Emotional Support Worker Jobs in Abingdon, Oxfordshire

HMP Bullingdon, Oxfordshire

Ref SEF-242

Are you a dynamic and collaborative individual who wants to support people entering prison to gain the skills and tools to develop their emotional resilience? Looking for an exciting and highly rewarding new career opportunity?

If so, join St Giles as our Settling in Facilitator, where you will provide vital classroom sessions on emotional resilience to all new prison receptions and deliver tailored one-to-one support to people in prison who are not able to access the classroom sessions.

About St Giles

St Giles is an award-winning social justice charity using expertise and real-life past experiences to empower people who are not getting the help they need. People held back by poverty, exploited, abused, dealing with addiction or mental health problems, caught up in crime or a combination of these issues and others. We show people there is a way to build a better future for themselves and those they care about and help them create this through support, advice, and training. Our peer-led services form the backbone of our work, putting people with lived experience at the centre of delivery, design, and evaluation of support and services across the UK.

About this key role

As a Settling in Facilitator, you will be embedded within a prison-based setting and provide a quality service to people first entering prison. We will count on you to prepare, plan, and deliver the emotional resilience interactive sessions to individuals in prison, ensuring all sessions are appropriate and contextualised to reflect the local needs of the prison and its changing population and utilising expertise around lived experience and local knowledge to empower people in prison.

You will also be expected to deliver additional tailored sessions to individuals who are unable to attend the group sessions or require additional support and to use a trauma-informed approach to build trust and create a safe space for people in prison to explore challenging and potentially traumatic issues and topics.

What we are looking for

• Personal experience of the social care system; criminal justice system; or lived experience of the issues facing this client group. However, we also encourage applications from those without lived experience.

• The ability to build positive relationships with people in prison and be comfortable and confident working in the prison environment.

• A professionally competent approach and confidence facilitating group sessions, as well as being able to tailor the support given to meet the needs of people in prison. 

• An invested interest in supporting people in prison to develop healthy coping strategies.

• Excellent interpersonal, relationship-building and communication skills, verbal and written.

What we will do to support you in this role

We will provide the following resources to assist in the successful achievement of the responsibilities outlined above:

• A full induction. 

• On-going and targeted learning and development will support and enable you to deliver the role to a high standard.

• Continuous support and supervision including reflective practice to develop your learning and skills as a practitioner.

In return, you can expect a competitive salary, generous leave allowance, staff pension, flexible working, a mentoring programme, an advice and counselling service, 4x Group Life Insurance, season ticket loan, eyecare scheme and much more.

Due to the nature of this role, we are looking for male applicants only. The Equality Act 2010, Schedule 9, Part 1, Paragraph 1 applies to this post.

For further details on how to apply, click on the apply button. 

Closing date: 02 June 2024 11:45pm. 

We are actively reviewing applications week-to-week and encourage you to apply as soon possible.

As an equity and inclusive employer, we welcome all applications, but we would particularly welcome applications from Global Majority People (Black, Asian, Brown, Dual Heritage), those living with a disability, those from a neurodiverse group, or have another protected characteristic. We value the positive impact and diversity that your lived experience can bring to our organisation.

As an organisation that works with children and adults at risk we are committed to safeguarding, protecting and promoting the safety of our clients. Successful applicants must therefore submit an Enhanced Adult Workforce with Adult Barred List DBS DBS Check. Prison vetting is also a requirement for the role.

We have an exciting opportunity for an Adult Caseworker (known internally as an Independent Victim Advocate) to join the team in Wiltshire, working 37.5 hours a week.

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
• Pension with 5% employer contribution
• Enhanced sick pay allowances, maternity & paternity payments
• High Street, retail, holiday, entertainment & leisure discounts
• Access to our financial wellbeing hub & salary deducted finance
• Employee assistance programme & wellbeing support
• Ongoing training & support with opportunities for career development & progression

About the role:

This role is home-based with regular travel throughout Wiltshire and Swindon. As this role involves regular travel and due to the location, a driving license and access to a vehicle is considered an essential requirement.

