Empowerment Practitioner – (Female Only) Floating Support – Part Time

Closing date: N/A

Job Title:

Empowerment Practitioner – Floating Support – (Part Time, 2 Years Fixed Term Contract)

Responsible to:

Team Leader

Responsible for:

N/A

Hours of Work:

18.75 hours per week

Location:

YMCA Together – Safer Accommodation Domestic Abuse Service

Salary and benefits:

  • £13,160per annum
  • 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays per annum (pro rata for part time)
  • Paid Medicash support
  • Birthday Day Off
  • Charity day of your choice
  • Well-being Hours
  • Cycle To Work Scheme
  • Refer a Friend Scheme
  • Company Pension Scheme 4%
  • Funded Training Opportunities

This post is only available to female applicants as an Occupational Requirement and permitted under the Equality Act 2010

YMCA Together is a registered charity and company Limited by Guarantee. We were founded in 1846 and so we build on a long history of providing a place for people experiencing challenging times in their lives.

YMCA Together is a truly value driven organisation.

Our vision is that everyone should feel safe, understood, empowered and positive for their future. We meet our vision by working within our values of Strength, Humility, Respect, Empathy and Kindness. These SHREK values run through all that we do from recruitment to how we work alongside people in our services to our partnership approach with other providers.

Our clear vision and values come together to help us in our mission to inspire and support people to change their lives by instilling hope, valuing the person and maximising potential.

YMCA Together have been developing our Psychologically Informed Services for over 8 years. We have been using Cognitive Analytical Therapy as a framework for supporting those people who use our services, the staff team and the organisation. Following significant growth, we now wish to recruit someone to work with us to continue to reflect on and grow and develop how we use CAT across the organisation.

We use CAT both as a case management tool with service users, teams and the organisation and as a direct intervention in our rehabilitation service. We require someone to work alongside us to facilitate a number of supervision sessions and facilitate training both internally and externally.

Hours of Work

 The Safer Accommodation Service will require the post holder to travel to safer accommodation homes across Liverpool. This is a floating support service with the main office base being at our Liverpool refuges. The hours of support are Monday – Friday 18.75 hours and with the requirement including bank holidays and may include occasional weekends.

Job Purpose

The post holder will provide floating support to women and their dependent children fleeing or at risk of domestic violence.

Our vision for the Services is one that breathes hope and ambition and promotes choice and independence. The support service we deliver will be psychologically informed and underpinned by two approaches, cognitive analytical therapy (CAT) and trauma informed care.

The post holder will ensure that the services operate in a Psychologically Informed Environment and will maintain high levels of support, recording and reporting and professionalism at all times. The post holder will provide trauma informed care, help and support to ensure that women and children are empowered to lead independent lives.

This post will require Lone Working in homes across the city. Own car is essential for this role.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Empowerment Practitioners (EP) will be skilled in delivering a range of interventions to adults, children and young people to build strength, enhance resilience and encourage progress. The post holder will be responsible for managing a floating case load of households and will have the primary role of providing and co-ordinating support interventions and multi-agency activity.

All EP’s will undergo Cognitive Analytic Therapy Skills Training (CAT) this will provide a framework for understanding and working with households. Training will also be provided around Trauma Informed Care. These approaches will be used for planning and assessing effectiveness of a variety of interventions and risk management.

Support Planning and Risk Assessing

  • Provide a high level of therapeutic support as the lead case worker to both the care-giver and their children that empowers them to plan a positive and sustainable future
  • Support households to achieve their goals and targets as defined/ agreed within their support plans
  • Manage, update and communicate households risk assessments in line with YMCA Together/City Wide policy and procedure
  • Plan and facilitate workshops to individuals and groups that inform/ teach service users around healthy relationships, parenting skills, promote healthy lifestyles, how to manage a tenancy, manage a home and live independently
  • Ensure households shape their own support and take part in activities.

Household Involvement and Engagement  

  • Encourage involvement, participation, and co-production from households in the running and development of the service
  • Provide a safe, welcoming environment with excellent standards and an ethos of service delivery that encourages households to engage
  • Ensure appropriate recommendations are made for the use of the Service User Personalisation Budget.

Multi Agency Working

  • Encourage and support to households with additional needs ensuring all appropriate referrals are made
  • Promote and encourage the pathway to independence working to a Whole Family Approach
  • Acting as nominated champion to maintain key partnerships and links.

Resettlement

  • Create a platform for move on to independent accommodation
  • Work closely with the housing and resettlement worker
  • Provide intensive resettlement support to households who move on from the service.

