Homeless Support Worker
Complex Needs Homeless Service
East London, E2
35 Hours P/W
Permanent
£25,101
One of London's most prominent housing associations is recruiting for a Homeless Support Worker with experience of working with individuals with Substance Misuse support needs for their Complex Needs Homelessness Service in East London on a permanent basis.
The Service
This Substance Misuse Worker role is based within a 35-bed complex needs homelessness service for people aged 18 or over who are homeless and have high support needs which crossover with their situation, including some mental health and substance misuse needs. Support Workers provide support on a 24/7 basis with key work sessions fortnightly.
The Role
The focus of this Homeless Support Worker role is to engage and stabilise chaotic homeless individuals with substance misuse issues and link them to appropriate services in order to manage and reduce their substance intake and improve health and wellbeing .The ultimate aim is to prepare individuals for move on to lower support accommodation or more independent living.
This will include the following tasks and responsibilities:
- Create a Safe and Welcoming Environment: Collaborate with the staff team to establish a psychologically informed environment that is safe and welcoming.
- Referral Management and Service Engagement: Interview and assess new referrals, ensuring the project can meet their needs; engage with service users, fostering supportive relationships, particularly those with dual diagnoses or complex needs.
- Assessment and Support Planning: Conduct needs assessments, identify skills and abilities, and develop holistic user-led support plans; regularly review progress using the outcomes star framework.
- High-Quality Support Delivery: Provide high-quality support to a caseload of key clients, offering practical assistance with life skills, activities, and appointments; initiate and support group activities.
- Collaboration, Reporting, and Safety Compliance: Liaise with internal and external partners; anticipate, respond, report incidents, and share relevant information while adhering to data protection and confidentiality policies; actively contribute to team activities and ensure compliance with Health and Safety policies, including monitoring vulnerable residents and assisting with medication management.
The Candidate
To be considered for this Homeless Support Worker role, you will require previous homelessness and supported housing experience including:
- Understanding and willingness to work with homeless people
- Knowledge of working with drug or alcohol issues and behaviour that can be challenging
- Able to respond to challenging behaviour calmly and safely.
- Basic understanding of health and safety including lone working
- Be able to deal with emergency situations (overdoses, etc)
- Be able to support with personal care if required
- A good listener, able to understand and communicate clearly in English
- Knowledge, empathy, understanding and proven ability to work creatively and engage homeless people whose alcohol/ drug misuse/ complex trauma has had significant effect on their physical and mental health, social and coping skills .
- Ability to assess needs, risks (within a framework of positive risk taking) and develop user led support plans.
- Awareness of and ability to identify and address health and care issues with partners, especially substance misuse, mental health, dementia etc.
- Robust knowledge and practical application of adult safeguarding requirements.
As the role is working with vulnerable individuals, you will also require an Enhanced DBS check.
The Contract
This is a full time Homeless Support Worker role, working shifts on a on a seven day rota, working every other weekend.
Shifts are either early (08:00-16:30) or late (14:00-22:30).
This is a permanent role, offering a salary of £25,101
How to Apply
To apply for this Homeless Support Worker role, please email a copy of your CV to lee . mcmillan @ servicecare . org. uk or call on 01772 208 966 to discuss the role in more detail!
If the role is more suited to someone you know, we offer a £250 referral bonus for every successfully referred candidate!
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