As an adult caseworker you will:

• Ensure the delivery of excellent services to victims of crime through the direct provision of information and practical and emotional help from the point of crime, and onwards throughout the criminal justice process, where appropriate
• Ensure that the overall aim of helping people cope and recover from the effects of crime is achieved
• Act as a single point of contact, to undertake effective need and risk assessments of victims and their circumstances
• Coordinate the overall delivery of the cope and recovery plan and recovery journey, working closely with other service providers to meet the needs of victims to enable them to cope and recover from the impact of crime

You will need:

• Experience of delivering a service and working directly with service users in a statutory, voluntary or community work setting
• Experience of working with vulnerable adults and/or families
• Understanding and knowledge of an active commitment to promoting equal opportunities, inclusion and diversity
• Ability to work without direct supervision, prioritise work and deal with competing or conflicting demands/ needs and interests in an organised and methodical manner
• Ability to needs assess, risk assess and empathise with the victim

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.

We’re extremely proud of the support we offer to those living with inherited, progressive sight loss.  Our services provide a safe place to find accurate information about inherited retinal conditions; to ask questions and share thoughts, feelings and anxieties with those who genuinely understand.

We are growing our information and support service and looking for two Helpline and Information Coordinators to join our team  working 21 hrs per week.

You will be the first point of contact for our telephone helpline, actively listening to callers, assessing their needs and providing high quality information and signposting to Retina UK’s resources including our amazing team of lived experience volunteers who will provide emotional support and guidance as well as coping strategies.  We believe that our community deserve the very best support and you will be the professional face of our telephone helpline.

Additionally, you will have responsiblity for the development of information materials and online resources, further enhancing the support we offer to our community.  We are looking for someone with previous experience in a similar role with a charity or in an eye health and social care setting.  If you want to ensure that people living with inherited, progressive sight loss have the best support experience when they really need it, we’d love to hear from you.

The closing date is Sunday, 28 April, interviews will be held on 7 and 8 May at our Buckingham office. We do reserve the right to close this advertisement early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.

This role will be homebased, however regular attendance at our Buckingham office will be required. We offer a generous annual leave entitlement, company pension, a confidential employee assistance programme, eye testing, current statutory leave provisions (ie dependant care) and flexible working.

About us:

Action for M.E. is the only charity in the UK providing direct support including healthcare to children and adults with M.E.. We provide vital support services, campaign for change and invest in ground-breaking research to help put an end to the ignorance, injustice and neglect experienced by people with M.E.
 

Opportunity: 

Having been paused to new referrals, Action for M.E.’s free, independent, Adults Advocacy service will soon be re-opening. It’s one of our range of free Support Services that work with adults, young people, and/or families living with M.E. We support colleagues across the team to take part in and share reflective practice, self-care, peer-support and training.

Our Adults Advocacy service offers non-statutory, single-issue, instructed advocacy for adults with a confirmed diagnosis of M.E. We encourage self-advocacy where possible, though many of our clients are too severely affected by M.E. to be able to take undertake this.  

As an Adults Advocate, you will manage a caseload of clients, as well as inputting and contributing to the triage process along with your Advocacy colleagues. You will meet with clients by phone, email, Zoom and/or SMS; we can also facilitate communication by post if this is required. We are not able to offer home visits or face to face meetings.

What we can offer you:

We offer fully remote and flexible working with generous annual leave (30 days plus bank holidays, pro rata). The wellbeing of our staff is important to us, we offer a range of benefits to employees including (but not limited to) access to free counselling and voluntary wellbeing weekday sessions, examples of recent sessions include guided group meditations and a book club. 

To view the full job description, download the job pack, and apply for this role, please visit our Recruitee site (please note that we only accept applications via Recruitee; any application sent directly to an Action for M.E. mailbox will not be considered).

Should you have any questions about the role, or require any reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to contact our recruitment team, details of how to do this are contained in the application pack, "how to apply" section. 

Contract: Fixed Term Contract – March 2025

We are looking for an experienced and passionate Senior Project Officer o work as part of our Physical Activity and Health Team.

