Support jobs

Job Title: Family Support Worker (12 months FTC)

Salary: £30,944 - £31,004 per annum

Team: Family Support Team     

Hours: 37.5 hours per annum

Location: Christopher’s

About Shooting Star Children’s Hospices

We have an exciting opportunity for a family support to join our Family Support Team at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.

Shooting Star Children’s Hospices provides specialist care and support to families who have a baby, child or young person with a life-limiting condition, or whose child has died. Rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission, we support families across Surrey, north-west London and south-west London from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement with a range of nursing, practical, emotional and medical care.

About the role

Family Support Workers (FSW) are the frontline of our psychosocial care. Each FSW holds a caseload of end-of-life and bereaved families. They get to know their families, and check-in regularly with phone calls and home visits and can provide enhanced emotional support where required through more regular contact and interventions. Our FSWs inform families about the different psychosocial care and many services they can access at Shooting Star, assess their needs and make recommendations to our specialist psychosocial MDT. They work hard to support families of different ethnicities and families living in poverty, so that our service is as equitable as possible.

Our FSWs work closely with our Therapists, Counsellors, Social Workers, Transition Team and our Care Events Team. Weekly specialist psychosocial MDT meetings bring the team together to think of ways to help families in crisis. The work is varied and creative, taking place at the hospices, in family homes and hospitals, allowing the support to be where the families need it. Our Family Support Workers are hugely appreciated by the families we support.

The ambition of our strategy is to ensure every family affected by a life-limiting condition, or the sudden death of a child, has access to the specialist care that they need. Day to day duties are:

• Being part of the duty rota over both sites monitoring 3 email inboxes and answering the Family Support Line.
• Supporting the events team with admin tasks and attending various events
• Providing on the spot emotional support, sometimes in a crisis where a calm and empathic response is required.
• Support the in-house team with families staying at Christopher’s for assessed nights and end of life care.
• Attend various sites over the course of a week, hospice, hospital, family homes. Planning your own diary effectively.
• Building connections with families from different backgrounds, delivering culturally competent care.
• Acting as an ambassador for Shooting Star’s Specialist Bereavement Service, supporting other care team members with their learning and delivery of the bereavement pathway, and continually seeking ways to improve quality.

About you

This role requires experience of working with children and families who have experienced hardship, presenting with complex needs. You should have a calm positive manner, be consistent in your approach, and convey empathy whilst maintaining professional boundaries.

Please see the attached job description for more information about this opportunity at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.

What we offer

In return you will receive a competitive salary along with a range of benefits, which include: 

Pension scheme

• NHS Pension Scheme (for eligible employees) or our stakeholder pension scheme, with up to 7% employer contributions
  
  Annual leave

• 27 days plus Bank Holidays rising with length of service
• 2 weeks paid sabbatical leave after 5, 10 and 15 years’ service
  
  Contractual benefits

• Generous sick pay scheme
• Enhanced maternity, adoption, and paternity leave pay
• Flexible working arrangements
• Death in service benefits
• Reimbursed professional membership fees
• Eye care
• Employee referral scheme
• Blue Light discount card
  
  Health and wellbeing

• Employee Assistance Programme
• Occupational Health
• Mindfulness sessions
• Cycle to work scheme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Nutritionally balanced meals at Christopher’s (free for employees) and free fruit at our Hampton site

Safeguarding

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all our staff to share this commitment. Also, we are committed to equal opportunities and consider all applicants to be in line with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Employment is subject to receipt of satisfactory references and an ehanced DBS check.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Shooting Star Children’s Hospice is committed to inclusion and diversity in everything we do. We know that getting things right is critical for us to live our organisation’s values: Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Diversity and Excellence.

We are always trying to improve our way of working to be more inclusive and equal. Our vision is for Shooting Star Children’s Hospice to be a place where people of all backgrounds, groups and communities feel welcomed to work and volunteer.

Closing Date: 15/05/2025

Interview Date: TBC

 
Job Title: Community Engagement Officer 
Location: Remote with frequent travel (must be UK-based)
Reporting To: Advice and Support Lead 
Hours: Full-time 
Salary: £26,000 - £28,000 
Contract Type: Permanent  

About Us 

Metabolic Support UK (MSUK) are the leading organisation for Inherited Metabolic Disorders (IMDs), supporting thousands of people worldwide through providing individual support, building communities, and continually advocating for and empowering those living with IMDs. 

We are a small but mighty team providing individual support, advice and connection to the over 40,000 living with an IMD in the UK and more across the world. We have a strong interest in rare disease policy and campaign for the rights of our rare disease community for better healthcare services, access to treatment and to be able to live well everyday.  

Role Overview 

MSUK are seeking a passionate and proactive Community Engagement Officer to strengthen and grow our patient and family community. There are over 1500 IMDs and many of our community use social media, other patient groups and in-person events to connect and learn. This role is central to how we engage with the people we support — through social media, community groups, events, and collaborative partnerships. You’ll be the bridge between our charity and the people we serve, helping to build a supportive, inclusive, and informed community.  

