In this demanding and varied position, you’ll play a crucial role in the resettlement of rough sleepers, providing a comprehensive service to a caseload of clients who are currently sleeping rough or who have a recent history of rough sleeping in Swindon, but predominantly supporting those individuals who have entered Threshold resettlement accommodation projects. You will be adept at building trust and providing person centred advocacy and support which enables clients to navigate pathways and progress towards a life away from the streets, and beyond the short-term support we offer in our resettlement properties, so that they can enjoy sustainable independent living.
You will occasionally undertake assertive street outreach sessions and hot spot visits, including, on occasion, during unsocial hours, to engage with people sleeping rough. From the first point of contact, you will encourage long-term change. You will also support close partnership working with the local housing, health and wellbeing services, police, emergency accommodation providers and wider partner agencies to maximise positive outcomes for clients. Your time will be spent predominately managing our resettlement project residents, but this role will also involve working with individuals rough sleeping or at risk of homelessness. The division of time spent between outreach and resettlement projects could vary and at times may focus solely on one project, while at other times may be split, in varying degrees, between the projects – depending on the specialisation required for the outreach or resettlement project work, from time to time, which will require utilising the expertise of other members of the Threshold team to focus on specific tasks e.g. mental health assessment / talking therapies and so forth.
As a senior practitioner, you will also be required to mentor and provide occasional basic supervision to junior staff and volunteers when directed to do so.
As a Senior Homeless Project Worker you will have considerable experience in the homeless sector or a closely related field / complementary specialist skills and will be capable of managing a resettlement client caseload of between 20 to 25 complex residents in addition to duty and relief work to cover colleagues caseloads while on leave.
With excellent communication skills, both verbally and in writing, you will be at ease communicating with a wide audience, from our service users to professionals within the Local Authority and within agencies whom our service users are engaged with, or would benefit from engaging with. You will be diplomatic, tactful and highly empathetic, and possess the attribute of strong resilience in order to work flexibly and creatively with individuals presenting with multiple and often complex needs.
You will have considerable experience in referral to Safeguarding and attendance at MDT meetings, including MARAC, REP, Sexual Exploitation and Justice panels.
You will be fully conversant with best practice in the implementation of PIE’s and will work always in a psychologically and trauma informed way.
You will be a team-player, open to sharing professional knowledge and to learning from others. Desiring to make a meaningful difference to the lives of our service users, you will approach your work with enthusiasm, compassion, and utmost professionalism at all times.
We are open to recruiting part-time and/or full-time staff. Additionally, if you are looking for a short-term appointment we currently have a need to appoint to a temporary post and we would welcome expressions of interest to join Threshold for a period of between 3 to 6 months.
In the first instance we invite expressions of interest that outline in brief what working pattern you are interested in (PT, FT, temporary), when you could potentially start work with us, your current salary and salary expectation, an overview of your professional qualifications and work experience, and an indication of how your career aspirations might be met through joining the Threshold team.
We anticipate contacting all suitable applicants shortly after receipt of your expression of interest. Recruitment is ‘open’ and will close upon appointment of a suitable candidate/s. All expressions of interest will be acknowledged as ‘received’ by return email.
Please email your expression of interest, providing an succinct overview covering those areas of interest to us detailed above to: recruitment@thl.org.uk
In the subject line of your email please indicate: Current Vacancies
Please also complete and attach to your email the ‘GDPR Consent Form – Initial Enquiries / Applications’. Failure to do so will prevent consideration of your expression of interest in our current vacancies.
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For more information on this role, you can download the full job description for Senior Homeless Project Worker here.
