Mental health and psychosocial support activities manager 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
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Applicants who are based in the UK, EU, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are welcome to apply. Please note, however, that the listed salary is in reference to UK based applicants.
Background:
Amna means safe in Arabic - representing the core of our work - supporting communities and frontline workers to bring non-clinical mental health support to every person affected by war, conflict and displacement. At Amna, our core values of respect, understanding, curiosity and connection guide everything we do. Our mission is to build community capacity for healing. Our vision is a world where refugees can determine their future unbounded by the impacts of conflict and displacement.
We partner with local organisations and institutions working with displaced communities to set up psychosocial healing services in which individuals and groups can discover and connect to practices that promote their healing and wellbeing. We invest in and train people within these organisations to provide this support, and we help partners build psychosocial interventions in collaboration with refugee communities – all with a values-based, trauma-sensitive and identity-informed approach.
Our partnerships are not limited. We connect partners through our global healing network of peer organisations to exchange learnings and enhance their practices as the network strives to support forcibly displaced communities around the world.
Safeguarding:
The role-holder will have experience working according to ethical and good practice safeguarding principles. They will be expected to adhere to and promote Amna’s Child and Vulnerable Adult Safeguarding Policies as they will be involved and responsible for programmes working with children and vulnerable groups in different settings.
How Will You Make a Difference?
Amna is seeking a compassionate and experienced Arabic speaking facilitator to join Amna’s team of trainers, with therapeutic/clinical background. As a Trainer & Facilitator your responsibilities will involve delivering training sessions and group facilitation to support and create learning spaces for training participants on themes centred around trauma and identity informed psychosocial healing care with displaced communities. The role holder is expected to work on multiple responses, and will lead Amna’s Gaza and Syria responses, while working closely with Arabic speaking team members.
Amna’s identity and trauma informed approach is centred around community healing practices with communities that aim to restore participants sense of safety, belonging, agency and joy. Amna services are co-created with the communities being worked with and we prioritise refugee participation and leadership in service design and delivery wherever possible.
The role holders need to have experience working with communities affected by adversity, including displacement, war and conflict, poverty, abuse or marginalisation. Given the nature of Amna’s work in emergency settings with displaced communities, applicants need to be comfortable working in environments where there is uncertainty, change and exposure to distress.
Specifically, successful candidates will have a strong experience in following areas:
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Work with children and families in an emergency context;
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Therapeutic experience – Individual and Groups;
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Community work experience;
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Designing and delivering trainings across different context;
Amna will train role holders in Amna’s training and facilitation approach.
Responsibilities include:
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To deliver high quality, interactive trainings in person and online.
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To lead on Amna’s Gaza and Syria responses, working closely with a diverse, cross-cultural team and partners.
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To develop Amna’s training materials including engaging content, structure, visuals and activities.
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To provide ongoing support to Amna’s training participants from a range of countries on how to set up safe, community healing spaces with displaced communities.
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To facilitate learning and support groups for Amna training participants.
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To coordinate the preparation and delivery of in person and online trainings.
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Outside of Amna’s trainings, to maintain engagement with Amna’s training participants to share and exchange learning.
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Travel to various countries to visit, train and observe partner organisations.
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To work in collaboration with all departments within Amna to achieve Amna’s objectives.
Qualifications and Experience:
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Minimum three years of experience working therapeutically with communities affected by adversities.
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Minimum three years of experience delivering therapeutically informed community programmes in emergency or acute contexts using creative tools.
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Experience working in a therapeutically informed way, e.g. working with sensitivity to the needs and experiences of the communities worked with.
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Comfortable working in English – spoken and written.
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Comfortable in designing and delivering content in Arabic.
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Confident computer skills, especially in Microsoft Office and PowerPoint.
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Able and willing to travel for work (if you have travel restrictions to some countries, please notify us in your application).
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Right to work in the country of residency.
Desirable:
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Life or work experience with refugee or/and displaced communities.
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Education or experience in psychology, social studies such as community work, social work, intercultural education, or creative healing practices.
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Therapeutic training (minimum 2 years training).
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Work experience coordinating / project management role.
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Experience in delivering trainings to groups with mixed genders, languages, cultures, ethnicities, religions, (dis)abilities.
Work Location and Environment
This role is a remote job opportunity, and open to applicants in the UK, EU, Middle East and EMEA region.
Amna offers a hybrid working environment to its employees allowing for a blend of remote and in-person work.
Please note that the nature of working environment and hybrid schedule may be adjusted as per the organisation’s evolving needs.
Remuneration Package
At Amna we are committed to attracting and retaining top talent by offering competitive compensation and benefit packages. We believe in rewarding talent and expertise at a level that corresponds with the local market conditions, ensuring that all our team members are fairly compensated for their skills and contributions.
In compliance with international standards, Amna utilizes a global payroll provider to ensure seamless and efficient compensation processes for our diverse team.
Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Amna is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace where all employees are valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives and talents.
As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disabilities status.
Applications are strongly encouraged from people with personal or family lived experience as refugees and displacement, especially individuals from Palestine or individuals with experience working on living in Palestine.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.