Key Responsibilities 

Engagement & Social Media 

• Manage and monitor all online patient communities responding to community messages and comments with empathy and timeliness 

• Moderate relevant support online community groups, ensuring they are safe, active, and welcoming spaces 

• Identify themes and areas of interest to advocate internally for MSUK response to meeting community need 

• Signpost our Individual Support service, identify and flag individual enquiries to the Individual Support Lead 

• Working with our Campaign & Comms Lead, grow the charity’s presence across social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok) 

• Develop content that resonates with patients, families, and supporters, amplifying community stories and voices 

• Build and manage our lived experience co-production group ‘Metabolic Advisory Council’ 

Community Insight & Advocacy 

• Functioning as the ‘internal expert’ on IMD communities for all MSUK team members 

• Using our Contact Record Management system to log and manage community database to provide timely, relevant insight to team members when required 

• Work with Head of Insight & Advocacy to engage and support communities in relation to timelines for insight work 

Events & Campaigns 

• Plan, organise, and execute online and in-person community events (support groups, awareness days, family meetups, annual conference) 

• Collaborate with the team to deliver campaigns around awareness, fundraising, and education 

• Work with Virtual Support Assistant to coordinate speakers, logistics, communications, and follow-ups for all events with  

Relationship & Partnership Management 

• Build and maintain relationships with other patient advocacy groups, charities, and health organisations 

• Represent the charity at external events, meetings, and forums relevant to the rare disease space 

• Seek opportunities for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and joint initiatives 

Community Fundraising 

• Work with Fundraising lead on community support for individual and events fundraising including event research, donor journey support and online promotion 
   

Person Specification 

Essential 

• Experience managing online communities and/or social media platforms in a professional or volunteer capacity 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills 

• Strong organisational skills and event planning experience 

• Empathetic and sensitive to the lived experiences of patients and carers 

• Ability to work independently, from home, and as part of a small, dynamic team 

• Confident, keen to travel and enjoys in-person events and networking  

Desirable 

• Personal or professional experience within the rare disease, health, or charity sectors 

• Experience managing partnerships or external relationships 

• Familiarity with tools such as Canva, Mailchimp, Eventbrite, or similar 

What We Offer 

• A supportive and flexible working environment. 

• Opportunities for personal and professional growth. 

• The chance to make a tangible impact in the lives of people affected by rare diseases. 

Learning Support Worker (0997)

At St. John's, we have been making a positive difference to the lives of young people for nearly 140 years. We are now looking for an amazing Learning Support Worker to support us in making that difference! Could that be you?

Why join our inclusive team?

St. John's is one of the largest employers in Brighton and Hove.

What can we offer you?

• Salary of £23,469
• 32-days paid holiday (plus bank holidays) - 32-days are taken outside of term time
• Fulfilling and meaningful work – make a difference!
• Free lunch – how much will that save you a month?!
• Career development plans that are tailored to you
• Discounts across businesses in the local community.

Who are we?

St. John's is a non-maintained specialist provision, working with autistic people, the majority of whom also have learning disabilities. Some of our learners have co-occurring conditions such as epilepsy, hearing or visual impairments, or mental health needs. We also support autistic learners who have an additional profile of Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) syndrome. We have a team built up of support workers, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, nurses, PBS practitioners, assistant psychologists, and more, to support us in our holistic approach to development.

Each learner's curriculum is shaped by their individual strengths, interests, and challenges. St. John's is awarded with Autism Accreditation by the National Autistic Society (NAS). We support our learners to develop their skills in the NAS's four focus areas of:

• Difference in social communication and interaction
• Self-reliance and problem-solving
• Sensory
• Emotional Well-being

What are we looking for?

We've been doing this long enough to know that, whilst desirable, experience is not everything! Our amazing learning and development team and our passionate managers have coached people new to this field into support working roles. We know that if you have, the passion and desire to learn, and the want to empower others, you already have the foundations of an outstanding support worker. We are looking for drivers to support our young people to access the community, but having a licence isn't essential.

Sound like you? Then keep on reading!

What will you be doing?

• Supporting the young people in a classroom setting and during breaktimes
• Implementing the learner's behaviour support plan and risk assessment
• Working within a team of multidisciplinary professionals across the charity
• Tracking the progress of individuals and reporting to the teacher, care manager, and/or parents at review meetings.

Exciting opportunity? We think so! Click apply to start your journey as part of the St. John's College family as a Learning Support Worker

Ambitious about Autism is fully committed to equality of opportunity and diversity and we warmly welcome applications from all suitably-qualified candidates. We welcome applications regardless of race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, disability, or age. All applications will be considered solely on merit.

Ambitious about Autism is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and successful candidates will be subject to an Enhanced DBS check. As part of our Safer Recruitment checks, an online search maybe carried out in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education.