Imagine being part of an organisation whose common purpose is to help those who are severely impacted by mental illness. We believe that everyone should be treated with respect and dignity – and that’s why equity is one of our core values. We draw on the expertise, unique perspectives and lived experience of our people – regardless of who they are or their background – to help us become inclusive and anti-racist employer, campaigning organisation and service provider that reflect the diverse communities we support as a mental health charity.

At Rethink Mental Illness we believe in the importance and value of the voice of lived experience in shaping not only our project work, but as the ‘golden thread’ through all our work. We have a proven track record of consistently overcoming perceived barriers when engaging with people severely affected by mental illness. Physical activity plays a valuable part of supporting the physical and mental health of people severely affected by mental illness. We want to ensure local systems encourage and support people to be physically active, ensuring the voice of lived experience is key to decisions being made about physical activity opportunities and physical healthcare services.

How you will make a difference

I support key projects to increase opportunities for people severely affected by mental illness and their carers to improve their physical activity levels, physical health and quality of life.

I support the work of the Physical Activity and Physical Health team within Rethink Mental Illness. This includes supporting the successful delivery of a Sport England funded project to embed system level change in Tower Hamlets and North East Lincolnshire to reduce barriers to physical activity for people severely affected by mental illness.  

I liaise with internal and external stakeholders to support the smooth running and delivery of project activity. I also support the wider team on physical health and activity related projects.

*Appointments will be at the minimum of the band.

*London Allowance is paid for roles that are based within the Greater London area only.

We do reserve the right to close this advertisement early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications. 

Please see further details on our website

You can also follow us on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram and LinkedIn to find out more about the work we do!

Don’t meet all requirements?

If the role sounds exciting to you but your experience, skills or qualifications don’t exactly match every single requirement, we still encourage you to apply, you may be just the right person for our position!

Caring for our people.

We offer a wide range of support. Some of our benefits include:

• PULSE: our recognition, rewards, wellbeing, and benefits platform. Providing access to thousands of discounts and benefits including cashback; reloadable cards; savings etc. As well as being able to thank colleagues and nominate them for awards. 
• Wagestream: gives you instant access to up to 50% of your pay. Also provides a library of expert tools, tips and articles plus, helps you start building a rainy-day pot straight from your salary.
• Wellbeing support: our Wellbeing hub gives physical, emotional, and mental health support. We also have a BUPA Employee Assistance Programme with access to appointments. 
• Taking time for you: we work flexibly –you get to choose where you work, managing your own diary. We have generous annual leave, starting at 25 rising to 30 days, plus bank holidays, as well as your birthday off. We also offer the opportunity to buy and sell annual leave. 
• Planning for the future: We have a contributory pension scheme. 
• Structured Corporate Induction: Onboarding you into the Charity supporting your wellbeing along the way. 
• £300 when you introduce a Friend: receive up to £300 when you introduce a friend or family member. 

Who are we? 

We’re Rethink Mental Illness, a leading charity provider of mental health services in England. We support thousands of people through our groups, services, policy, campaigns and advice and information. Our work supports us in delivering on our mission: “A better life for everyone severely affected by mental illness.”

It is an exciting time to join our growing charity. We are on a transformation journey, one that supports the delivery of the organisation strategy – delivering Communities that Care. Supporting employees, managers and leaders through this change is a key priority for the People function. Just like its key that we attract diverse people to come and work for us.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

Diversity is important to us and we appreciate difference through difference, inclusiveness and belonging. It gives us a deeper understanding of the world, our society and the diverse communities we’re working with. By including everyone, we are able to draw on the unique experiences and expertise of our people to help shape and enrich our workplace and improve our services. One way we are doing is through our valued staff networks which play a critical and highly valued role in keeping us focused on creating a diverse, inclusive and engaged employer.  We recognise and support staff networks for our Black, Asian and minority ethnic and our LGBTQIA+ colleagues. We are also proud to have been awarded Disability Confident Employer status and are a signatory to the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter.

