Job Title: Sessional Engagement Worker
Reports To: Director of Operations
Location: Gateshead
Hours: Varied
Salary: £8.50 Per Hour
Job Purpose
- To develop and facilitate the client engagement within the Jigsaw Recovery Project service.
- Work with the management team to ensure that all elements of the Jigsaw Recovery Project CIC service specification is delivered to the highest standard.
- To work with services users to assess and proactively support them in planning, meeting and sustaining their goals.
- To work flexibly throughout Gateshead.
- Take a community development approach to ensure that service users increase their own social capital.
- To provide a range of effective and creative interventions to support individuals’ during leaving care.
- To proactively engage and support service users’ families and carers within service users’ community settings
- To work collaboratively with other services to provide interventions to support and motivate clients and meet their needs through all stages of their individual journey.
- To work in partnership with service users, treatment providers, community partners, stakeholders, and families/carers to develop innovative approaches to sustainable lifestyles in Gateshead, tailored to local need
- To work within a strengths-based, recovery-orientated, change and outcomes focused approach which promotes service users and communities as responsible co-producers of health and well-being.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Service provision:
- To establish community focus and development approaches to ensure that all individuals accessing the service have effective sustainable support networks in place.
- Identify any needs for referrals for the service users to access other services relating to their ongoing health e.g. dentist, mental health, family services etc.
- To educate services users about their rights and responsibilities around data protection and with whom their information is shared and how this will benefit them.
- To facilitate service user’s family/carers being supported through local carer’s services.
- To support service users to access the full range of provision within the social care system.
- To identify and support access to community resources to support recovery capital within the community.
- To build and develop service users’ personal strengths, social networks and recovery capital (social, physical, human and cultural).
- To record all documentation and case-notes to a high standard and within required time frames.
- To support systems and structures that are responsive to the needs of individuals with different levels of risk, complexity, severity, and strengths.
- To provide a range of flexible and effective psychosocial interventions (standard, enhanced and targeted) relevant at the change and completion stages in line with national guidance.
- To fully inform service users about their options, involve them in decisions about their care pathway, obtain their informed consent for information sharing, and encourage them to take opportunities to achieve a sustained lifestyle.
- To work collaboratively and proactively with other members of staff, volunteers to ensure that the service is delivering its outcomes in line with the service specification.
- To affect the transition of service users into independent lifestyle’s and facilitate service user’s engagement.
Performance and personal management:
- To work flexibly to provide adequate cover for all aspects of the service across Gateshead.
- To work within, and contribute positively to, an appropriate culture of established values and expectations, embracing and implementing change.
- To be responsible for performance management at an individual level through: self-management; delivery of goals and tasks set; delivery of contractual requirements, targets and outcomes; and reporting progress.
- To actively engage in opportunities for learning and development at an individual and team level.
- To comply with operational management systems of supervision, objectives, appraisal and induction.
- To work collaboratively, creatively and flexibly, to empower, challenge and change service users.
- To develop competencies to effectively deliver a range of psychosocial and other interventions required, undertaking training matched to the role as required.
- To comply with data collection procedures and reporting to ensure effective recording of performance monitoring, outcomes, and service user information, including identifying areas of non-engagement.
- To adhere to the implementation of risk management procedures (including child and adult safeguarding protocols) taking personal responsibility for keeping up to date on the requirements of these procedures.
Service development:
- To take a lead in specific targeted service developments as required.
- To form productive working relationships with external agencies and professionals, existing and new, to ensure that service users have access to a wide and varied range of community resources.
- To provide service users with ongoing opportunities to consult on service development, working jointly to develop and deliver services, as appropriate, under the direction of management.
- To ensure an appropriate level of strategic awareness at industry, local, organisational and service levels.
General Duties
- To personify a positive, collaborative and focused work ethic.
- To present a professional appearance, help maintain an orderly working environment and act at all times to uphold the good reputation of Jigsaw Recovery Project CIC.