The Safeguarding responsibilities of the post as per the job description and personal specification.
Whether the post is exempt from the rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendment to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2021. This means that when applying for certain jobs and activities certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected', so they do not need to be disclosed to employers, and if they are disclosed, employers cannot take them into account. Further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS Filter Guidance.

Documents

• Learning Support Worker- Recruitment Pack (2).pdf (2.46 MB)

Carers First is a charity that works directly with, and for unpaid carers, providing personalised information, advice and tailored support making it easier for those caring for someone else to continue living their lives to the fullest.

We have a committed, dedicated staff team and you could be just the person we are looking for to join us to make that valuable difference in carer’s lives. We live and work through our values in all that we achieve by being positive, collaborative and ambitious and we have clear plans to scale our reach, support and impact for carers.

About this role

As a Carer Support Adviser your responsibilities would include:

• Managing conversations with carers to identify need
• Providing information, advice, and wellbeing support
• Running wellbeing groups and pro-active identification of carers through partnership working.

About you

• Experience of working with adults either in a 1:1 or group setting

• A working knowledge of health and social care particularly in relation to adults

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

• A high standard of written skills is needed in order to help the carer identify their support needs and to complete statutory assessments

We are looking for passionate people who are committed to the overall aims and objectives of the Charity. Carers First is committed to providing a supportive, vibrant, diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.

Carers First Can Offer You  

In return for your contribution, we have an amazing package of staff benefits including 26 days annual leave entitlement which increases with length of service, flexible working options, paid carers leave, access to our work-place pension, staff discount scheme, employee assistance programme and a Benenden Healthcare package. 

Whatever you are aiming to achieve in your career, we are here to encourage, help and support you grow, through our excellent training and development programmes.

How to apply

To apply for our exciting opportunity and make a real difference to the lives of carers, please download our Candidate Pack and click on the ‘Apply Now’ button to begin your application.

Applications can only be assessed if they clearly state how you meet each of the requirements in the Personal Specification.

Appointments are subject to Carers First receiving an appropriate disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service that we consider acceptable.

Interview Process

Following shortlisting, successful candidates will be contacted directly and invited to interview - Date to be confirmed.

Carers First is an Equal Opportunities Employer   

Positive      Collaborative      Ambitious

This is an important and interesting role with Vision North Somerset.  You will get to be hands on with our service users who are visually and/or hearing impaired. You will work with our amazing volunteers, both current and new, training them and managing them to provide services to help reduce social isolation and to build confidence.  You will also manage our Peer Support Service which currently includes telephone support groups and a befriending service.  There are 4 HUBS around the county that meet monthly and we hope to develop more.

Support Worker - Community Connector - Assessment and Engagement Team - 3 (Buckinghamshire)

Location: Buckinghamshire

Salary: £24,242 - £24,848 per annum

Job Type: Permanent, 37 hours per week

You have a good understanding of the harm caused by alcohol and drug use to adults, young people, children, families and society and a sympathetic approach to people who misuse them.

All you need is the perfect environment to put your skills to great use. Welcome to Aquarius as a Support Worker (Community Connector – Assessment and Engagement Team)

Aquarius is a charity that helps people and communities overcome the harm caused by alcohol, drugs and gambling. We are part of ‘One Recovery Buckinghamshire’ (ORB), a partnership between Inclusion (MPFT NHS Trust), Aquarius, and Build on Belief providing support for alcohol and drug issues across Buckinghamshire.

We are looking for three Support Workers (Community Connectors – Assessment and Engagement Team) to join our team. We have three positions available in Aylesbury.

Your challenge? To provide advice, support, advocacy and key work for recovery plans and undertake elements of assessment and case management as directed. And, all the while, we’ll expect you to operate in a way that recognises and values diversity and understands the functional model of substance use, the Recovery Agenda and the problems caused by alcohol and drug misuse.

Preferably with a NVQ 2/3 in Social Care, or willing to attain this, you are used to working to policy and procedural requirements that include child protection, vulnerable adults, confidentiality and health & safety. We’ll also be looking for good written and verbal communication skills and the ability to maintain accurate records and fulfil data requirements. A flexible approach is important too, as is a commitment to taking a client centred approach to providing services and working in a way that recognises and values diversity.

To Apply

If you feel you are a suitable candidate and would like to work for Waythrough, please click apply to be redirected to their website to complete your application.

We are committed to increasing our diversity and we would welcome applications from those with lived experience and/or anyone from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic group.

This is a rolling recruitment process; shortlisted candidates will be interviewed as and when they apply.

We're looking for a kind, compassionate and resilient Night Support Worker to join our Learning Disabilities service in Tower Hamlets.

£28,808.00 per annum, working 40 hours per week.

