Job Description

Job Category: Professional and Managerial
Degree Level: First Degree
:
Job Posting Title: Student Wellbeing Mental Health Mentor
Grade and Salary: Grade 7
FTE and working pattern: 0.6 FTE, Part time (working 3 days a week)
Directorate: Registry and Academic Support
Start date for the role: 05 January 2026
About our School/Directorate and Team: The Global Registry and Academic Support Directorate supports our students and staff across the full student life-cycle from enrolment to graduation.
The Directorate has responsibility as the definitive record-keeper of all student information, programme and course details, as well as leading services that help students settle and stay at the University. This includes providing professional help and advice through a range of support and wellbeing services.
The Directorate supports academic and professional services staff across the University in a number of areas, including: academic, institutional and student-related Regulations and Policies, and global, national and institutional quality matters.
It delivers these services through five Divisions, each managed by a Global Head, and two Heads of Campus Registry and Student Services:

• Student Life
• Online Students
• Academic Operations
• Academic Quality
• Academic Secretariat, Regulation and Policy
• Head of Registry & Student Services - Dubai Campus
• Head of Registry & Student Services - Malaysia Campus

The Student Life Division in Dubai is made up of five key areas:

• Student Service Centre: A single point of access for students that delivers a consistent student experience, including face-to-face and virtual services (e.g. enrolment, student account payments, student records, etc.)
• Student Records: Responsible for the management of back-office functions to support the Student Service Centre, acts as the definitive record-keeper of the student records, and manages standard/consistent processes for all student transactions (e.g. transfer, Temporary Suspension of Studies, etc.).
• Wellbeing: Provides a range of services to support the student journey including support for people of determination, mental health, and retention activities.
• Careers Service: Delivers career and employability advice to students and recent alumni, working closely with local and global employers, and with Heriot-Watt's Schools supporting the employability strands.
• Student Engagement: Supports the Student Council, and coordinates activities and events for students to facilitate their extra-curricular development and build community.

Purpose of Role
Heriot-Watt University, in common with all other Higher Education Institutions, has seen a significant rise in both the extent and severity of mental health difficulties in the student community. The main purpose of student wellbeing is to provide advice, information and support to undergraduate and postgraduate students throughout the student lifecycle from enrolment to graduation.
The role involves assessing the needs of students referred to the service who present with emotional difficulties to ensure that appropriate interventions are delivered for students. Additionally, provide support for students with enduring mental health difficulties and with students of determination, working closely with other University services including the Determination Advisor and the Wellbeing Counsellors.
The successful candidate will carry a caseload of students who need ongoing support. Interventions will focus on providing on-going mentoring, developing ongoing support plans to support academic success (including the development of organizational skills, personal motivation and time management); providing therapeutic support; making referrals to external agencies; and liaising with external professionals to ensure appropriate care and support.
There are no line management responsibilities for this role currently.
Summary of Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• To undertake assessments of the individual support requirements of students with enduring mental health problems or disability, and to co-ordinate support in conjunction with the University support services and external practices.
• To accept referrals from colleagues and provide individual support to students, to enable them to manage their mental health and to help them realise their potential during their time at the University.
• To work with individual students on the development of bespoke strategies to support independent study, self-management, time management and personal motivation.
• To provide professional support for an agreed priority caseload of students experiencing significant mental health difficulties and to deliver specialist individual sessions to assess and manage changing levels of risk.
• To work closely with colleagues to ensure a holistic approach for students who have disclosed a mental health disability, raising awareness of the support available to them to enable full engagement with all aspects of university life.
• To provide group support for students with mental health difficulties as agreed with the Wellbeing Manager, and in close liaison with the Determination Advisor.
• To maintain confidential client records to a professional standard and to liaise with other professionals to help manage risks faced by individual students.
• To communicate effectively across a wide range of audiences including academic colleagues and student bodies.
• To lead the development and implementation of university activities and campaigns to proactively promote mental health and disability inclusion through education and prevention-focused strategies.
• To identify students who are returning from Temporary Suspension of Study owing to a mental health crisis and provide support for their transition back into study.
• To provide crisis response and occasional out of hours support, liaising with relevant staff and external agencies.

