Support Worker

Job description

Treasures Foundation provides housing and support for women recovering from addiction, trauma, and involvement with the criminal justice system. We help women rebuild their lives through safe housing, access to essential services, and programmes focused on rehabilitation and long-term recovery. Our mission is to empower women to thrive in their communities and build a brighter future.

Key Responsibilities

The keyworker will report directly to the Area Manager with occasional supervision from the Lead Keyworker, and will play a critical role in maintaining the effective running of Treasures Foundation’s supported housing. The core responsibilities include:

Support, assessment and casework

· Build consistent, trusting and professional relationships with Treasures’ beneficiaries, using a gender-informed and trauma-informed approach.

· Promote a holistic approach to meeting beneficiaries’ needs, identifying and highlighting opportunities for change at both the individual’s and project/organisational level.

· Work alongside Treasures’ beneficiaries to identify their strengths, priorities and goals, developing and regularly reviewing person-led care plans that reflect what matters most to them.

· Provide practical and emotional support across a range of areas, including housing, wellbeing, substance use, relationships, finances, social inclusion and independent living.

· Support beneficiaries to access volunteering opportunities, extracurricular activities and educational courses.

· Use flexible, persistent and creative approaches to engaging with beneficiaries who may find it difficult to trust or engage with services, while maintaining clear and compassionate professional boundaries.

· Coordinate casework effectively, following through on agreed actions and maintaining accurate and timely records of Treasures beneficiaries’ circumstances, progress, risks and priorities.

· To provide skilled waking-night support across the service, maintaining safety and relational security while responding to Treasures beneficiaries’ emotional, mental health, and practical needs overnight.

· Support beneficiaries who are distressed, unsettled or awake overnight and provide calm, trauma-informed and boundaried support.

 

Group Delivery and Facilitation

· Support in the delivery of Treasure’s Day Programme, ensuring sessions are safe, inclusive, culturally appropriate, and responsive to the needs of participants.

· Plan and deliver structured group sessions focused on relapse prevention, mental wellbeing, emotional resilience, confidence-building, psychoeducation, peer support, and creative activities.

· Encourage active participation and support women to identify personal wellbeing goals and opportunities for progression.

· Gather feedback from participants and use this information to support the continuous improvement of Treasure’s Day Programme.

· Support the development of new wellbeing activities in response to identified participants needs and emerging issues.

Safety, safeguarding and risk

· Work collaboratively with Treasures’ beneficiaries to identify risks and develop plans that increase safety while respecting individual choice and autonomy.

· Recognise, respond and escalate appropriately to safeguarding concerns, incidents and changes in risk, following organisational and statutory procedures.

· Understand and respond to the risks connected with Violence Against Women and Girls, substance misuse, exploitation and trauma, working with relevant professionals and multi-agency arrangements where required.

· Respond calmly and effectively to crises and challenging situations, using professional judgement and seeking additional support appropriately.

Housing and day-to-day service delivery

· Support Treasures’ beneficiaries to understand their tenancy’s rights and responsibilities, feel settled within the service and develop the skills and confidence needed to maintain their accommodation and move towards greater independence.

· Help Treasures’ beneficiaries maximise their income, access appropriate benefits, manage money and address rent or service charge arrears where required.

· Contribute to the safe and effective day-to-day running of the service, responding flexibly to Treasures beneficiaries’ presenting needs and participating fully in the service rota and handovers.

· Complete required room and building checks, reporting and following up repairs, maintenance concerns and other issues affecting the safety or quality of the accommodation.

Partnership working, advocacy and involvement

· Build effective relationships with statutory, voluntary and community organisations to ensure Treasures’ beneficiaries can access coordinated support.

· Advocate alongside Treasures’ beneficiaries where systems or services create barriers, keeping their voice, choices and priorities central to decisions about their support.

· Complete mandatory training including but not limited to safeguarding, trauma and mental health, health and safety and fire safety awareness alongside additional training

Person Specification

· The ideal candidate will have a passion for working in the charity sector. They will be proactive, solution-oriented, and able to manage competing priorities in a sometimes-challenging environment.

Essential Skills and Experience:

· Flexible attitude with the ability to understand and implement policies and procedures, keeping the beneficiary at the heart of the work

· Demonstrable experience of lone working in a similar environment

· Excellent organisational and time-management skills

· Strong communication skills, with the ability to present information clearly to other staff members

· Reliability and sound judgement when immediate management presence is more limited.

· IT literate

· Flexibility to work a 24/7 rota, including evenings, weekends, bank holidays, and overnight shifts

Desirable Skills and Experience:

· Evidence of trauma informed qualifications or experience

Other requirements:

· For genuine occupational requirement reasons, we are looking to appoint a woman for this post (exemption under the Equality Act 2010 Part 1 Schedule 9). 

· An enhanced DBS disclosure check is a requirement for this post and will be undertaken for the successful candidate.

Visa sponsorship eligibility

· Please note, this role is not eligible for visa sponsorship. Applicants must have existing and ongoing right to work in the UK for the duration of employment.

Please ensure that when completing your cover letter you reflect on the details outlined in the job description. This will help us understand how your skills and experiences align with the requirements of the role and the organisation.

AI can be a really helpful tool when putting together your application, and we're happy for you to use it. However, what we're most interested in is you. We want to understand your experiences, achievements and strengths, so please make sure your application reflects your own story and clearly shows how you meet the essential criteria and the impact you've made in previous roles. We look forward to learning more about you.