Want to feel like you have an exciting future? You'll feel at home here.
Making you feel at home here means helping you thrive in every way. That's why we offer a wide range of benefits, award-winning Learning & Development and a culture that welcomes all. These aren't token gestures - we've thought long and hard about how best to support our team. After all, our people are doing something amazing: helping to transform lives every day.
Our benefits include:
* Annual leave increasing up to 30 days with length of service
* Free DBS (take this out if BSW advert)
* Exclusive discounts and cashback via Reward Gateway® and opportunity to buy a Blue Light Card
* Fully paid induction programme and further training
* ILM courses and Apprenticeship Programmes
* Healthcare Cashplan through our partner Healthshield
* Cycle to work scheme
* Employee Assistance Programme for 24-7 confidential support
* Online wellbeing resources
* A generous pension - we will contribute up to 4% and life assurance cover up to £10,000 (T&Cs apply)
* Quarterly Staff Awards to reward & recognise our amazing staff's commitment and contribution
All applicants must be legally eligible to work in the UK by the start of employment as Look Ahead are not able to offer sponsorship.
Night Support Workers enable people with particular needs to manage their tenancies and live independent lives of their choosing in the community. Night Support Workers are responsible for ensuring continuity of a support service at night and for keeping customers and the building safe.
This role is initially 3 months fixed term contract.
The shift pattern for this role is as follows: 10pm to 8am for 10 nights every fortnight, including every other weekend. This is a waking night position and sleeping on shift is strictly forbidden.

What you'll do:
- Building supportive, trusting relationships with customers and creating a positive atmosphere
- Working proactively with other members of the team to handle the service caseload and administrative responsibilities
- Conducting key work sessions as required, that are innovative and engaging in order to achieve Support Plan goals
- Ensuring ongoing assessment and management of risks associated with customers within an attitude of 'positive risk taking'
- Providing support with daily living activities, including practical assistance to support customers to independent living e.g. budgeting, cooking, establishing a night time routine
- Supporting customers to maintain a healthy environment and where appropriate assisting them to clean their accommodation and maintain good personal hygiene
- Supporting customer with administering medication and prescription.
- Assisting in the recording and reporting of customer incidents

This is not an exhaustive list of all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time and is subject to change in accordance with the needs of Look Ahead

About you:
- Enjoys social interaction and the company of others, joins in local activities to encourage customer involvement
- Exudes a warm friendly presence and open behaviour
- Prefers working as part of a group or team
- Is fundamentally calm and resilient, does not let emotion adversely affect them or obscure their judgement
- Has a practical and logical mind and is naturally well organized
- Able to apply the right balance of care and support dependant on the needs of the customer
- Thrives on change and enjoys dynamic diverse environments

What you'll bring:

Essential:
- NVQ Level 2/3 or equivalent with some previous relevant sector work experience
- IT literate /basic IT proficient

About us:

Look Ahead is a leading, not-for-profit care and support provider in London and the South East. Our vision is to build better lives through social care and housing in local communities. As an organisation we deliver over 100 services, providing support to thousands of customers each year. Our mission is to co-design and deliver services that offer innovative social care solutions and support people to thrive. We work across mental health, homelessness and complex needs, young people and care leavers and learning disabilities so there are plenty of opportunities to grow and progress your career with us.
We have a strong social purpose and we live and work by our values:
* We focus on Excellence and innovation.
* We are Caring and Compassionate.
* We are Inclusive and Trusted.
* We work in Partnership and are One-Team.
Look Ahead is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk, and expects all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.

If your application for this role is unsuccessful, but we feel that you would be suitable for another role, we may contact you to discuss alternative opportunities. If this occurs you would not need to submit another application for the alternative role.

We reserve the right to close this advert early if we are able to appoint to the vacancy before the advertised closed date.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion at work and are accredited with Silver in the Inclusive Employers Standard 2021. We are a proud member of the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant and encourage applications from a diverse range of applicants of all backgrounds.

Please see our website for full Job Description

Job Purpose

This role sits within our crisis alternative service, Safe Space, which is a core and out of hours service providing a safe and welcoming space for people who are feeling distressed and experiencing crisis. Our aim of the service is to keep individuals well in the community and prevent readmission into hospital. The service operates 365 days a year from 14:00-22:00pm across all of our boroughs.

Staff within the service will provide person-centred, practical and emotional support, face to face or via telephone or virtual on a one-to-one basis to individuals experiencing mental health crisis or preventing crisis.

The objectives of the service include:

• To improve the mental wellbeing of people experiencing mental health and social crisis in HFEH.
• To proactively work with keeping people well in the community to reduce re-admitters into hospitals by working with WL NHS teams (e.g. discharge, LPS, CATT, MINT and SPA)
• To provide a true alternative to A&E via a non-clinical drop-in service to support clients
• To provide support to clients accessing the service- for instance: signposting, de-escalation and crisis recovery planning.
• To contribute to an improvement in individual mental wellbeing.
• To remain a source of independent support for all clients.
• To treat service users with respect, dignity and personalised support
• To raise awareness of mental health services available with the goal to improve long term mental health and reduce social isolation
• To increase self-management skills of those accessing the service
• To reduce the use of police, ambulance and statutory mental health services whilst experiencing crisis via a drop-in service.
• To reduce the use of statutory crisis services by people experiencing mental ill health without positive outcomes for the individual.

