project worker

We're a social enterprise or, as we like to call it - a 'business with a heart'. This means that all the money we make goes back into finding new ways to help people. Our aim is simple; we want to help people change their lives for the better - no matter what life throws at them. We've got offices across Merseyside, North Wales, Lincolnshire, Manchester, Norfolk and Suffolk and the Midlands, where we're making our stamp. Our Women's Turnaround service is well established in Merseyside.

What's our Women's Turnaround service all about?

Our open-minded Women's Turnaround team support female offenders in Merseyside. The team work alongside the probation service and the women to understand the multiple reasons behind their offending behaviours and find ways to reduce their likelihood of reoffending in the future. Women are given the opportunity to access a range of specialist support options from groups to one-to-one support, to remote support through PSS services and partner agencies. This holistic approach supports women with things like: managing emotions, overcoming substance misuse, support with mental health and wellbeing and trauma counselling. Women can also be referred to partner agencies for practical support on areas such as housing and employability.

Meet Amanda

Amanda was signposted to Women's Turnaround by the substance misuse service she was using after leaving prison. She met with a Women's Turnaround project worker who carried out an assessment with her and saw she had multiple needs. Amanda was a heroin user with a child in care, she had witnessed violence, was experiencing a lot of grief and social isolation in her life.

A support plan was created alongside her project worker, and some interventions were put in place to help meet her needs. Amanda was offered counselling and trauma support for her grief as well as support for the ongoing drug use. These were both seen as significant risk factors in her potential choice to reoffend.

After 13 weeks, Amanda had fully engaged with her support plan and was drug free with the support of Turnaround and the drug and alcohol services she was using. Her project worker supports her to have unsupervised visits with her child and she is working to regain custody and have her child returned from care with the support of the service.

What you'll do as a Women's Turnaround project worker

As a project worker you'll support people to turn their lives around, offering totally person-shaped support based around the unique and complex needs of every woman you work with. You'll consider the needs of the individual, the complexity of their situation, any associated risks and offence-related issues. A commitment to treating people with dignity and respect is essential as you support people to understand their offending behaviours and reduce their chances of reoffending in the future.

You'll take your responsibilities very seriously, focusing on:

Being a people person

• Completing assessments with women and creating detailed holistic support plans alongside them.


• Offering the people you support a range of holistic activities and interventions on a one-to-one and group basis. These will look at a wide range of pathway areas and happen in the community and in custodial settings like prisons.


• Providing practical and emotional support where needed; accompanying women to court, appointments and pre-release preparation meetings.


• Referring and signposting the people who use our service to other support options in their community.


• Offering flexibility for the people you support and travelling between locations to support them.


Keeping up a great standard

• Maintaining case records and other documentation using case management systems and contributing to the collation of data needed for quality monitoring purposes.


• Ensuring that both Local Authority and PSS Safeguarding policies, procedures and protocols are fully understood and put into practice.


• Making sure that activities and interventions follow all the relevant policies and procedures and comply with court orders and legal framework.


Supporting our service to shine

• Networking and liaising with colleagues within the probation service, the criminal justice system, prisons and elsewhere to establish and maintain strong partnership working.


• Empowering the people we support to shape our service through co-production.
  
  The main office base is in PSS, Eleanor Rathbone House, 24 Derby Road, Liverpool, L5 9PR although the postholder will be required to travel regularly and work across various outreach venues in Merseyside and HMP Styal.


Post 2: Halton, Warrington and HMP Styal (driving licence essential)

The postholder will be required to travel regularly and work across various outreach venues in Halton, Warrington and HMP Styal. Due to the geographical locations, a full driving licence and use of own car is essential for this post., We need people who live up to our values of being: genuine, big-hearted, open-minded, determined and professional. You'll need to be committed to supporting women and improving their life opportunities and have experience of working with women with multiple and complex needs as well as experience of working in the criminal justice system and / or social care sector. Experience of providing structured support to individuals is essential and a Level 2 Diploma in Social Care or a comparable qualification is desirable.

You will also need a full, clean driver's license.

Above all, we need someone who believes that every person should have the chance to improve their lives and will support people to achieve their hopes and dreams.