We’re looking for a kind, compassionate and resilient Support Worker to join our Young People service in Ealing. No personal care or experience is required, just the right values.
£24,856.00 per annum, working 40 hours per week. Benefits include 25 days Annual Leave, pension schemes, staff discounts, healthcare and career progression.
Want to feel like you have an exciting future? You’ll feel at home here.
Making you feel at home here means helping you thrive in every way. That’s why we offer a wide range of benefits, award-winning Learning & Development and a culture that welcomes all. These aren’t token gestures - we’ve thought long and hard about how best to support our team. After all, our people are doing something amazing: helping to transform lives every day.
When working as a Support Worker in a Young Peoples service, no one day is like another. You could be supporting a Young Person to an appointment with their social worker, helping them complete a CV, managing a mental health crisis, helping them tidy up, assessing young people moving in, carrying out health and safety room checks, signing up for benefits or finding time to complete your paperwork like support plans and risk assessments.
We work closely with external agencies such as social services. As such, a major part of the role involves communicating with social workers, by writing reports and providing written and verbal updates on Young People, therefore it is essential that you are organised and a good communicator.
As a trauma informed housing provider, we are committed to improving the mental health and wellbeing of young people. Working alongside the team you will foster a caring positive environment so that Young People can experience a safe, accepting, stimulating space which is focused on positive and active change.
There are opportunities to organise events and activities for young people, this can be 121 as part of a key working session or as part of a bigger group. Supporting Young People with life skills is very important and this could include anything from learning to budget, shop and cook to taking metre readings and paying rent.
We work in the homes of young people so we need to make sure that they are safe and homely, this can include carrying out fire drills and managing guests in and out of the building.
You will work alongside a team of colleagues and external professionals to give our Young People the best possible opportunities to succeed. At times there is lone working however there is always a manager that is available as part of an on-call system.
We work with a vast variety of Young People including Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC), Care Leavers, Young Parents and Young Offenders.
It’s important that you understand the needs of Young People including in relation to equality and diversity, and support them in their transition into adulthood with things such as healthy relationships and their mental health.
We encourage Young People to openly talk about any issues or concerns that they may have. You will actively listen and encourage them to contribute to the running of and decision making within the service
We asked some of our support workers what they thought the best part about the job is, here is what they had to say:
“Seeing a YP grow in confidence from the moment they move in to when they move out and being a part of that”.
“When the Young Person starts to make improvements in their lifestyle and become happier with who they are you could not find better job satisfaction”.
We also asked Young People what they felt needed to go into the job description here is what they had to say:
“It’s important to build a bond with us, we like it when someone has had similar experiences to us and gets us, my last key worker had been through care and so knew what I was going through”
“I want someone who is going to stick around “
This role requires a valid Right to Work for the UK as Look Ahead are not a sponsoring organisation.
What you’ll do:
- Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of Young People
- Promoting a positive and supportive culture which is inclusive for all
- Working alongside the team and our partners to provide effective key working, mentoring and resilience building activities
- Building positive, supportive, trusting and appropriate relationships with Young People which enable change and emotional growth
- Highlighting individual strengths; supporting young people to identify and set personalised goals and achieve positive outcomes (in the form of a support plan)
- Helping Young People to build resilience, develop their social and emotional skills and reduce harm to themselves and/or others
- Involving customers in the design, development and delivery of the service
- Providing support with daily living activities, including practical assistance where skills are not yet developed. For example, Empowering Young People to ensure they receive the service and benefits they are entitled to. Encouraging and enabling young people to pay their rent and ensure that rent accounts are managed effectively
- Working proactively with other members of the team to handle the service caseload and administrative responsibilities
- Supporting key young people to set personalised goals in the form of a Support Plan
- Conducting regular key work sessions that are innovative and engaging in order to achieve Support Plan goals
- Ensuring ongoing assessment and management of risks associated with young people within an attitude of ‘positive risk taking’
- Facilitate and support Young People’s engagement in LA/ZunTold trauma informed intervention to support good mental health
- Proactive development of links with local statutory and voluntary organisations to provide a range of engagement opportunities for Young People in the community
- Ensuring Look Ahead Health and Safety policies are adhered to at all time and to uphold all health and safety responsibilities within relevant policies and local protocols
- Adhering to all other Look Ahead’s policies and procedures
- Carry out the duties of the post in a responsible manner seeking and receiving support as necessary
- Engaging in learning and development activity to increase knowledge and skills
- Day to day instruction/ supervision of Assistant Support Workers/ domestic staff/ Personal Support Assistants where appropriate
- Undertaking any other duties consistent with the grade and nature of the post as assigned by the Team Leader/ Manager.
This is not an exhaustive list of all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time and is subject to change in accordance with the needs of Look Ahead
About you:
- Enjoys working with Young People and seeing them progress
- Role models by upholding appropriate, clear and consistent boundaries
- Enjoys social interaction and the company of others, joins in local activities to encourage Young People involvement
- Offers empathy, creativity and demonstrates ability to engage with Young People
- Demonstrates respect for the privacy, dignity and rights of Young People
- Ability to listen, not to judge and is compassionate
- Is fundamentally calm and resilient, does not let emotion adversely affect them or obscure their judgement, able to deescalate situations.
- Has a practical and logical mind and is naturally well organised
- Thrives on change and enjoys dynamic diverse environments
- Is respectful, articulate and sensitive in style of communication
- Is motivated towards excellence and improvement of personal performance with a can-do attitude shows a willingness to try new activities and different ways of working
- Ability to cope positively with challenging and diverse behaviour
- Remains positive, resilient, proactive and solution focused
- Willingness to engage in training
- Understands environmental factors play a huge role in Young People’s mental health
What you’ll bring:
Essential:
- Positive attitude and can-do approach
- Passion for working with Young People NVQ Level 3 Health and Social Care or willingness to work towards it.
Desirable:
About us:
Look Ahead is a dynamic, leading, not-for-profit care and support provider in London and the South East. As an organisation we deliver over 110 services, providing support to around 7000 customers each year. We work across mental health, homelessness, young people and learning disabilities so there are plenty of opportunities to grow and progress your career with us.
Look Ahead is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk, and expects all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.
If your application for this role is unsuccessful, but we feel that you would be suitable for another role, we may contact you to discuss alternative opportunities. If this occurs you would not need to submit another application for the alternative role.
We reserve the right to close this advert early if we are able to appoint to the vacancy before the advertised closed date.
We are committed to diversity and inclusion at work and are accredited with Silver in the Inclusive Employers Standard 2021. We are a proud member of the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant and encourage applications from a diverse range of applicants of all backgrounds.