Education, Qualifications & Experience:
Essential

• Minimum of an Undergraduate Degree in a Mental Health related field (e.g. Psychology, Counselling, Social Work, Mental Health Nursing, or a related field).
• A Postgraduate qualification is preferable (Master's or Postgraduate Diploma).
• Minimum of 3-5 years' experience in a mental health role, ideally within an educational or youth-focused setting.
• Demonstrated experience in:

• Conducting psychosocial or mental health assessments.
• Delivering individual therapeutic or psychoeducational interventions.
• Supporting individuals with enduring mental health conditions and/or disabilities.
• Developing support plans that foster independence, academic success, and wellbeing.
• Risk assessment and management of students in distress or crisis.

• Making referrals and coordinating with external mental health or disability services.
• Experience in awareness-raising initiatives related to wellbeing and disability support.

Skills and Competencies:

• Excellent case management and risk management skills, with the ability to manage a complex caseload and intervene in crisis situations.
• Ability to develop support strategies for students with a range of psychological or learning needs.
• Cultural competency and ability to work with students from diverse backgrounds in a student-centered approach to support.
• Excellent case documentation skills and familiarity with confidentiality protocols.
• Demonstrable ability to work quickly, flexibly and accurately in a dynamic, changing and pressured environment.
• Strong interpersonal, communication and problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrable professional and proactive approach.
• Capacity to work both independently and collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team.

Desirable

• Experience of working in a Higher Education setting.

Heriot-Watt University Values
With a history dating back to 1821, Heriot-Watt University has established a reputation for world-class teaching and professionally relevant, leading-edge research, which has made it one of the top UK universities for business and industry.
We are a vibrant, forward-looking university, well known for the quality of our degrees with employers actively seeking out our graduates. Heriot-Watt is also Scotland's international university with an unsurpassed international in-country presence. We deliver degree programmes to circa 30,000 students in 143 countries around the world, have a further overseas campus in Dubai and boast the largest international student cohort in Scotland.
At Heriot-Watt we've created an environment that nurtures innovation and leadership - where our researchers, staff and students can realise their potential and develop their ambitions.
We are proud of our collegiate atmosphere and integrated teaching and research approach which has helped to build a community of committed academics and highly motivated students. Our focus on careers delivers results and we've an excellent reputation for graduate employability.
In addition to the Edinburgh campus, we currently have campuses in the Scottish Borders, Orkney, Dubai and Malaysia. For all of our campuses we aim to provide stimulating, supportive environments conducive to effective learning and research, where staff and students can excel. At Heriot-Watt, we have an established set of values that help us to nurture innovation and leadership, and show our commitment to continuous improvement and development in all our activities.
Our values describe our deeply held beliefs and our community spirit. They characterise not only how we are as a higher education institution but also frame how we want to be.
Our values are:

• Belong
• Collaborate
• Inspire
• Celebrate

As learning, living and working institution, we use our values as the building blocks of how we go about doing our work and how we each conduct ourselves as members of Heriot-Watt University. They represent what binds us together as a University community and help us to become the best at what we do.
For full details on our University, please view our website
'How to Apply'
Please submit your CV and a cover letter setting out how you meet the criteria for this role.
Shortlisted candidates may be invited to complete an on-demand-video interview as the first stage of the selection process. Successful candidates will then proceed to in-person formal interviews at our Dubai campus, where you will be asked to deliver a brief presentation on a relevant topic. Following the formal interview, the preferred candidate will attend a second interview with senior staff at the Dubai campus before a final offer decision is made.
Start date for this role is set to be 05 January 2026
At Heriot Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.
Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.
Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.
The appointment is conditional upon successful completion of all Labor and Immigration formalities, and the start date will need to be delayed if the employment visa is not in place.

Skills Required