The Role

The role of the support workers will be to support the rest of the team in delivering interventions on a one-to-one. The role will also involve triaging and assessing all clients accessing the service, signposting and delivering collaborative self-management plans with clients to improve mental wellbeing.

Key Responsibilities

• Providing a person centred and recovery orientated approach in all aspects of the roles and responsibilities.
• Promoting people’ rights and responsibilities
• Considering each person as an individual
• Working collaboratively with clients to understand their needs and developing flexible and realistic crisis support packages/person centred plans
• Understanding of safety planning
• Experience with de-escalation, recognising and mitigating risks.
• Experience of working with challenging behaviour
• Listening to clients and encouraging positive steps towards self-management of crisis and recovery
• Good time keeping skills – Essential
• To attend all mandatory training including safeguarding and GDPR
• To work autonomously in a fast-paced environment and under pressure
• Providing advice, information, practical and emotional support to clients
• Proactively recognising the indicators of deteriorating mental health and facilitate appropriate action, whilst liaising with relevant agencies e.g. CATT, Emergency Duty Teams, CMHTS, etc
• Engaging with clients to show empathy, inspire hope and promote recovery
• Establishing supportive, empowering and respectful relationships with clients and carers/ family
• Maintaining accurate records, detailing interventions
• Ensuring that outcomes, outputs and impact are recorded
• Providing administrative support to the team
• Attend reflective practice, clinical supervision, peer supervision and line management supervision
• Create and maintain good working relationships with partner agencies
• Follow workplans and actively participate in training and development
• Provide and manage resources for clients and staff

Person Specification

• Minimum of 1 year working in mental health services and with clients experiencing mental health distress and crisis
• Experience of managing challenging behaviour and dealing with clients with complex needs
• Experience of managing safeguarding risks and understanding legal requirements for safeguarding adults and children
• Evidence of continual professional development
• Understanding of the Recovery Model in mental health
• Understanding of the principles of trauma informed care
• Understanding of suicide prevention and safety planning
• Understanding of the relationship between mental health and social issues and how these issues may impact on physical, mental and emotional wellbeing
• Understanding of relevant legislation and policies
• Experience of working with vulnerable individuals
• Creative and flexible approach to working with individuals
• Ability to deal with stressful and difficult situations in a calm manner and de-escalate challenging situations
• Awareness of issues in mental health service provision
• A good understanding of mental health conditions
• Experience of working with vulnerable individuals
• Creative and flexible approach to working with individuals
• Ability to deal with stressful and difficult situations in a calm manner and de-escalate challenging situations
• Ability to prioritise and manage workload
• Ability to involve clients and carers in all aspects of work
• Empathy and non-judgemental approach
• Good communication skills
• Capacity to work within an agreed shift pattern
• Experience of delivering information and advice (housing, benefits, debt etc)
• Experience of non-clinical, therapeutic interventions like psychoeducation
• Good IT skills including Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint, with proven ability to input and extract information and produce reports
• Car driver with sole ownership of a vehicle and willingness to travel to locations would be desirable.
• Ability to work out of hours and on weekends

Sound Minds is a charity, led by mental health service users, channelling the power of creativity and peer support to improve the lives of people living with long term mental ill health. Canerows offers peer support to those who are in hospital and those living in the community.

Main purposes of the job:

Sound Minds and Canerows are delivering an exciting project which is about offering peer support across Wandsworth to people who are experiencing mental health difficulties and living in the community. We are working in an alliance with Mushkil Aasaan and Wandsworth Carers Centre.

Mental Health Peer Support gives emotional support and promotes access to information and practical advice to people experiencing mental health difficulties. A key component is that these staff use their own direct lived experience of mental health difficulties to support other people. They work collaboratively with people within their service, focusing on the person’s strengths and personal resources to offer educational, emotional and practical support towards goals that are defined by the person.

The Peer Support Worker will be supported through peer support training and regular supervision.

Salary: £25,875 per annum FTE & 3% contribution to pension

Hours: 17.5 hours per week

This fixed term contract ends on 31/3/26 and is likely to be renewed depending on funding

Personal lived experience of mental ill health is essential for this role. You will be required to have a DBS (criminal records check) and satisfactory written references before starting.

The full job description and application pack are available from Sound Minds.

CLOSING DATE: 6pm Wednesday 28th May 2025

INTERVIEWS: 11th June 2025

Young Person's Support Worker

Retford

£24,030 - £24,513 per annum

Our client has a fantastic opportunity for the right person to join their friendly and supportive Young Person’s Service in Retford.

