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JOB TITLE: Support Worker 2
REPORTS TO: Service Lead
BASED: RSVP (Rough Sleepers, Vulnerable People)
SALARY: £18,810 - £21,677 (FTE based on a 37.5hr week) £9.50 p/h Relief
HOURS: Full Time / Relief (as and when required)
CLOSING DATE: 24th Sep 2021
INTERVIEW DATE: TBC
TO APPLY: Please visit the vacancies page on our website to complete an application form and send it to the email address provided - https://www.simonscotland.org/support-worker-2/current-vacancies/

People are at the heart of who we are and what we do. Day-by-day, person-to-person, we tailor what we offer to what people need. We’re here to provide consistent, friendly and informed support so that people can explore options and take ‘the next step’ towards a positive future. We welcome people with a wide range of skills and experiences to our team – including those who have lived through homelessness. To make a difference we need to work flexibly, with everyday-leadership, humour and a ‘can do’ spirit. We want to make it easy, make it right, and make it happen – not only for the people we support, but also for each other. Our #OneTeam ethos is core to who we are, and it means caring for and supporting each other regardless of our role, service or location. This is how we roll. We want people who share these values to join us and become a part of the Simon Community Scotland family.

Rough Sleepers and Vulnerable People (RSVP)

This service primarily engages with people in Glasgow City Centre, however, we have encountered a growing number of people in the South and West of the City. The RSVP Street Support Outreach worker will provide positive practical and emotional support to people who are rough sleeping in Glasgow or at risk of rough sleeping. Working in pairs, they will engage with Rough Sleepers and Vulnerable People and support them to present for accommodation, engage with health and addiction services as well as other homeless services. They will establish and maintain effective professional relationships with a range of external partners to ensure support to service users is coordinated and minimises the number of nights an individual rough sleeps.

The Complex Needs Team provides named Outreach key workers to provide a more intense ongoing support to people rough sleeping or at risk of rough sleeping who also have additional complex needs. These can include physical health, mental health, criminal justice and addictions.  Staff work in partnership with other elements of RSVP and external agencies to ensure support needs are identified and met. 

Staff in our Access Hub provide Advice and Information and are a Walk in Service. Staff can support individuals with their benefits, accessing accommodation, use of phones and computers and access to our partner agencies who also have a presence and provide a range of health and wellbeing services. In addition to this, Hub provides Outreach Clinics in Hotel/B&B accommodation providing additional support.

All elements of RSVP work closely together to provide joined up cohesive support for the Individuals we support. This role requires the flexibility to work across all elements of RSVP and requires shift work 7 days per week, 365 days per year. 

This role also requires a level of visibility and promotion of Simon Community Scotland and interaction with members of the public. 

You will report to the Service Lead and work in harmony across the RSVP team, look outward to develop your practice area in partnership with all partner agencies across the city.

Responsibilies

Warmth and Regard

  • Recognising and valuing everyone (Equality and Diversity)
  • Offering a friendly personalised and caring service
  • Treating people with kindness, dignity and respect
  • Acting with compassion
  • Showing warmth and welcome to everyone
  • Taking difficult decisions sensitively and with due regard to others
  • Taking a calm, professional and intelligent approach to stigma

Inclusion and Participation

  • Participation in group team meetings to aid continuous improvement of our service user and volunteer experience
  • Encouraging the participation and inclusion of people we support
  • Participation in group team meetings to aid continuous improvement of our service
  • Exploring choices and options with people we support or fellow colleagues
  • Making things easy for others
  • Mapping suspected rough sleeping sites
  • Embracing technology in delivering your role*
  • Supporting clients, staff and volunteers to become digitally included*

Personalised and Creative

  • Innovation and creativity
  • Helping to find solutions that are a good fit for someone, irrespective of who they are or the problem they have
  • When someone isn’t at their best, quickly recognising there’s probably something else going on, and finding ways to respond with care
  • To build on our current street cycle volunteer pool

Supportive and Ambitious

  • Work to change the public perception of causes of rough sleeping
  • Helping to bring hope through our words and actions
  • Helping to build trust
  • Being supportive and showing care

Partnership and Collaboration

  • To support Street Change to reduce street begging 
  • Fostering positive relationships with our partners
  • Maintaining a record of the people you have been in contact with throughout your shift (using Netsuite)
  • Support all aspects of RSVP when required
  • Building team togetherness and collaboration
  • Fostering a positive problem-solving vibe

Leadership and Learning

  • Making things happen
  • Motivating and inspiring others
  • Taking time to reflect on what’s working and what isn’t 
  • Taking care of our ‘places and spaces’ so they feel tidy and welcoming
  • Asking for help and learning to do things better
  • Playing an active role in our social media strategy*

*These core digital responsibilities are part of every role at the Simon Community. 

  • Digital inclusion is embedded as part of our service delivery. Some of the people we support have little experience and knowledge of the internet and using email. If you are in a frontline role, you will be expected to help them connect, understand and be safe, and promote digital inclusion for people unable to access the benefits of the online world. As a team member, you are also expected to be an ‘active learner’ yourself and support colleagues’ digital learning (e.g. sharing tips or advice on using our systems), so that we all get better at using digital tools.
  • Our digital platform is a key part of our working environment. Our operating platform is GSuite, a cloud based system that will allow you to share files, collaborate, communicate, meet and access the organisation remotely. We will provide you with a Chromebook and android smartphone to do this. Our Management Information System (MIS) is Netsuite. You will be trained in using Netsuite and its application. We have a team intranet – the IMPACT Platform – for updates, resources and ‘all things Simon’. 
  • Sharing our work publically helps to change society’s misconceptions about homelessness and generate support. We use various forms of social media to inform, communicate, gather support and share what we do including websites, youtube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. We expect everyone to share what we do through various media outlets – e.g.  helping to create blogs, videos, social media posts, information pieces and news items. This helps people understand what we do better understand homelessness. This helps grow public empathy for people we support. We also get a huge amount of support from people and organisations so we want to share what we do as a result of that support.