Peer Support Practitioner (Out of Hrs) - Part-Time 20 Hours

Essential for the role

• Personal lived experience of homelessness, alcohol or other drugs, mental health issues and / or involvement in criminal justice system.
• Must be willing to use your lived experience to engage with service users

About the Service

South Lanarkshire Council have secured funding from the Drug Death Taskforce and are working with TPS to deliver a flexible, rapid response service which offers assertive outreach to individuals in crisis or at risk of crisis out of hrs. The service will focus on providing interventions to prevent or manage crisis situation through additional ‘out of hours’ capacity to support existing statutory and commissioned services. The service will ensure that we prevent tenancy and placement breakdown, reduce harm both physical and psychological, prevent drug deaths and connect people into services in the community. Individuals who are at risk of crisis will be alerted to TPS and we will provide check in’s out of hrs to ensure they do not fall into crisis. Additionally, we will be alerted out of hrs to individuals who are in crisis and we will provide a range of interventions including

• Keeping people safe
• Preventing tenancy / placement breakdowns
• Harm reduction information and advice. Understanding how people ‘use’ alcohol and other drugs.
• Distribution of Injecting Equipment Provision (IEP) including new needles, foil, sharp bins etc. as part of harm reduction.
• Targeted distribution of naloxone (peer distribution model) to individuals and friends / family
• Immediate response pathway for near-fatal overdose
• Dry Blood Spot testing, where appropriate, for HIV, Hep B / C.
• Condom distribution
• Emergency food parcels
• Access to period products
• Identification of emergency accommodation if homeless or at risk of losing accommodation
• Engaging with family members out of hours to provide support to keep people safe.
• Sustaining existing engagement with services
• Addressing barriers to engagement with services
• Assertive linkage to treatment and care services
• Identification of other health issues

Job Purposes & Core Details

To:

1. work to the service and organisation's aims and values and promote the citizenship of the people we support.
2. deliver support to people who use Turning Point Scotland's services and in so doing contribute to the provision of the highest possible quality of social care support which meets the service specification.
3. provide an insight into the process of recovery and to share experiences in a postive way which assists the people we support.
4. operate at an established level of social care practice or engaged moving towards established.
5. work to the company's values - Because People Matter
6. undertake CPD (continuous professional development with the support of your line manager and use appraisals and supervision fully.
7. keep your registration and membership to relevant professional bodies up to date and valid.
8. undertake any outstanding require qualification for registration, or if not working in a registered service qualify at the minimum of SVQ level 2 in Health and Social Care.
9. undertake any other duties or responsibilities as may be deemed appropriate to the post by the Service Manager (or nominated deputy).
10. Provide, prompt, administer medication and healthcare & wellbeing support as required

Main duties and responsibilities

Support to people who use services - To:

• provide support and assistance to people who we support in accordance with their support plans and service aims and to provide insight into the process of recovery through the sharing of experience in a positive way.
• assist with initial and on-going assessments of people who we support.
• advise people who we support in accordance with guidance from senior colleagues or in accordance with the service aims.
• be a key worker as required.
• maintain professional confidentiality and boundaries at all times.
• support and assist people who we support in crisis situations, and/or manage physical risk or behaviour likely to cause incidents, in accordance with the support plan or service protocol.
• travel within the service area you are contracted for and supporting the travel and transportation of people who we support in accordance with their support plan (mobility, own car, service vehicles, public transport etc).
• have an understanding of the causes and effects of social exclusion as is relevant to the service and area in which you work.
  

Planning, policies and record keeping - To:

• devise, review and update support plans, record events and observations and keep appropriate records as require in the service.
• attend and contribute to service user reviews often as a key worker or as required.
• co-ordinate elements of support in accordance with the support plan.
• follow risk management plans, and follow and update risk assessments.
• work with data in line with the data protection act.
• work with and comply with standard operation (finance, operational, Health and Safety and Human Resources) and service procedures. 
  

Interactions with other people - To:

• administer or prompting medication and ensure that medication protocols are adhered to.
• support or buddy new staff and volunteers/those on placement to show them how your practice complies with the SSSC Codes of Practice.
• have a collegiate approach, ask when you need support or guidance and team work with a diverse group of people.
• manage and resolve conflict promptly and raise issues appropriately using the correct internal processes.
• directly communicate with the families of the people we support as appropriate.
• liaise with workers from other agencies when requested to do so by senior colleagues.
• work in accordance with the service, meeting the relevant legislation and National Care Standards.
• liaise with landlords and similar others on behalf of people who we support when requested to do so by senior colleagues.
• maintain confidentiality with shared information.
• be aware of health and safety and contribute fully to keeping my work environment, community, people who use services and myself safe.
  

Leadership - To:

• provide leadership through expressing and working to sound values and advocating for revovery and pathways to recovery
• provide buddying or informal coaching to new staff.
• support the delivery of a specific part of the service such as group work.
• continuously contribute to service development and improvement.
• contribute to Turning Point Scotland.
• keep abreast of changes or sector requirements that are relevant to you.
• appropriately challenge oppressive or potentially abusive behaviours or practices and report any concerns quickly to senior colleagues.
  

Miscellaneous - applies only in certain services

• to undertake sleepovers, overnight and weekends working and occasionally participate in people who we support holiday's as required.
• to undertake training that may be technical or specialised that will benefit the service.
• to perform lone working.

Please note that it will be essential to the post to work out of hours and weekends regularly.

