We have an exciting opportunity for an Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) to join the team in London, working 37.5 hours a week. This role involves both face to face and virtual support in a hybrid model of working, you will work from home, Victim Support Office in London.
Do you want to make a difference every day? Do you want to contribute to change & improvement for those who need it?
Do you have resilience & adaptability? Can you work effectively with a focus on customer service and care?
If yes, then we'd love to hear from you
What we offer:
At Victim Support we believe in attracting & retaining the best people and offer a competitive rewards & benefits package including:
- Flexible working options including hybrid working
- 28 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays, rising to 33 days plus Bank Holidays
- An extra day off for your birthday & options to buy or sell annual leave
- Pension with 5% employer contribution
- Enhanced sick pay allowances, maternity & paternity payments
- High Street, retail, holiday, gym, entertainment & leisure discounts
- Access to our financial wellbeing hub & salary deducted finance
- Employee assistance programme & wellbeing support
- Access to EDI networks and colleague cafes
- Cycle to work scheme & season ticket loans
- Ongoing training & support with opportunities for career development & progression
About the role:
This role is based in Islington (plus any information about travel, hybrid working, flexible)
As an Independent Domestic Violence Advocate you will:
- Implement effective ways of working with victims and those supporting them to increase safety and reduce harm.
- Provide a high-quality, front-line service to victims of domestic abuse, delivering a premium service prioritised according to risk, primarily focusing on victim/survivors aged 16+
- Work within a multi-agency framework consisting of the MARAC and local partnership responses to domestic abuse to keep safety central to all services for victims of domestic abuse.
You will need:
- Have a knowledge of help-seeking barriers and support needs of victims of domestic abuse (in heterosexual or same-sex relationships).
- Have a good understanding of domestic abuse including the impact of domestic abuse on victims and their children.
- Understand the principles of risk assessment, safety planning and risk management for victims of domestic abuse and their children
- Understand safeguarding issues, and the legal responsibilities surrounding these issues.
- Direct service delivery to victims of domestic abuse or other vulnerable people.
- Have excellent communication, negotiation and advocacy skills, both written and verbal when interacting with a range of agencies and individuals. Understand and be committed to equal opportunities and diversity issues in policy and practice.
- Have a strong crisis management skills and the ability to deal with stressful and difficult situations.
Please see attached Job Description and Person Specification for further details.
About Us:
Victim Support (VS) is an independent charity providing a range of specialist services to people who have been affected by crime across England and Wales. We work towards a world where there are fewer victims but who have stronger rights, better support and a real influence in the Criminal Justice System. Everyone at VS is driven by our Vision Ambitions and Values to play their part in making a difference for those who experience crime and traumatic events. Working for VS gives you the opportunity to play a key role in a national charity providing high quality services to victims and witnesses and being a vital force for change.
Victim Support are committed to recruiting with care and to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Background checks and Disclosed Barring Service checks may be required.
Victim Support strives to represent the diverse communities we serve and are passionate about creating an environment where all staff and volunteers feel respected and heard. Being a diverse organisation with an inclusive culture is integral to us being able to meet our aim of ensuring that anyone who is a victim of crime gets the support they need.
As part of our commitment to the Race at Work Charter we particularly welcome applicants from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. VS is also a Disability Confident Employer and we provide a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for candidates that are disabled and meet all essential criteria for a role.
If you have a disability, a learning difficulty such as dyslexia or a medical condition which you believe may affect your performance during any aspect of our selection process, we'll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to perform at your best.
How to apply:
To apply for this role please follow the link below to the Jobs page on our website and complete the application form demonstrating how you meet the essential shortlisting criteria.
We look forward to hearing from you.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early, if we receive enough suitable applications to take forward to interview prior to the published closing date.
If you have already registered & started an application, then we will contact you to advise of the amended closing date wherever possible.
Contract: Permanent
Hours & work pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week including regular weekend and evening working and shift patterns covering hours of 7.30am - 9pm.
