Specialist Domestic Abuse Housing Advocates

The specialist Domestic Abuse Housing Advocate will work within a dynamic, fast paced team to provide intervention, advocacy and support that empowers Black, Ethnic, Minoritized (BME) women and ensures that the voice of BME survivors informs every stage of their journey towards improved safety. The successful candidate will work with service users across risk and will carry a case load of service users who hold social tenancies with the local authority or a housing association. You will be required to coordinate the provision of multi-agency support which focuses on working with domestic abuse survivors to maintain their tenancies and prevent homelessness. You will have an excellent understanding of domestic abuse its effects on BME survivors and their children and knowledge of best practice within the domestic abuse and Housing sectors. You will be skilled in risk management and safety planning, remaining calm in a crisis and in handling sensitive information daily. You will work
within a well-established and supportive team to provide high quality advocacy and support based upon a service user led needs and risk assessment.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Ensure effective access for BME survivors and encourage their engagement with the service, through proactive contact and assessment for a high volume of referrals.



• Work from an intersectional approach acknowledging systemic discrimination due to sexual orientation and identity, gender and gender identity, race, economic status, immigration status, national origin, and ability, among other aspects of one's identity, and that this systemic discrimination impacts access to opportunity.



• Work within the team to conduct comprehensive assessments of needs and risk for BME survivors experiencing domestic abuse, carry out short risk management, safety planning and support; and identify and refer to services appropriate to their needs.



• Initiate and manage support plans that include delivery of high-quality face to face or telephone crisis intervention, information, advocacy, and support, in respect to criminal and civil remedies, housing, health, welfare rights, children's legislation and other appropriate interventions.



• Collate project data on charity log and AWRC monitoring, and evaluation systems write project logs Managers and monitoring reports



• Safeguard cases by referring to Social Care and MARAC where appropriate and monitoring and ensuring that duty cases sent to program managers for allocation


7. Advise BME survivors of their rights and options for seeking help and support from other agencies, making referrals and co-ordinating the provision of multi-agency support where necessary, and proactively advocate to ensure barriers to accessing support and protection are minimised.

• Proactively assess the needs and safety of any children that women using the service may have, ensure that any risks/needs identified are addressed directly with the woman, and take appropriate action to safeguard them.



• Proactively assess the needs and safety of women at risk giving due regard to Adult at Risk policies and procedures.



• Work with Managers to ensure all monitoring and evaluation for the project is accurate and fully maintained, and keep managers informed of any issues and successes.



• Ensure that agreed case recording and monitoring systems are kept up to date and secure, and write internal and external reports where required, including for safeguarding conferences, team meetings, managers, and others.



• Participate in multi-agency working and focus groups when requested to do so, and follow through on agreed appropriate actions that arise from these.



• Train housing providers on service users' needs and barriers.


General duties:

• At all times protect the safety and security of the Asian Women' Resource Centre's service users, staff, volunteers and buildings, and the confidentiality of records and other information in line with data protection requirements.



• Be responsible for personal learning development and keep up to date on research, relevant legislation, policy and practice, and other literature relevant to the project.



• Participate in supervision, training and meetings as required and work as a member of the team to ensure effective delivery of service and individual work plans.



• Ensure the effective implementation of Safeguarding, Health & Safety, Equality and Diversity and other policies and procedures and uphold the core values of Asian Women's Resource Centre



• Work across teams and undertake such other duties, appropriate to the grade and character of the work, as may reasonable be expected.


It is essential to the development of AWRC's service delivery that the post holder can respond flexibly to changes in the requirements of this post. This job description is therefore a guide and not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities the post holder may have over time.


• Do you have previous experience/working knowledge providing housing support?


Experience:

• domestic abuse frontline: 1 year (preferred)


Language:

• at least one community language (required)
  
  Asian Women's Resource Centre is a feminist organisation, and our values are founded on commitments to human rights, anti-discrimination, and freedom from oppression. We endorse global evidence that violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence is gendered, a cause and consequence of the unequal position of women and girls in society, a violation of human rights, and is entirely preventable


The London Whole Housing Service Partnership (LWHSP) is a partnership project with Advance Charity and will address and enhance the pathways of housing support for women experiencing domestic abuse. Working together, we will remove immediate harm, provide safe and sustainable woman and borough specific support around housing needs and aid to recovery and resettlement women with all levels of need. This role is part of a partnership project which is led by the Advance Charity lead