Senior Support Worker

Job Title: Senior Support Worker
Salary : £28,000 – £30,000 per annum
Hours of work: 37 per week including some evening, weekend, and Bank Holiday working, participate in an on-call rota for out of hours support
Reporting To: Service Manager
Location: Southampton

About One Small Thing

One Small Thing is striving for positive change across the justice system by implementing small things in a big way. 

We provide gender responsive, trauma-informed programmes within the prison and community sectors that consider the individual caught in a cycle of crime and incarceration, with the aim of humanising their experiences. We want to shift the voice of blame and judgement and the ‘what’s wrong with them?’ line of questioning to a kinder, respectful and healing approach that asks, ‘What has happened to them?’

One Small Thing’s commitment to systemic change for women and their children in the justice system, has inspired us to build Hope Street.

About Hope Street

Hope Street is an exciting, brand-new, purpose-built residential community-based service, designed in collaboration with women, for justice-involved women and their children in Hampshire. Trauma-informed by design it will offer a safe and supportive environment where women and their children can access education, practical and therapeutic support and activities that build confidence, self-esteem and skills and provide the opportunity to build a fulfilling and happy life and play a meaningful role within society.

Hope Street uses the ‘nine pathways of need’ identified in the Corston Report to inform our overarching model of delivery: 

Accommodation • Education, Training & Employment • Finance Benefits & Debt • Relationship, Children & Family • Substance Use • Attitude, Thinking & Behaviour • Mental & Physical Health • Abuse, Sexual Abuse & Domestic Abuse • Exploitation and Selling Sex

Our Values

Hope Street is built on five core values of trauma-informed care that underpin the way we work. 

• Safety
• Trustworthiness
• Choice
• Collaboration
• Empowerment

About the Role 

As part of a brand-new team setting out to deliver this new and exciting residential service for women and their children from Hampshire, you will be a case-holder for up to 10 women living in the Hope Street community at any one time. You will be responsible for liaising with our partners from the Liaison & Diversion service and the court probation team to plan women’s move into Hope Street after they have been referred by the Magistrate, and ensuring that each woman has a personalised, structured programme that meets their identified needs under the nine pathways. You will line manage a small team of Support Workers who deliver the practical day to day support to the women. 

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with colleagues and external agencies to ensure that the programme developed for each woman is varied, stimulating and supports her to complete her Community Order and participate in new opportunities that focus on skills development and confidence building.
• Ensure that any safeguarding concerns are reported through the proper channels and that all plans to manage risks associated with the concern are implemented and continuously monitored.
• Attend all relevant statutory meetings for the women on your caseload and advocate for them and their children, ensure that they have a voice, and are always treated with respect and kindness. 
• As part of the Hub team work collaboratively to identify any aspects of service delivery that can be improved or strengthened.  
• Ensure that all team members under your line management maintain effective records for each woman they support using the Case Management System and liaise with the Data Manager to identify any improvements that can be made to the system to ensure the data captured is evidence-based.
• In collaboration with the Service Manager and the Leadership Team maintain a service wide operational overview of the Hope Street community to ensure that all risks are identified and managed safely.  
• Ensure that team members you line manage receive regular support and supervision, take part in reflective practice sessions, and are encouraged to undertake professional and personal development.

Essential Experience

• Working in residential services for people with multiple vulnerabilities who have experienced trauma and abuse, substance use problems, mental health problems, and homelessness.
• Responding to challenging and difficult situations, and emergencies in a residential setting.
• Implementing adult and child safeguarding and protection processes.
• Developing and implementing programmes of activities and education.
• Supporting and supervising people under your line management through one-to-one support and group reflective practice.
• Partnership working with other agencies involved in providing support services for people with complex needs.  
• Using Case Management Systems for data and outcome recording.
• Providing gender specific and trauma responsive services.

Knowledge/Skills

• Knowledge of therapeutic interventions and programmes and how different styles of therapy work for different people to ensure that women are signposted to the most appropriate support for their specific needs.
• Ability to advocate for people facing multiple disadvantage and discrimination.
• Knowledge of local authority safeguarding processes for adults and children with vulnerabilities.
• Ability to cope in stressful situations with minimal supervision.
• Ability to manage a varied workload and prioritise activities and responses in order of importance.
• Understanding of trauma and its long-term effects on a person’s behaviours, self-esteem, confidence, and ability to trust others.
• Knowledge and understanding of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulations 2018 to ensure the appropriate management of personal and sensitive personal data.
• Knowledge and understanding of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to ensure that health and safety management within the Hub and the residential accommodation complies with all relevant legislation.

Competencies

• Communication: Ability to communicate with people from different backgrounds.
• Attention to detail: Attention to detail and an accurate approach to work.
• Management: Ability to provide, fair and motivating line management and support to your team to help them develop their own careers at Hope Street and beyond.
• Proactive: Self-motivated and self-directed, able to work independently with a positive approach to problem-solving.
• Leadership: Ability to provide motivation and support and to persuade and inspire others.
• Collaboration: Ability to develop and maintain working relationships internally and externally.
• Systems driven: Ability to improve processes and develop systems to improve efficiency.
• Judgment: Ability to exercise sound judgment and respond to a range of situations using a kind, respectful and compassionate approach.

Your Values

• Awareness of trauma and how this can impact on a person’s self-esteem, confidence, and ability to trust others.
• You do not judge people, you are kind and empathetic, and understand the importance of enabling people to make their own choices.
• Desire to create positive change and a commitment to providing a fair and compassionate environment that celebrates and promotes equality and diversity.

Other Information

We are strongly committed to ensuring equity and inclusion to ensure the voices of our users and beneficiaries are represented across our organisation to impact on our strategic aims, vision and mission. 

We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, people of colour and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds. We would also like to encourage applications from those who may have had similar experiences to the women and children we support at Hope Street including those with previous convictions.

As part of the recruitment we process a vetting and barring check will be carried out for those successful at interview, but this does not necessarily exclude applicants with convictions

This post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.

You may be required to attend meetings and other events outside of normal working hours, and/or outside the locality.

Your main place of work will be 30-32 The Avenue, Southampton, however you will be expected to have a presence across the Hope Street community and undertake any travel around the country on behalf of the organisation when required. 

Safer Recruitment: Safe recruitment is central to the safeguarding of adults, children, and young people at risk. One Small Thing is committed to the safeguarding of every woman and child who is part of the Hope Street community and expects all employees to share this commitment. 

The DBS check for this role will be at Enhanced with Barred check level. Failure to declare any relevant information that is later provided by the Disclosure and Barring Service, may result in any offer of employment being withdrawn. 

Please apply via the button below. For a chat about the role, please reach out to Dom Szczecinski in the Inclusive Recruiting team. Call 0203 397 8333 or email dom@inclusiverecruiting.co.uk.