- To ensure that all visitors to the service (including service users, families/carers, professionals and the general public) are welcomed in a responsive, helpful and professional manner.
- To ensure service users’ and professionals’ experience of Jigsaw Recovery Project CIC is positive including by taking personal responsibility for answering ringing telephones and promptly dealing with inappropriate behaviour by staff, volunteers or service users.
- To attend meetings at appointed times, maintain professional personnel and service user records and meet deadlines.
- To work flexibly across Gateshead, including providing duty, late working and weekend cover as required.
- To proactively maintain professional knowledge and practice and attend, use and contribute to supervision and team meetings effectively.
- To assess risk and safeguarding issues, undertake risk and need assessments when appropriate and report any potential risk and safeguarding issues to ensure staff, service users and children are protected.
- To work within professional boundaries maintaining safety and appropriate confidentiality at all times.
- To contribute to organisational initiatives as required.
- To demonstrate commitment to Jigsaw Recovery Project CIC statements of Mission, Vision and Values and strategy, ensuring that they inform, and are embedded within, service delivery and practice.
- To read and comply with all relevant policies and procedures, at the start of your employment and again whenever they are added to or changed.
- To work flexibly to undertake such other reasonable duties and responsibilities, at any location within reasonable daily travel from your main place of work.
To carry out responsibilities with clear regard to Jigsaw Recovery Project’s Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety, and other relevant employee focused policies and procedures.
Generic Personal Criteria for Recovery and Mentoring Service.
All criteria are Essential unless otherwise indicated
Experience (through paid/voluntary work or personal experience)
- Experience of communicating and engaging with a broad range of people.
- Experience of managing change.
- Experience of using a variety of methods to communicate in a range of settings.
- Experience of achieving goalsExperience of building positive relationships with communities and partners.
- Experience of working with vulnerable people Experience of working with external agencies in order to develop and influence change.
- Experience of community development and engagement.
Knowledge
Experience of working with people who have a drug and alcohol misuse issue, mental health, crime and homelessness, knowledge of ways for them to achieve their goals.
A good knowledge of recovery capital options in the community and the awareness of how to access them to achieve support.
Education and Training
NVQ level 2 in Health and Social Care, and/or equivalent professional qualification (e.g. Health Care, Nursing, Social Work, equivalent overseas qualification) or willingness to work towards(desirable).
Skills and Abilities
- A commitment to learning new skills and developing knowledge base.
- The ability to quickly establish rapport with people and encourage them to make changes in their life.
- Ability to form therapeutic relationships with service users and carers and a keenness to make a positive contribution towards the reintegration of service users into the local community.
- The ability to remain self-motivated particularly in a challenging situation.
- Good skills with IT and the ability to collate information in a written format.
- Commitment to working collaboratively with co-workers, colleagues in other agencies, and external services to facilitate positive recovery capital outcomes for service users.
- Commitment to sharing knowledge, expertise and learning with colleagues (co-workers, volunteers, other professionals) in order to improve standards of practice within the service and the wider treatment environment.
- Ability to deliver a flexible and adaptable approach in order to develop and deliver services that are responsive and accessible to the needs of service users and be open to change.
- Commitment to continuous improvement in professional competence and skills in order to provide a high standard of recovery-focused care to service users.
- Demonstrable understanding of professional boundaries with service users, carers and professionals.
The confidence to approach people in a variety of environments and talk to them about recovery.
Additional Essential Factors
- A desire to work within, and contribute to, a culture that is positive, dynamic, forward-thinking and outcomes-focused.
- A non-judgmental attitude towards people affected by drug and/or alcohol use.
- Full driving licence and access to own transport. (Essential)
- Willing to work in a flexible way including varied and unsociable hours throughout Gateshead.
To apply for this position please complete our application form, available to download here as a Word Document or PDF format Here and email to [email protected] or alternatively post it to FAO Jigsaw recovery project 309 Old Durham Rd Gateshead NE8 3TS.