This busy and dynamic service based in Retford provides support to encourage young people to be the best version of themselves. Their Retford project offers a strengths based support service which aims to build the skills, confidence and independence of the young people who come through our doors

The team play a critical role in advocating for their tenants. From liaising with agencies to help them access permanent accommodation to supporting them to access education or employment training.

The Support Worker role

Every day is different and you will face many new challenges so they need colleagues that come with a built in can-do attitude! You must be willing to go above and beyond for young people help better their lives, promoting independence, being a role model and achieving a successful home environment for them to live, in line with local authority care plan.

This isn’t a typical support worker position. Communication and understanding is key to help grow and mentor our young people. This role heavily requires you to listen and communicate with the young people, so a good understanding of written and verbal English is a must.

What you’ll be doing

Even as an adult the housing market can be tough to navigate and with so much information out there you will be a young person’s advocate and guidance. You could be helping young people complete the appropriate referrals forms for housing, coordinating referrals or arranging and attending referral interviews. Alternatively you could mediate between young people and their families to facilitate moves back home. You will be highly motivated and resilient but also patient and kind. Change can be scary but you will have a positive attitude to encourage our young people. 

Then comes the big move…

With your knowledge of welfare benefits you’ll help users to access grants/ charitable funding for white goods or other furnishings.

As well as this, you will be on the ball with activities related to the young person’s move e.g. arranging and facilitating pre move in meetings, joining the property inspection, liaising with the landlord where appropriate to negotiate move-in dates. You will also develop a system that matches young people across the contracted provision to facilitate house shares.

To be considered you must have a full valid driving licence and access to your own vehicle. You will be able to claim mileage proving you have business cover on your insurance.

They work 7 days a week, 365 days a year. You must be able to be flexible and work on a rota. Typical shift patterns are 07:00 – 14:30 and 14:30 – 22:00.

Over to you – click apply and show us why you are suitable!

Please note that they are not currently offering visa sponsorship.

As an Equal Opportunities and Disability Confident Employer, our client welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates including those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups and disabled candidates. As part of their LGBT Allies Programme, they also welcome applications from members of the LGBT community and encourage inclusivity in the workplace. Male Support Workers are currently under-represented in this area and they particularly welcome suitable applications.

We're looking for a kind, compassionate, and resilient Specialist Support Worker to join our Mental Health service in Newham.

£29,940.00 per annum, working 40 hours per week.

Want to feel like you have an exciting future? You'll feel at home here.

Making you feel at home here means helping you thrive in every way. That's why we offer a wide range of benefits, award-winning Learning & Development and a culture that welcomes all. These aren't token gestures - we've thought long and hard about how best to support our team. After all, our people are doing something amazing: helping to transform lives every day.

Our benefits include:

Annual leave increasing up to 30 days with length of service
Free DBS
Exclusive discounts and cashback via Reward Gateway® and opportunity to buy a Blue Light Card
Fully paid induction programme and further training
ILM courses and Apprenticeship Programmes
Healthcare Cashplan through our partner Healthshield
Cycle to work scheme
Employee Assistance Programme for 24-7 confidential support
Online wellbeing resources
A generous pension - we will contribute up to 4% and life assurance cover up to £10,000 (T&Cs apply)
Quarterly Staff Awards to reward & recognise our amazing staff's commitment and contribution

All applicants must be legally eligible to work in the UK by the start of employment as Look Ahead are not able to offer sponsorship.

Specialist Support Workers within Look Ahead are required to have either an extra dimension of experience or a higher qualification level as determined relevant for the post. Specialist Support Workers provide information, social inclusion and vocational opportunities to support people to recover and stay well; exercise choice and control in their care and lives; and participate on an equal footing in the community. Support is also provided to develop a model of re-enablement towards self-advocacy, self-management and empowerment, incorporating the principles and practice of recovery, co-production and peer support. Working with individuals with complex needs, who may display challenging, chaotic behaviours, regularly test boundaries and have experienced multiple traumas as a result of abuse, neglect and substance misuse and addictions it is integral that the post holder is motivated to support individuals to progress. They should continually hold aspirations for individuals despite multiple setbacks, and display emotional resilience, able to process challenging incidents and remain motivated to deliver excellent support.

The shift pattern for this role includes: Early 8am-4pm and late 2pm-10pm, Monday to Sunday which also includes bank holidays.

For a full job description, please visit our website.

What you'll bring:

NVQ Level 2/3 or equivalent with some or equivalent sector work experience
Other relevant professional memberships and/or specialist qualifications and languages

About us:

Look Ahead is a leading, not-for-profit care and support provider in London and the South East. Our vision is to build better lives through social care and housing in local communities. As an organisation we deliver over 100 services, providing support to thousands of customers each year. Our mission is to co-design and deliver services that offer innovative social care solutions and support people to thrive. We work across mental health, homelessness and complex needs, young people and care leavers and learning disabilities so there are plenty of opportunities to grow and progress your career with us.