Salary: £29,768
Location: St George's Hospital, London
Catch22 exists to help build a society where everyone has a good place to live, good people around them, and a fulfilling purpose. We call these our '3Ps'.
We achieve this in two ways. First, we improve lives on the frontline through delivery of public services. Secondly, we use our knowledge to change 'the system', to fix the complex web that can trap and disempower those it was set up to help. With the heart of a charity and the mindset of a business, we are uniquely placed to deliver on this challenging agenda.
Our Young People & Families (YP&F) Operational Hub delivers a wide range of integrated support services designed to help resolve complex difficulties experienced by young people and their families/carers.
Support is provided to people who find themselves in a range of circumstances; they may be missing from home or have emotional, housing or substance misuse issues. We also support families where parents/carers are experiencing domestic abuse, substance misuse, emotional issues, homelessness or unemployment. Whatever the situation, we work alongside young people and their carers to find a way of stabilising their lives.
Job Description
The Youth Violence Intervention Practitioner role is to be part of the youth work team within Redthread with a primary focus on youth violence interventions in a health care setting. In this role you will be part of the Youth Violence Intervention Programme team at St George's Hospital. You will support young people aged, 11-25 years old, who present to hospital following an incident of violence of for whom them there are concerns around exploitation or extra-familial farm. You will work with the young person in the hospital as well as supporting them post discharge to ensure they have the support in place that they need and want. Other tasks include:
- Hold a caseload and work with young people in a range of settings, including in A&E and on the wards, in the community, in face-to-face and group contexts, and promote their personal, educational, health and social development through all interactions.
- Assist with the on-going development of the service model to ensure that clients gain the maximum benefit from Redthread’s interventions.
- Ensure information resources such as client forms, databases and contact files are kept fully up-to-date and secure, in line with GDPR, the Data Protection Act and our Confidentiality Policy and Consent Policy. Maintain high quality recording of interventions with young people on our database, Threads, in line with Redthread’s best-practice requirements. (Training will be provided.)
- Collect and record evidence of project outcomes and young people’s achievements, to ensure the completion of monitoring forms and project progress reports as required.
- Maintain a good level of knowledge of the issues around youth violence and Child Exploitation.
- With guidance and support from the Team Leader, develop skills to further your work with the young people.
- Under the direction of the Team Leader, develop an imaginative programme of events, activities and other interventions which support Catch22’s mission.
- Actively research and network with other organisations working with young people in the area served by the hospital to ensure that the organisation as a whole has a good knowledge of other services and projects that may be of interest to the young people we work with or appropriate for us to refer to.
Qualifications
Experience:
- Significant professional experience of working with vulnerable young people in a range of activities and setting
- Experience of working as an effective team member
- Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team
- Experience of working autonomously
Knowledge:
- A thorough knowledge and understanding of the physical, social and emotional developmental needs of young people
- Understanding of the issues faced by young people living in inner city areas
- An awareness of child protection and safeguarding issues and knowledge of current best practice within the youth work sector
- A knowledge of best practice in case recording
Skills:
- Resilient and reflective
- Well-developed verbal and written communication skills and an ability to interact with both young people and adults on a one to one basis and in small groups, within a range of contexts
- Ability to plan and manage own workload
- Accurate data entry and record keeping and monitoring processes
- Ability to use up to date IT systems
Screening: Successful admission to post subject to enhanced DBS check, police vetting check, and employer Right To Work in the UK check. The post-holder must have right to work in the UK. Catch22 does not currently provide a licence to sponsor visas but please see this register to see those that do.
To Apply: Please provide follow the link where you be asked to share your CV and cover letter, along with the completion of the screening questions to express your interest in this opportunity. Please note, in the interest of safer recruitment and ensuring that applicants are a right fit for the role, submitted applications must contain a CV, satisfactory responses to the screening questions, and information detailing interest in the role, to be considered for this position.
Closing date: 10am Monday, 12th May.
Interviews will be held the week of 19th May.
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