Can you tell us briefly about Richmond Fellowship?
We’re one of the largest voluntary sector providers of mental health services in England, with a turnover of £45m. The group as a whole is made up of Richmond Fellowship with 2Care, CAN, Croftlands Trust and My Time. Every year, we support more than 10,000 people through the provision of a diverse range of residential, community-based and employment services nationwide.
What are your plans for 2015 and beyond?
At the moment, we’re busy bringing an ambitious growth and quality improvement strategy to fruition. In the past year we’ve partnered with a number of like-minded organisations so that collectively we can offer a wider range of services and develop more innovative ways of providing support in the future.
Our aim is to inspire individual recovery nationwide and become a nationally recognised and influential expert in evidence-based recovery pathways. Between our organisations we’ve a track record of more than 200 years of developing and running personalised services but we haven’t been as visible or as vocal as we now hope we can be as a bigger group.
How do you hope to achieve your ambition?
We’re looking to recruit an integration programme manager early in 2015 on a 12-month contract basis. Whoever comes in will be working with the executive team at senior management level. They’ll be key in managing the process to integrate all of our partner organisations into a stronger group that can maximise our collective expertise and resources.
What sort of person are you looking for?
They’ll need to be commercially astute, with an inclusive and enabling personality. We’ll also be looking for a great track record and the ‘edge’ it takes to gain credibility at the top level. They’ll be liaising across the group with different departments and personalities so it’s vital they’ve got the right mix of experience of delivering business critical projects coupled with excellent persuasion and negotiation skills to take everyone with them on the change journey.
And what’s in it for them?
It’s a great opportunity for someone wanting to make a real and lasting difference to step in, make an impact and set us up for years of success to come. We also believe it’s just the sort of challenge to conquer that a lot of people in our sector would love to have on their CV.
Richmond Fellowship will be recruiting for other new roles over the coming months to support their planned expansion. To see their current vacancies, please click here.
Derek Caren is chief executive at Richmond Fellowship