Becoming a truly anti-racist organisation

We have an ambition of become a truly anti-racist employer, campaigning organisation and service provider - and in our efforts to influence policy and wider societal factors impacting on mental health set out in our anti-racist statement . We have designed a multi-year anti-racist programme of work contained in our Race Equality Action Plan which demonstrate our intention to hold ourselves accountable and be judged on our progress on becoming a truly anti-racist organisation.

We therefore actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including applicants with lived experience, those who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (or questioning), Intersex and (asexual) (LGBTQIA+), people with a disability, and people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

Salary: £15,593 per annum + £450 Home Working Allowance per annum

Hours - 21 Hours per week - 3 days

Contract:- Permanent Role 

Location: Home-based in the North-East, able to travel throughout the region to visit and offer support to children and families in Teesside, Darlington, County Durham, Sunderland, Tyneside and Northumberland.

As a ‘not for profit’ organisation, TACT puts the needs of our children and carers first and looks to appoint individuals who are as passionate about fostering as we are. We are a homeworking organisation, and we pride ourselves on our flexible working opportunities, available from day one, an extensive wellbeing programme and our benefits package, all curated to nurture a healthy work-life balance for all our employees so they can give an excellent service to our carers and the young people and children we care for.

As a foster care charity, TACT invests all surplus income into services, staff, carers, and child development. This means that we have been able to invest in unique projects like TACT Connect, our unique and ground-breaking scheme for TACT care experienced young people and adults,  as well as our expanding TACT Education Service and our new Health Service. All our activities are built on our commitment to becoming a fully trauma-informed organisation, in line with our key values and ethos.

TACT achieved 16th place in the UK Best Companies Work For survey results in 2023, with 91% of employees acknowledging that the organisation is run on strong values and principles and 94% stating they feel proud to work for this organisation.

If you want to be valued as a professional, be appreciated at work and contribute to better outcomes for the children and young people connected with TACT, apply now.

Overall Duties of the role will include:

• Being an accessible point of contact for the children living with our carers and to our young people, keeping them up to date with the facilities and opportunities available with TACT
• Providing support to children with emotional welfare and mental health needs
• Supporting interventions and activities to ensure stable placement arrangements
• Being able to transport children and young people to events, appointments and meetings (mileage reimbursed)
• Organising and participating in virtual and face-to-face events and occasional residential meet-ups
• Managing all paperwork associated with events and activities
• Willingness to work flexibly, according to deadlines and needs of our families which may include some after-school, evening and weekend work
• Undertaking trauma-informed direct work with children and young people 

The successful candidate must also be willing and able to travel to the Yorkshire area quarterly for face-to-face team meetings, training, and wellbeing events with the potential for occasional travel to other areas around the UK to facilitate children's residential stays.

The TACT Yorkshire and North East team are also currently recruiting for a part-time (14 hours per week) Family Finder position, which is advertised separately. We would welcome applications from candidates who feel able to meet the requirements of both posts and would be interested in full-time employment (35 hours per week) with a combined role comprising both posts. 

TACT offer an excellent employee benefits package including:

• 31 days paid holiday plus bank holidays.
• Flexible working arrangements (including compressed hours, flexibility around core hours, volunteer days policy).
• Family friendly policies.
• Homeworking ‘bundle’ including annual allowance, IT equipment and a loan for home office set up.
• Perkbox – retail discount scheme. 
• Stakeholder pension scheme (salary sacrifice).
• Fantastic learning and development opportunities.
• Employee Assistance Programme (including CBT counselling, remote GP appointments, physiotherapy, mental health support and second opinions).
• TACT is a home based workforce. We recognise the benefits that flexible home working creates for both the employer and the employee.

As a remote working organisation, we are committed to working with our staff to enable consistent inclusion and engagement across the organisation to ensure the optimum standards of service for our carers and children.

An Enhanced DBS clearance is required for this role and will be processed by TACT on your behalf.

