Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) Team Leader
| Reports To: | Head of Service |
| Direct Reports: | Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) Practitioner |
| Location: | Community venues across Hampshire and Southampton |
| (locality-based deployment to minimise travel) | |
| Hours: | 20hours per week |
| Salary: | £15,978.38 to £18,080 per annum (£29,560 to £33,448 full time |
| equivalent) - Solent Mind Band D | |
| Contract: | Permanent |
Purpose:
To provide operational leadership for the Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) service across Hampshire and Southampton, ensuring safe, high-quality and consistent delivery across multiple venues and facilitators. The Team Leader will oversee rotas, referral flow, quality assurance and performance reporting; provide supervision and competency support to practitioners; lead safeguarding and risk management processes; and maintain strong partnerships with MAS/OPCMHTs and other stakeholders to ensure continuity of care.
Key Duties
Leadership, operational management and service delivery
Lead day-to-day operations of the CST service, ensuring delivery aligns with the service specification, CST model fidelity and organisational policies.
Develop and manage rotas to deliver concurrent CST cohorts across a large geography, balancing locality deployment, continuity, resilience and cover for absence.
Coordinate the duty system/shared inbox and ensure referrals and enquiries are managed safely, consistently and within KPI timescales (e.g., timely first contact).
Oversee cohort scheduling, venue selection and capacity planning; publish and maintain an annual/rolling calendar of groups and update quarterly in line with demand and commissioner review.
Provide expert input to complex cases, suitability decisions and adjustments; support practitioners to manage challenging dynamics and retain participants safely.
Where required, directly co-facilitate CST sessions to maintain clinical/practice leadership and provide additional delivery capacity.
Ensure effective volunteer integration into groups, including role clarity, safe practice and escalation routes.
Quality assurance, supervision and workforce development
Provide structured supervision to CST Practitioners (e.g., monthly one to ones) and facilitate regular team reflective practice focused on CST delivery, inclusion, risk and learning.
Undertake and coordinate observed practice, peer observation and fidelity audits to ensure consistent session quality across facilitators and locations.
Support induction, onboarding and competency sign-off for new practitioners and volunteers, including shadowing opportunities and use of service playbooks/templates.
Identify training needs and coordinate dementia-specific and CST training; support continuous professional development and wellbeing at work.
Contribute to recruitment, selection and probation management for roles within the CST team, ensuring safer recruitment practices are followed.
Safeguarding, risk management and governance
Act as the service lead for safeguarding practice within CST, ensuring staff and volunteers understand and apply safeguarding procedures, including recording and escalation pathways.
Provide safeguarding advice and case consultation to practitioners; escalate high-risk or complex concerns to Designated Safeguarding Leads as required.
Oversee incident, complaint and near-miss reporting; ensure timely investigation, learning and service improvements are implemented and documented.
Ensure dynamic risk assessment is embedded in delivery, including clear pause/transfer criteria and liaison with referrers/MDT where safety concerns emerge.
Maintain appropriate records and ensure lawful information-sharing practices in line with GDPR, organisational IG requirements and local multi-agency processes.
Partnerships, communications and stakeholder management
Serve as a key point of contact for partners and stakeholders, maintaining effective relationships with MAS/OPCMHTs, Adult Social Care, PCNs/social prescribers and VCSE organisations.
Coordinate regular locality coordination touchpoints/meetings to support referral quality, reasonable adjustments, risk communication and continuity of care.
Ensure clear communications to participants and carers regarding schedules, venues, expectations and support; promote equitable access and culturally sensitive delivery.
Contribute to awareness-raising and engagement activity (e.g., pathway briefings, community events) to support appropriate referrals and reach.
Performance management, data and reporting
Oversee the use of the service CRM to ensure high-quality data capture for referrals, waiting times, attendance, outcomes, equality information (where appropriate), and incidents/complaints.
Monitor KPIs and service performance using dashboards and routine reports; identify trends (e.g., DNAs, cancellations, geographic demand) and implement corrective actions.
Prepare and contribute to monthly and quarterly reports and contract review meetings with commissioners, including narrative learning and improvement actions.
Maintain a performance improvement approach when KPIs or quality indicators are not being met, including root-cause analysis and time-bound action plans.
General:
Adhere to the aims, values, policies and procedures of Solent Mind, particularly safeguarding and health & safety.
This list is non exhaustive and other duties may be required to meet the needs of Solent Mind.
PERSON SPECIFICATION Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) Team Leader
| Requirement | Essential or Desirable |
| Qualifications/Education/Training: | |
| Educated to a minimum level 2 standard or extensive relevant experience | Essential |
| Accredited CST training and experience of delivering CST to model fidelity. | Desirable |
| Formal qualification in health/social care/psychology/leadership (or equivalent experience). | Desirable |
| Experience: | |
| Significant experience working with people living with dementia/older adults, including group facilitation and person-centred interventions. Experience of supervising, coaching or leading staff/volunteers, including providing | Essential |
| reflective practice and performance support. | Essential |
| Experience in service performance reporting to commissioners or funders. Experience of implementing quality assurance processes (audit, observation frameworks, | Desirable Desirable |
| SOP development). | |
| Knowledge/Skills/Competencies: Strong understanding of safeguarding adults, mental capacity, risk management and | Essential |
| safe information-sharing. Ability to manage a dispersed service across multiple venues, including rota planning | Essential |
| and problem-solving in a fast-moving environment. Excellent communication and relationship-building skills with participants, carers and | Essential |
| multi-disciplinary professionals. Ability in using IT/CRM systems for oversight, reporting and quality improvement | |
| Knowledge of dementia pathways and system partners (MAS/OPCMHTs, social | Essential |
| prescribing, Adult Social Care). Other: | Desirable |
| Commitment to Solent Mind's values | Essential |
| Commitment to Solent Mind's Equal Opportunities and Diversity and Inclusion Policies | Essential |
| Willingness to undergo a relevant DBS Check if required | Essential |
| Wilingness to travel across Hampshire/Southampton as required and full UK Driving | Essential |
| License. | |
| Willingness to work on Saturdays as service need. Ability to work flexible hours if required | Essential Desirable |