towards cost of any glasses required due to work.
  • Generous paid sick leave based on service.
  • Life assurance – flat £100k benefit.

Diversity and inclusion

We strive to promote Equality, Diversity and Inclusion throughout our work and our culture. We know the value of diversity and are actively seeking to be as inclusive as possible and bring more people from different backgrounds into our organisation.

We are committed to creating a safe and empowering work environment that is inclusive to all our colleagues and partners.

We are transparent about what needs to change; we’ve worked hard to make improvements to our processes and have plans to keep building on our progress so far. Some of this work includes:

Recruitment processes

We are committed to continuously improving our recruitment processes to make them as inclusive as possible.

We always do our best to accommodate reasonable adjustments where they are needed to participate fully in the recruitment process and will work with you to find out how we can best support you.

EDI Action Group

Our cross-organisational equality, diversity and inclusion action group leads on recommending improvements in this area.

Any staff member is welcome to join the group.

Employer accreditations

We have made a number of other commitments including being a living wage employer and a commitment to being a disability confident employer.

We are also a member of the Employer’s Network for Equality and Inclusion.

Our values

Everyone who is part of Think Ahead is guided by our values. They were developed in collaboration with the people we work most closely with – including mental health and social work professionals, people with lived experience of mental ill-health, and supporters of our work.

In pursuing our goals, we each aim to be:

  • Inclusive
  • Genuine
  • Determined
  • Inspirational
  • Effective

We embrace working with anyone who shares our goals and our values, and we aim to promote equality and diversity across all areas of our work – from the way we recruit mental health social work trainees and head office staff, to what we teach on our flagship programme and how we design and deliver it.

We believe that working with a diverse range of people and honouring different perspectives is not only the right thing to do, but it also adds tremendous value – and is fundamental in working towards a society where everyone living with mental health needs can live the life they want and deserve.

Find out more

For further information please contact:
hr@thinkahead.org