Reporting/Monitoring

  • Monitor positive feedback from households and external agencies
  • Ensure referrals to the programme are processed thoroughly and within the correct time frames.

Health and Safety

  • Liaise with all emergency services
  • Ensure at all times the safety of yourself and others on the premises in which you work
  • Adhere to the YMCA Together lone working policy
  • Conduct Health and Safety checks as required
  • Report, log and communicate all incidents to the appropriate people
  • Conduct welfare checks as specified during your shift
  • Ensure adherence to YMCA Together visitor’s policy and procedure
  • Adhere to all Risk Management Protocols.

Internal relationships

  • Excellent communication with all YMCA Together staff
  • Flexible and positive approach with all team members
  • To be committed to learning and personal development both as an individual and as part of a team
  • Sharing information and expertise with the team, covering absence, and working together to provide a high quality service
  • Attend team meetings as required.

External relationships

  • Develop excellent working relationships with the City Council Commissioners and multi-disciplinary team and ensure successful delivery of outcomes
  • Develop excellent and robust relationships, protocols, contacts and service level agreements with referring agencies, statutory services, and wider stakeholders
  • Attend meetings with external partners as required to develop the service model and ensure all the KPI’s and outcomes of the service are met.

General

  • Uphold and develop YMCA Together Equal Opportunities policy of anti-discrimination across all services
  • Ensure compliance with Code of conduct, always including professional boundaries and confidentiality
  • Deal promptly with all complaints
  • Report all safeguarding incidents
  • Familiarise yourself with and ensure compliance with all YMCA Together policies and procedures
  • Conduct Mainstay assessments and related tasks
  • Prepare for and attend supervision and annual appraisal with your line manager taking direction as appropriate and contributing to the development of both yourself and the service.

The post holder will be expected to carry out other duties consistent with the responsibilities of the post and to demonstrate flexibility in all areas of their work including the willingness to attend team meetings and training outside of your normal working hours.

It is recognised that the association is operating in a dynamic environment and as such this job description may be varied in consultation with the post holder to reflect evolving needs of the business and changing nature of the job.

Person Specification – Empowerment Practitioner

Qualifications

Essential

  • Educated to graduate level or significant relevant experience
  • Qualification or significant relevant working experience in women’s/children’s services and Domestic Abuse

Desirable

  • Qualification in mental health/therapeutic approaches
  • Qualification in training
  • Qualification in IT
  • IDVA Qualification

Experiences

Essential

  • Experience of working with households with a history of domestic violence, mental health, homelessness or substance misuse.
  • Experience of Children Safeguarding
  • At least 2 years’ experience of working within a Refuge or support service
  • Experience of partnership working
  • Experience of creative support planning and target setting
  • Experience of support planning using “The Outcome Star”
  • Experience of formulating risk assessments
  • Experience of resettling individuals into independent accommodation
  • Experience of formulating Risk Assessments and Safety Plans for DA clients.

Desirable

  • Experience of working within a psychologically informed environment (PIE)

Knowledge

Essential

  • A working knowledge of Health & Safety issues
  • A clear understanding and specific knowledge of complex needs support issues such as domestic violence. homelessness, mental health, substance misuse and offending
  • Knowledge of Safeguarding protocols
  • Knowledge of “Empowerment Star”
  • Knowledge of health intervention and services for women and children
  • An understanding of the Geography of Liverpool City

Desirable

  • Knowledge of the Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT

Skills 

Essential

  • Computer literate, competent in working with Microsoft word, outlook, windows
  • The ability to plan and facilitate workshops
  • Commitment to multi agency working and best practice
  • Ability to develop and deliver a high-quality person-centred approach
  • The ability to support service users who display challenging behavior including verbal aggression

Desirable

  • Analytical, data collation and reporting skills

Behaviour/ Attributes

Essential

  • Committed to improving the lives of women and children fleeing from or at risk of domestic violence
  • Committed to own personal development and CPD planning
  • Creative and dynamic approach with the ability to “think outside of the box” when providing solutions
  • Energetic, highly motivated with a reputation of being held in high regard by their peers
  • Excellent interpersonal/ communication skills
  • Excellent negotiation/ mediation skills
  • Committed to own career development
  • Reliable
  • Ability to work within and have commitment to YMCA ethos, philosophy and SHREK values, Strength, Humility, Respect, Empathy and Kindness.
  • Energetic, dynamic and self motivated

If you would like to apply for this role please click here APPLY NOW

To download a copy of our application form, please click HERE

If you would like to apply not directly through the website, please email your completed application form to recruitment@ymcatogether.org.uk

Apply Now