Support Practitioner 29.6 Hours - Housing First

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. operate at an established level of social care practice, or engaged moving towards established.
4. work to the company's values - Because People Matter
5. undertake CPD (continuous professional development with the support of your line manager and use appraisals and supervision fully.
6. keep your registration and membership to relevant professional bodies up to date and valid.
7. 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.
8. undertake any other duties or responsibilities as may be deemed appropriate to the post by the Service Manager (or nominated deputy).
9. 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.
• 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 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.

About TPS

TPS   works with adults who are experiencing a range of support needs. This includes 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 believe that   people matter. We believe they are the experts on their support needs. It is   for us to work creatively with them and with partners to ensure we meet those   needs.

Every day we work with well   over 4,000 people and every year around 8,700. We help them to address issues they are   experiencing and recognise their own skills and interests.

We embed our approach to support in a framework of Citizenship. Using   this   we deliver a holistic approach promoting the recovery, self-determination and   inclusion of people experiencing challenges in their life. And we do this through focusing on their   strengths and the valuable contributions they can make to their communities.

We define Citizenship 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.

Homelessness work within TPS

TPS is the biggest provider of services to people   experiencing or at risk of Homelessness across Scotland. We deliver support   to over 2800 individuals on any given   day, and over 5,100 each year. This number increases when taking into account   our services accessed through Justice or Alcohol and Other Drugs funding   streams.

We believe that in many   cases, Homelessness is entirely preventable.   It is failures in the siloed and complex systems that we have designed   to protect people that stops us from achieving this. Where Homelessness is   not or cannot be, prevented the experience should be short lived, and we   should meet that with a psychologically informed response. A menu of options   should be available to individuals to prevent, or support someone to move on   from Homelessness. This ensures we use   a ‘no wrong door’ approach to accessing services.

We deliver a range of   service models. These include Outreach   Housing Support; Outreach Housing First; Outreach Crisis Support; Supported   Accommodation. In line with our Citizenship approach we have a specific focus   on key areas. These are; Building on people’s strengths,   skills and interests as well as meeting their needs; Connecting people to communities,   people and / or places; Harm reduction and / or Recovery; and providing a   Psychologically informed / Trauma informed approach.

We also deliver a range of   additional services across the country.   Examples include Peer Mentoring services, Community Connectors, TPS   Moving Service and TPS Connects amongst many other initiatives.

We recognise the importance   of animals in people’s lives and helping individuals move on from the trauma   they have experienced. We are currently developing our policies and frameworks   to engage with stakeholders and develop our policy and procedures to make our   services as pet friendly as possible.

We are also active members   of the European Federation of National Organisations with the Homeless   (FEANTSA).

Service Model

Service Model - Outreach Housing First

In 2010 TPS invested in the UK’s   first Housing First pilot project. This was in response to the clear evidence   that there was a small population who were experiencing multiple and enduring   support needs and were being failed – and worse, increasingly traumatised –   by the homelessness system that is supposed to help them. Since then we have   grown our services across multiple local authorities including Consortium   partnerships with other agencies. We believe that a home is a human right and   that an individual is best placed to deal with the issues that often made   them homeless in the first place, in a place they can call home. We believe   that Housing First should be the default model for people who are   experiencing homelessness and have multiple and enduring support needs. We   believe strongly on delivering Housing First with high fidelity to the 7   principles and working towards ensuring we deliver Systems Fidelity within   the wider systems that Housing First effects or is effected by. We deliver   the Housing First Academy focussed on the Communities of Practice Hub,   Training Hub and Housing First Europe Hub www.housingfirstacademy.com We are also active co-founding   members of the Housing First Europe Hub.

About the Service

Renfrewshire Housing   First Service has been established since 2013. The service provides outreach support to   individuals aged 18 or over who are homeless, have multiple and enduring   support needs and live in the   Renfrewshire area. Renfrewshire Housing First service supports people to   access a permanent tenancy within the local authority.

There   are many factors that can contribute to an individual experiencing   homelessness therefore staff will offer a wide range of support to   individuals with complex needs.

As well   as providing support with the practical aspects of maintaining a tenancy,   people will also receive support to access services relating to mental   health, addictions and social opportunities. Services users will be offered   support to find something in their life which is meaningful to them, through   leisure activities, voluntary work, education or employment. The emphasis is   always on what the individual wishes to have in their life, at a time when   they are ready for it. Support is not time limited.

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:

• 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.
• Has experience of undertaking tasks in a lone working environment and/or with independence and initiative.
  

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 between social care workers and people who use services and the role of a professional social care worker.

Other skills and knowledge:

• Must be willing to develop skills used when supporting people through reflective practice, active learning, personal and professional development, supervision and feedback.

Experience:

• Has experience of providing direct supports to people who use social care services.

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)

• £18,278
• £18,278
• £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 free phone recruitment line on 08081643100.