About Turning Point Scotland (TPS)

TPS works with adults who are experiencing a range of support needs in relation to housing and homelessness, learning disability, autism, acquired brain injury, fluctuating mental health, physical disabilities, problematic alcohol and/or other drug use and involvement in the criminal justice system. We work from the belief that people matter, that they are the experts on their support needs and that it is for us to work creatively with them and with partners to ensure that those needs are met. We work with around 2,800 Individuals every day and 5,100 every year across Scotland helping people to address issues they are experiencing and recognise their own skills and interests.

Our approach to support is imbedded within a Citizenship framework where we deliver a holistic approach promoting the recovery, self-determination and inclusion of people experiencing challenges in their life, through focusing on their strengths and the valuable contributions they can make to their communities. Citizenship is defined as a measure of the strength of an individual’s connection to the 5 R’s of rights, responsibilities, roles, resources, and relationships that society makes available to its members.

Alcohol and Other Drugs / Homelessness within TPS

TPS support and are more commonly delivering services which do not sit within silod’ areas of work, focussing more on the interventions we can provide rather than the area of work where it has been funded. This service aims to provide a crisis intervention and prevent homelessness / placement breakdown crossing over our work in Homelessness and Alcohol / Other Drugs.

Turning Point Scotland has been supporting individuals who experience a crisis as a result of their alcohol and drug use for over 25 years and these crisis situation involve a range of other interventions to alleviate homelessness, mental health, family situation etc. We are experienced in providing a range of evidence based interventions to reduce harm and to support recovery across a number of local authority areas. All our services despite the funding silo, work as part of Recovery Orientated Systems of Care (ROSC).

TPS are the biggest provider of services to people experiencing or at risk of Homelessness across Scotland, delivering support to around 2,800 individuals on any given day, 5,100 per year. This number increases when considering individuals at risk of Homelessness where funding is provided through Justice or Alcohol and Other Drugs funding streams.

We believe that in many cases, Homelessness is entirely preventable, it is failures in the silo’d and complex systems that we have designed to protect people that prevent us from preventing this. Where Homelessness is not or cannot be prevented the experience should be short lived, and met with a psychologically informed response. A menu of options should be available to individuals to prevent or support someone to move on from Homelessness ensuring a no wrong door approach to accessing services is used.

Service Model – Crisis Response

We provide a range of interventions to support individuals who are in crisis and will respond as quickly as we possibly can within local agreements. Our aims are to respond effectively to the crisis in a psychologically informed way, prevent individuals losing their tenancy, reduce any harm both physical and psychological, prevent deaths and connect individuals into services to help them address the underlying causes of the crisis.

Essential Criteria

Qualifications:

• A willingness to complete a qualification in Social Service and Health Care at level 6 or 7 (SCQF) or other speciality recognised by the SSSC for registration purposes and if not already registered, to register with the SSSC within the timescale required, where relevant. 

Experience:

• Have relevant lived expereince
• Has experience of undertaking tasks in a lone working environment and/or with independence and initiative.
• Has experience, personal, voluntary or professional of providing social care type supports to an individual in their own home or in a social care, school or community setting. This may be informal.

Values:

• Must be able to demonstrate an understanding and commitment to the values that underpin social care focussing on inclusion, person centred approaches and citizenship.
• Must be able to demonstrate an understanding of the need to maintain professional boundaries and apply disclosure when working with individuals
• Must be able to be wholly respectful towards all service users and colleagues and address issues constructively

Experience:

• Has experience of providing direct supports to people who use social care services.
• Has experience of working with people who have barriers to social inclusion and supporting them to become more socially integrated
• Has direct experience of working with people who are at times chaotic and marginalised, whose behaviours can challenge services , and supporting them to become more socially integrated and able to access services.
• Has experience of working in an environment where the SSC Codes of Practice for Social Care Workers is adhered to
• Experience of supporting people in crisis and using a harm reduction approach
• Experiencing of working in homelessness or alcohol or other drug services

Other skill and knowledge

• Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the SSSC Codes of Practice for Social Care Workers
  
  

We are a large, stable national provider and a charity. As we are not for profit there is ongoing investment into our staff training and development, a good GPP pension scheme, and annual leave and sick pay that significantly exceeds the statutory minimum.

We also have a brilliant employee assistance programme (independent advice, information and support online, by phone and in person), a group reward scheme to help your money go further and access to a contributory ‘hospital’ fund. We have a relationship with a credit union and promote saving directly from salary.

We aim to provide a working environment where opinions and ideas are valued and arrangements are in place to ensure that there is a high level of staff representation and that people are encouraged to make their views heard and to participate at service and organisational levels.

As a leading national social care provider our breakthrough and forward-thinking models of practice and service are well recognised. Examples of this recently have been: Housing First, Psychologically informed environments (PIE), Citizenship and both Scottish and International research and evaluation of a range of projects. We work across a wide range of types of services and the organisation provides pathways for development: a career development workshop; appraisal; learning and training options; internal forums and project groups; and opportunities for internal secondment, temporary acting up or sideways roles and career progression.

The salary scale for the post will be (reduced pro rata for part time posts, the full time equivalent is a 37 working hour week)

• £17,893
• £18,100
• £18,288
• £18,770
• £19,238

The annual leave entitlement will be (reduced pro rata for part time posts and will include a proportional entitlement to public holidays)

25 days per year, plus 8 public holidays and 2 local holidays.

Should you have any queries, please call our freephone recruitment line on 0808 164 3100.