We have a strong social purpose and we live and work by our values:

We focus on Excellence and innovation.
We are Caring and Compassionate.
We are Inclusive and Trusted.
We work in Partnership and are One-Team.

Look Ahead is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk, and expects all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.

If your application for this role is unsuccessful, but we feel that you would be suitable for another role, we may contact you to discuss alternative opportunities. If this occurs you would not need to submit another application for the alternative role.

We reserve the right to close this advert early if we are able to appoint to the vacancy before the advertised closed date.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion at work and are accredited with Silver in the Inclusive Employers Standard 2021. We are a proud member of the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant and encourage applications from a diverse range of applicants of all backgrounds.

Job Purpose

• This role sits within our crisis alternative service, Safe Space, which is a core and out of hours service providing a safe and welcoming space for people who are feeling distressed and experiencing crisis. Our aim of the service is to keep individuals well in the community and prevent readmission into hospital. The service operates 365 days a year from 14:00-22:00pm across all our boroughs.
• Staff within the service will provide person-centred, practical and emotional support, face to face or via telephone or virtual on a one-to-one basis to individuals experiencing mental health crisis or preventing crisis.
• The objectives of the service include:
• To improve the mental wellbeing of people experiencing mental health and social crisis in HFEH.
• To proactively work with keeping people well in the community to reduce re-admitters into hospitals by working with WL NHS teams (e.g. discharge, LPS, CATT, MINT and SPA)
• To provide a true alternative to A&E via a non-clinical drop-in service to support clients
• To provide support to clients accessing the service- for instance: signposting, de-escalation and crisis recovery planning.
• To contribute to an improvement in individual mental wellbeing.
• To remain a source of independent support for all clients.
• To treat service users with respect, dignity and personalised support
• To raise awareness of mental health services available with the goal to improve long term mental health and reduce social isolation
• To increase self-management skills of those accessing the service
• To reduce the use of police, ambulance and statutory mental health services whilst experiencing crisis via a drop-in service.
• To reduce the use of statutory crisis services by people experiencing mental ill health without positive outcomes for the individual.

The Role

The role of the senior support worker is to support the team manager with the smooth running of the allocated site and staff; supporting development and rest of the team including volunteer recruiting, induction (training and development) and supervision. Senior support worker will also lead in delivering interventions on a one-to-one. The role will also involve triaging and assessing all clients accessing the service, signposting and delivering collaborative self-management plans with clients to improve mental wellbeing. The role will include deputising for the team manager where applicable including debriefing and providing support to the team.

Key Responsibilities

• Providing a person centred and recovery orientated approach in all aspects of the roles and responsibilities.
• Understanding of risk and risk management
• Understanding safeguarding adults and children processes and legal requirements
• Working closely with re-admitters and clients being discharged through the drop-in service on a weekly basis
• Responsible for keeping allocated site to a high standard and reporting any health and safety concerns
• To work autonomously in a fast-paced environment and under pressure
• To attend all mandatory training including safeguarding and GDPR.
• Good time keeping skills - Essential
• To attend and contribute at weekly team meetings
• This role will be considered a key worker role
• Understanding of safety planning and de-escalation
• Experience of working with challenging behaviour
• Working collaboratively with clients to understand their needs and developing flexible and realistic crisis support packages/person centred plans
• Promoting people’ rights and responsibilities
• Considering each person as an individual
• Listening to clients and encouraging positive steps towards self-management of crisis and recovery
• Providing advice, information, practical and emotional support to clients
• Proactively recognising the indicators of deteriorating mental health and facilitate appropriate action, whilst liaising with relevant agencies e.g. CATT, Emergency Duty Teams, CMHTS, etc
• Engaging with clients to show empathy, inspire hope and promote recovery
• Establishing supportive, empowering and respectful relationships with clients and carers/ family
• Maintaining accurate records, detailing interventions
• Ensuring that outcomes, outputs and impact are recorded
• Understanding CQC standards and NICE guidelines around mental health
• Providing administrative support to the team
• Overseeing and provide shadowing to new staff members and volunteers
• Attend reflective practice, peer debriefing and line management supervision
• Maintaining good working relationships with partner agencies
• Actively participate in training and development
• Provide guidance to support workers and volunteers
• To work with team managers and assist with reporting and monitoring
•  

