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Homelessness Service Manager

Northampton Hope Centre

Posted 2 weeks ago, 3 May | Get your application in now before you miss out!

Closing date: Closing date not specified

job Ref: 61493046aff54098b9e77df0c9969cb5

Northampton Hope Centre

Full Job Description

The purpose of this post is to lead the delivery of our Homeless Day Centre (Hand Up Service). You will work in our Hand-Up service as part of an integrated team supporting people who are homeless.

You will support front line staff in the delivery of a person centred, trauma informed approach. You will oversee the operational policies within the service and support with general operational delivery.

You will lead a small, dedicated staff team. You will work in close partnership with our student placements and volunteer team members who, alongside our staff team, provide ongoing support to homeless people with the aim of moving them into permanent accommodation wherever possible.

You will engage/re-engage, refer, and support dependent alcohol and drug users to access evidence based harm reduction, treatment, and recovery support programs to initiate recovery, build and/or utilise recovery to move into long term sustained recovery and social (re)integration.

This role involves extensive work with clients with multiple needs, so if you have experience of working independently or delivering therapeutic groups in a Substance or Alcohol Misuse setting we would especially like to hear from you.

We serve those facing homelessness, poverty, and addiction as well as individuals who are isolated or marginalised. Using the experience and knowledge within the charity of these challenges, plus the services provided by other agencies, we aim to provide a holistic approach to support in one space.

We work with multiple partners, and often our role is identifying the challenges individual may be facing or have previously faced, so we can facilitate other partners' support based on the needs identified.

The role is an important role within the charity, ensuring all our teams work together to deliver high quality and successful services to those in need.

Responsibilities

Management:

To lead a small team of dedicated Case Senior Coordinators to support anyone who is homeless.

To manage 1:1 meetings, annual appraisals and case review meetings with your team.

To ensure a close partnership with key partners, especially WNC Outreach Team.

To manage student placements whilst they are deployed in service.

To liaise with our landlord and hold them to account on any facility issues.

To be a member of the Senior Management Team.

To manage weekly rotas at least one month in advance.

To deal with any challenging behaviour.

To manage all incidents, ensuring staff's, students', volunteers; and service users' well-being at all times.

To ensure all incidents and near misses are reported.

To be responsible for all data management and statistics; reporting these to the Senior Leadership Team as required.

To ensure the Senior Leadership Team are aware of any challenges with any service user e.g. bans, serious convictions, assaults etc.

To oversee the delivery of effective, trauma informed, person centred support across all our homeless service. You will have a case work portfolio; be directly responsible for meeting regularly and identifying support required.

To contribute to effective case management and coordination covering areas of risk, problematic behaviour, housing, social functioning, employability, psychological and physical health of our service users.

To engage with and actively listen to clients' views and to be able to use this to improve the service delivery where possible.

To provide education and raise awareness to help service users manage factors which affect their mental health, substance misuse and physical wellbeing.

To listen to service users and encourage positive steps towards their personal development.

To provide advice, information and practical and emotional support to service users regarding support they require.

To develop, alongside service users, flexible and realistic person-centred plans with agreed guidelines.

To signpost and make appropriate onwards referrals, with consent, to meet needs not addressed by our integrated service.

To advocate for service users, where necessary with external services.

To support clients by prompting and helping them to attend appointments.

To encourage service users' involvement in personal progression in the form of education, training, employment activity or volunteering, if appropriate.

To work closely and collaboratively with the Council's single Homelessness Team ensuring a joined-up support offer, avoiding any unnecessary duplication of work.

To work with clients to improve their skills and overcome barriers so they are able to successfully move on to independent housing.

To ensure service users engage in the support on offer.

To effectively liaise with a range of service providers and agencies, in order to establish, or improve, services for clients.

To report daily on operational outcomes, highlighting positive change in users of the service.

To professionally advocate and represent service users in MDT or professionals' meetings, including ARM's and other safeguarding meetings.

To be part of an integrated rough sleeper's substance misuse service, specifically for alcohol and drug dependence and complex needs within a range of treatment and recovery pathways.

To promote and support individuals into both abstinence based and medically assisted forms of recovery.

To contribute to the overall performance of the integrated service to ensure that contractual output targets are achieved.

To support the delivery of leading therapeutic group work with service users related to substance misuse.

To support the delivery of overdose prevention training.

To provide harm reduction advice, information and support to reduce drug and alcohol related deaths and blood-borne virus infections, with an emphasis on safer drug and alcohol use.

To engage with dependent alcohol users, high-risk drinkers with complex needs, and drug users, and facilitate access to assessment, treatment, and recovery options.

To conduct assessments, risk assessments and co-produce care plans and reviews with clients.

To proactively re-engage service users who are at risk, have dropped out of treatment and recovery activities by engaging at access point, and using motivational techniques to bring people back into treatment.

To work closely and collaboratively with the Rough Sleepers Substance Misuse MDT team ensuring a joined-up support offer, avoid any unnecessary duplication of work and ensure an even distribution of the workload for shared outcomes.

To manage your team to ensure that the Hand Up service environment is controlled and safe for staff, students, volunteers and service users, managing incidents as they arise and as per procedure.

