Support Worker - Drug and Alcohol Prevention and Recovery Service

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Job description

Full time - Standard hours are 9am to 5pm, with the flexibility to work up until 7pm and on Saturday mornings where required.

Fixed term contract until 31 st January 2023
Sheffield

Closing date: 5 th December 2021 at 11.30pm

We're looking for a customer-focused individual with knowledge of drug and alcohol use and experience of working with vulnerable people to join us as a Support Worker and provide vital information, advice and support to our clients.

About Shelter
A home is a fundamental human need, as essential as education or healthcare. Yet millions of people across Britain struggle on a daily basis with homelessness, bad housing conditions, soaring rents, discrimination and the threat of eviction. So, we are striving for change, with individuals, in communities, across society, and leading the way to a safe home. We need ambitious, best-in-class individuals who are passionate about our cause to join us at this exciting time. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.

At Shelter we are united by our purpose to defend the right to a safe home. Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. We believe that to win that fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement for change. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, fair, equitable and transparent.

We have committed to combat racism both within and outside Shelter and welcome you on our journey to becoming a truly anti-racist organisation.

About the Team

Shelter Sheffield has been providing housing advice and support to the city's residents for over 20 years, specialising in emergency homelessness work, intensive support to children and families, people experiencing domestic abuse, and people with multiple and complex needs. We wrap a range of functions around a person to help them holistically- including high intensity support, legal representation, practical DIY assistance, and specialist housing, employment, training, and welfare benefits advice. This ensures we can help an individual to address a range of inter-connected issues that may be impacting on their ability to sustain accommodation and thrive within the community. These issues include physical and mental health conditions, drug and alcohol use, income and money management, and domestic abuse.

About the Role
As a Support Worker you'll primarily be responsible for visiting clients in their own homes across the city. With your own caseload to manage, you will act as a key worker and coordinate each client's support, assess needs and manage risks. We use a strengths-based approach, which builds on each client's skills and aspirations to address the challenges they face in accessing and sustaining accommodation. The support you'll offer will therefore need to be holistic and involve providing advice, practical assistance and advocacy, as well as referring to, and offering practical support, to access other agencies. In short, you'll do all you can to enable our clients to live independently and to thrive in their home and community.

We are happy to talk about flexible working, personal growth, and to promote a workplace where you can be yourself and achieve success based only on your merit.

About you
A great opportunity to make a tangible difference to peoples' lives, you have the specialist knowledge it takes to work confidently with people with multiple and complex needs. Familiarity with, or an interest in, homelessness and housing legislation, is also required, as is a track record gained working within a safeguarding framework. Proactive and results-driven, great networking skills are important too, as is a proven ability to provide advocacy, negotiate and solve problems. You will have demonstrable knowledge of drugs and alcohol use, their treatment pathways and harm reduction. A valid driving licence and access to a vehicle for work purposes are also must haves, for which an essential car user allowance will be paid.

Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave, enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.

Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice, support and legal services. And we campaign to make sure that, one day, no one will have to turn to us for help. We're here so no one has to fight bad housing or homelessness on their own.

To find out more about the role and the benefits of working for Shelter please visit our website. Apply to be part of our team and be the change you want to see in society.

Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.

Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.