Person Specification

• Minimum of 1 year working in mental health services and with clients experiencing mental health distress and crisis
• Experience of contributing to multi-disciplinary teams
• Experience of de-escalation
• Experience of managing challenging behaviour and dealing with clients with complex needs
• Evidence of continual professional development
• Understanding of the Recovery Model in mental health
• Understanding of the principles of trauma informed care
• Understanding of suicide prevention and safety planning
• Experience of managing safeguarding risks and understanding legal requirements for safeguarding adults and children
• Understanding of how to report and mitigate risks
• Understanding of the relationship between mental health and social issues and how these issues may impact on physical, mental and emotional wellbeing
• Understanding of relevant legislation and policies
• Understanding safeguarding adults and children processes and legal requirements
• Awareness of issues in mental health service provision
• Experience of working with vulnerable individuals
• Creative and flexible approach to working with individuals
• Ability to deal with stressful and difficult situations in a calm manner and de-escalate challenging situations
• Ability to prioritise and manage workload
• Ability to involve clients and carers in all aspects of work
• Empathy and non-judgemental approach
• Good communication skills
• Capacity to work within an agreed shift pattern
• Experience of delivering information and advice (housing, benefits, debt etc)
• Experience of non-clinical, therapeutic interventions like psychoeducation
• Good IT skills including Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint, with proven ability to input and extract information and produce reports
• Understanding of different databases such as Views, Salesforce and NHS
• Car driver with sole ownership of a vehicle and ability to travel to multiple locations (e.g. NHS sites and community sites) would be essential.
• Ability to work out of hours and on weekends at multiple locations including NHS sites and community sites

Do you want to support change in people’s lives? Would you like to help build something exceptional and transformative?

Connect Community Church are delighted to be in a position to recruit a Housing First Support Worker. (35hrs per week) You will be part of a dynamic team serving and supporting vulnerable adults across Somerset with a main office base in Wells. The individuals have multiple complex needs and have been homeless.

POST: Housing First Support Worker

CONTRACT TYPE: Full-time 35hrs a week (Subject to funding reviews, annually) Job share considered.

SALARY: £26,351.52 per annum

DEPARTMENT: Connect Centre – Housing First

LOCATION: Based in Wells, serving the Somerset area, primarily the District of Mendip – Various locations.

BACKGROUND: Connect Community Church is part of the Foursquare Gospel Alliance, a Christian denomination to serve the spiritual, social, physical, mental and emotional needs of the community in an accessible way.

KEY OVERVIEW

Reporting to the Housing First Team Leader, the Housing First Support Worker is responsible for coordinating and providing a personalised, trauma informed support service to people with complex needs facing multiple exclusion in line with Housing First Principles.  The Housing First Support Worker will be responsible for coordinating and providing a person centred, strength-based support service to create long term sustainable tenancies by empowering customers, increasing independence, and maximising connectivity with the local community.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

• Valid driver's license and access to a car business purposes
• Please note the working pattern for this role is Monday to Friday, with occasional weekend work required 
• This post will include a 6mth probation period.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Delivering wrap-around intensive, trauma informed support to people with multiple and complex issues within their own independent tenancies in the community.

2. Working with Housing First participants to help them articulate their goals and aspirations offering personalised support and promoting choice and wellbeing. Supporting Housing First participants to access community resources, to develop positive peer networks and meaningful leisure opportunities.

3. Maintaining accurate up to date records on the Inform case management system of progress against individual support plans, safety plans and outcomes information.

4. Regularly review the person-centred support plan to update, record and monitor progress of customer caseload.

5. Develop, maintain and co-ordinate effective working relationships with external partners and agencies, promoting effective communication with Housing First residents. Ensuring Connected Housing First is widely known and promoted in Mendip and Somerset.

6. Liaise with landlords to assist the person living in accommodation of their choice; including practical help with furniture; benefits advice and accompanied visits.

7. With the agreement of Housing First participants, to liaise with other agencies to facilitate support including substance misuse and recovery, offending and criminal justice, mental health, Adult social care, debt, domestic abuse, welfare and housing benefits, employment and training.

8. Promote, and actively encourage peer involvement within the service.

9. Complete dynamic risk assessments and maintain own safety by following lone working procedures.

10.  Adhere to good practice safeguarding procedures with a positive risk-taking approach to ensure the wellbeing of vulnerable people.

11.  To identify barriers of accommodation and managing tenancies, providing support including practical help with benefits, budgeting, furniture, neighbour relations, and liaising with landlords.

12.  To contribute to regular reports on the service evaluation project as required.

13.  To participate in reflective practice to support and enhance wellbeing in the workplace and personal development.

14.  Record all petty cash and other expenditure of project monies in line with Connect Centre policy.

15.  Work within the Connect Centre Lone Working Policy and other Connect Centre Health and Safety Policies as appropriate at all times

There are many great reasons to join our team!

• 33 days annual leave pro rata
• Great opportunities and training included in the role.
• For all the fantastic and valuable work, you'll be doing makes you eligible for the Blue Light Card which offers amazing discounts on thousands of brands.
• A supportive culture where staff feedback is highly valued and regular supervisions with line managers are conducted

Are you ready to make a real difference in the lives of young people while having a fun? As a Youth Support Worker at KFCYF, you'll be the guiding star for youth navigating the exciting yet challenging adventure of finding there way in the world ! In this dynamic role, you’ll not only provide support and mentorship but also create engaging programs that spark creativity, build confidence, and foster lasting friendships. Join us in shaping brighter futures and empowering the next generation to thrive!