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Job description

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title: Outreach Worker

Service: Reading Community Support Service

Location: Reading

Reporting to: Service Manager

Summary of the Role

Our Reading Your Way Community Outreach Service has been designed to make a real difference to people’s lives, and to target support to refugees and communities in more deprived areas of the borough of Reading.

As an Outreach Worker you will offer:

9 weeks of 1:1 personalised support, including an initial assessment, developing goals and a support plan. You will build therapeutic relationships with service users, creating an environment where they feel able to talk openly, and feel safe enough to move forwards in their recovery. Support will be guided by their needs and preferences, including areas such as:

• Self-management and coping strategies
• Accessing employment, training or volunteering
• Linking people into specialist housing, benefits, debt or finance services
• Linking people into community opportunities to tackle isolation
• Triage assessment for crisis support at our Breathing Space service.

Group workshops – an activity programme designed to meet local needs, including:

• Group programmes themed around wellbeing, coping strategies, self-management and facilitating peer support.
• Group sessions themed around areas of need, including food and mood sessions, and physical health drop-ins utilising the local SMI Passport and health reviews, delivered in partnership with health and the local VCS.
• Weekly groups to target isolation and facilitate peer support.

Key Responsibilities

• Establish and maintain relationships of trust with service users, in order to build engagement
• Support people experiencing mental distress in an empathic, professional manner
• Help service users to set, prioritise and achieve personal goals, to increase hope, motivation and ambition
• Work alongside individuals to develop and review robust assessments, safety management plans and personalised recovery support plans
• Value the lived experience of service users and enable them to use that experience to support each other and improve their experience of this Together service
• To communicate effectively with individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds including people from marginalised or minority groups
• To share knowledge, skills and experience within the team while observing confidentiality
• Work with professionals from other agencies and make onward referrals, linking service users into other community opportunities
• To record and report on activity and outcomes, sharing examples of good practice
• Make timely records which are concise, accurate, written for the service user to understand, using Together computer-based systems
• Participate in mandatory and job-related courses, learning activities and a commitment to own continuous professional development
• Maintain professional boundaries in all aspects of work with service users.

Generic Tasks

• To uphold and practice Together’s organisational values in delivering this role
• Represent the service positively with services users and other agencies
• To adhere to Together’s Equalities policy
• To maintain confidentiality with regard to service users
• To be aware of and follow Together’s Safeguarding policy

Equal Opportunities Statement

We acknowledge the unique contribution that all Together employees and service users can bring to the work of the projects and the organisation in terms of their culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital status, nationality, age, religion or belief and any physical disability or history of mental health or additional problems.

All appointments and promotions are based on merit and no job applicant or employee will be treated unfairly or discriminated against. All staff has equal access to staff development. Full details may be found in the Human Resources Policy and Procedure Manual.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

E = Essential

D = Desirable

Experience/Qualifications

Experience in supporting vulnerable individuals gained from paid work and/or voluntary and/or life experience

E

Lived experience of mental distress

E

Experience of facilitating groups and/or workshops

E

NVQ Level II in Health and Social Care, or equivalent

D

Competencies

Ability to work alongside individuals experiencing mental distress

E

Able to be empathetic towards service users and create a trusting environment

E

Experience of facilitating groups and/or workshops

E

Demonstrate a commitment to equal opportunities and awareness of issues for people from marginalised or minority backgrounds

E

Able to establish and maintain professional boundaries in working with service users

E

Willing and able to collaborate with colleagues and other organisations

E

Able to produce clear records and reports in English and basic competence in the use of email and word processing software

E

Able to use email and computerised systems for service user records and reports

E

Demonstrate problem-solving skills relating to housing, welfare benefits, education and relationships

E

Committed to work in ways which reflect Together’s values

E

Safeguards the wellbeing of clients and colleagues at all times

E

Job Type: Part-time

Salary: From £20,262.54 per year

Benefits:

• Sick pay
• Work from home

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift
• Monday to Friday

Ability to commute/relocate:

• READING: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in READING