To manage your team to ensure all users are registered and assessed and understand the expectations on them accessing the Hand Up service.

To manage your team to complete registration forms with clients who are new to service.

To manage your team to ensure all acts of inappropriate or challenging behaviour are managed and reported to yourself.

To manage your team to inform yourself of any issues arising with any service users.

To manage your team to liaise closely with staff and uphold Hope Centre and MDT Teams Rules and Treatment Expectations, Confidentiality Policy, and all other policies affecting the role.

To manage your team to network with other organisations within and out of the homeless sector, pulling in their resources and expertise.

To manage your team to act as a positive role model showing professional and caring attitudes and behaviour towards other team members, service users and partner agencies.

To manage your team to ensure a collaborative approach is used, with effective communication links developed with external professional partner agencies who are involved in the provision of support to individuals.

To promote anti-discriminatory practices, and challenge prejudice and stigma associated with substance and alcohol use, homelessness, and poverty in a professional manner.

To co-facilitate other treatment groups with Hope Centre and project staff.

To actively promote and support peer recovery and activities.

To manage your team to oversee students and volunteers within the service hub, and provide consistent and clear leadership to support volunteers and students, ensuring their well-being at all times.

To support volunteers and students working within the Support Hub in accordance with Hope Centre's policies and procedures to maintain order, safety and security.

To provide supervision and reflective practice of client cases and pathways where appropriate to ensure effective and efficient service delivery.

To be proactive in evaluating own performance and identifying and acting upon areas of improvement.

To undertake, as required, any duties relevant to the nature and level of the role.

To understand, implement and evaluate aims, objectives, policies, procedures,

guidelines and principles of good practice.

Ensuring stock levels of service paperwork are sufficient for the day.

Ensuring the service is setup for the day (laundry, toilets, showers).

Ensuring the Support hub is cleaned and mopped at the end of service.

Ensuring the toilets are cleaned, and laundry completed at the end of service.

To manage your team to support the clothes store processing and sorting clothes with the specific volunteers.

To ensure all facilities and equipment of the Hand Up service are operational and functioning including washing machines, showers and toilets.

To complete full, detailed, and accurate records on the database.

To keep casework records up to date, and to enable the Homelessness service manager to monitor and assess their efficiency and effectiveness.

To carry out all necessary administration in relation to case work, or the role.

To always work within Hope Centre's policies and procedures.

To promote and uphold The Hope Centres Equality, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy at all times.

To support the team and organisation with any additional duties as required.

To complete training on Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults and the Mental Capacity Act and be able to understand and implement SVA and MHA policies and procedures.

To report all safeguarding concerns to the Safeguarding Lead (Head of Service Delivery and Operational Partnerships) or ,where the Safeguarding Lead is unavailable, to the CEO.

To be an active and effective team manager.

To work some hours outside of normal office hours (including evenings and weekends) - this will especially be expected in Winter months when services are often open longer.

To carry out every aspect of your duties with due regard to Northampton Hope Centre's policies and procedures at all times.

To ensure Northampton Hope Centre's values are embedded in your service delivery.

To always maintain a professional level of communication.

To keep clear records and plans of all contacts with clients, professionals, and meetings with external agencies.

To participate in regular supervision and annual appraisal, and help identify your own job-related development and training needs.

To record, monitor and report on service user progress and outcomes.

To attend staff meetings as and when required.

To attend relevant training sessions and courses.

To carry out other reasonable tasks as requested by the Senior Leadership Team.

Essential:

Willingness to complete Enhanced DBS

Interviews will take place Thursday 30th May. Successful applicants who reach the interview stage join the team at Hope for the whole day.

The day will follow the below structure:

· Candidates arrive 9am at Ash Street.

· Candidates taken to Oasis House to our Hand Up Homeless Centre at 9.30am to see the service and meet our service users.

· Candidates return to Ash Street at 10.15am.

· Between 10.30am to 11.30am, candidates divided into two groups to complete the following task:

"Discuss as a group the current strengths and weakness, opportunities and threat of the current provision of Rough Sleepers Drug and Alcohol Treatment in West Northants." Discussion only - no presenting back.

· Between 11.30am to 12.15pm candidates asked to work in different groups (of two or three candidates only):

You will have 40 minutes to develop an eight to ten minutes presentation:

"Develop what your group believes is a model of support which should be provided to someone who is homeless. This should include the partners we should engage and why; the values we should show and why; how we will measure success and the risks and challenges with your model of support." (flip charts will be available)

· 12.15pm to 1pm - each group will present their model of support to all other candidates.

· 1pm to 1.45pm - lunch to be provided by Hope.

· 1.45pm - candidates will be advised who is through to the second stage of interviews as follows:

o 2pm-2.30pm: Interview 1

o 2.45pm-3.15pm: Interview 2

o 3.30pm-4pm: Interview 3

o 4.15pm-4.45pm: Interview 4

o 5pm- 5.30pm: Interview 5 (if needed)

o 5.45pm-6.15pm: Interview 6 (if needed)

Job Types: Full-time, Fixed term contract
Contract length: 23 months

Pay: £30,000.00-£35,000.00 per year