Closing Date: Friday, 26th April 2024

Interview Date: Thursday 9th May 2024 (via teams)

Safeguarding is everyone’s business and TACT believes that only the people with the right skills and values should work in social work.  As part of TACT’s commitment to safeguarding, we properly examine the skills, experience, qualifications, and values of potential staff in relation to our work with vulnerable young children.  We use rigorous and consistent recruitment approaches to help safeguard TACT’s young people.  All our staff are expected to work in line with TACT’s safeguarding policies.

We reserve the right to close a vacancy earlier than advertised if the volume of applications is excessive, you are therefore advised to apply at your earliest convenience. 

TACT does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies, nor the fees associated with them.

Head of Healthcare Relations - Listen to Families

Location: Homebased with extensive travel across the South East to prisons and other Pact premises
Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract
Job Type: Full time, 37.5 hours per week
Salary: £46,225 per annum plus £1,500 market supplement
Benefits: Generous Holiday allowance Season Ticket loan Cycle to work scheme Charity worker discounts Enhanced maternity package Wellness, inclusion, and diversity groups EAP scheme Life assurance

Would you like a role where you can create systemic change in prison healthcare?

Listen to Families is an innovative new service to improve prison healthcare by involving families and carers more proactively in the process. A pilot project - the first of its kind - has been running in London for around 18 months. It seeks to create mechanisms and opportunities for families to be heard and influence how healthcare services are delivered and developed.

The service listens to the views and experiences of families, feeds that back to the NHS and providers, makes recommendations about where improvements could be made, and works with them to co-produce solutions with people who have lived experience.

This role holder will set up a similar pilot project in four prisons in the South East – HMPs Elmley, Downview, Huntercombe and Aylesbury. This is an opportunity for someone to join and shape the delivery of the project from the day one.

We're looking for:

• A good understanding of service user engagement practices and methodologies.
• Understanding of the importance of professional boundaries and the complex/vulnerable nature of our service users.
• Knowledge and understanding of the diverse needs of prisoners and their families, including those from marginalised communities.
• Experience of service user involvement with diverse groups, ideally including people who have been affected by the criminal justice system.

We would welcome applications from people who have lived experience – that could be as a family member of someone in prison; or as someone who has been in prison.

Organisation:

Pact is a highly respected independent charity, working across England and Wales to develop and deliver a range of innovative services. We provide practical and emotional support to prisoner’s children and families, to prisoners and those who have resettled back into the community. Our work is founded on core values, the first of which is a belief in the innate dignity of every human being, and our work focusses on human relationships, family and community. We are committed to achieving high standards of quality in all that we do.

How to apply:

If you feel that you meet the requirements of this exciting new role please complete an application form by clicking the `apply now` button

Other information:

Pact is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from all backgrounds including those who have previous convictions (appointment to post is subject to a risk assessment). This post is subject to a 6 month probationary period, verification of identity and proven right to work in the UK, satisfactory HMPPS/ MoJ Security Prison Vetting, satisfactory employer references covering a minimum of 3 years and a satisfactory enhanced DBS. Please note that being bankrupt or having County Court Judgements may affect your ability to be successfully vetted to work in a prison.

You may also have experience in the following: Prison Healthcare Engagement Manager, Family-Centered Healthcare Liaison Officer, Healthcare Community Engagement Lead, Family Advocate for Prison Healthcare, Prison Healthcare Liaison Officer, Family Engagement Coordinator for Healthcare Services, Healthcare Family Liaison Specialist, Healthcare Involvement Project Manager, Family Voice in Prison Healthcare Coordinator, Healthcare Collaboration and Engagement Specialist, etc.

REF-212 934

A vital leadership position in a successful and well-established small/micro charity. The CEO will take a central role in guiding the organisation to a new phase of stability and growth. This post will be full-on! Our values and vision MUST excite you. Our mission is an important one for society and it will require a magical mix of experience, personality, resilience, creativity and collectivity. As an ambitious micro-charity, we have lots of opportunities, lots of ideas and projects, and limited resources. As a successful candidate, you will be equally comfortable in the boardroom as with rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty to solve problems. Your focus will be on delivering results, yet understand it takes a village to deliver them. You know how to marshal support for your plans, and your follow through is key to who you are.