Team Leader
Location: Sutton
Salary : £27,992 per annum, plus benefits
Vacancy Type: Permanent, Full Time
Advertising End Date: 30 Jul 2025
We are recruiting for a Team Leader at HMP Downview in Sutton.
Here at Forward Trust, we deliver a complex range of drug and alcohol services in the unique prison environment. Our support includes providing advice, health and wellbeing, motivational work, clinical services, and a wider range of group work and treatment programmes.
The Forward Trust services which are delivered within prison settings are commissioned by NHS England and are delivered in partnership with primary healthcare providers and HMPPS. Integration and partnership are integral to the work we do.
We believe that everyone can live a fulfilling life, whatever their past. Our work in prisons aims to support those affected by drug or alcohol issues to create lasting change and reduce dependency, homelessness, unemployment and re-offending.
Role Responsibilities
The Forward Trust provide both clinical and psychosocial Substance Misuse Services across Surrey Prisons in partnership with NHS Trust healthcare providers.
Each service operates a Health and Wellbeing framework taking a trauma informed and gender responsive approach to delivery of a wide variety of interventions and integrated pathways tailored to meet specific needs of each prison and individual service users. With pro-active partnership working a key aspect in the delivery of these services multi-disciplinary working across mental health, healthcare services and the prison is essential.
You will be based on site working within a team that have broad skills mix to deliver combined psychosocial and clinical interventions providing recovery-orientated Health and Wellbeing Services to service users aged 18 and over at: HMP Downview a female closed category prison located in Sutton. This will involve working directly with those who are detained in the prison who may present low-level mental health needs and/or substance misuse issues.
You will be expected to hold a caseload and deliver interventions (both 1:1 and group based). The service operates 7 days a week therefore weekend working will be a requirement on a rota basis. As a Team Leader you will be responsible for contributing to the targets set by Forward and the local commissioners, providing supervision, training and guidance to practitioners and supporting the unit, management team.
All probation-based roles will require enhanced DBS and HMPPS security vetting. Please note this process can take up to 3-6 weeks. All offers are subject to receiving both HMPPS vetting and DBS clearances.
Checks will require you to provide information on the below:
Yourself (personal information, financial information, police information, criminal history)
Your family (parents, parents partners, siblings, partner(s), children)
Co-residents
Associations that may cause a conflict of interest with your role or the prison service.
Background checks across police information systems on you, your family and other associates
Credit reference checks
Social media and Open-Source checks (these are checks on content about you that's publicly available on the internet to ensure there's nothing linked to you that could undermine public trust and confidence in the prison service)
Other government and overseas agency or police checks
The Ideal Candidate
Please see below a list of skills and experience needed for this role.
High level of interpersonal skills and communication.
Good level of IT skills to support case management.
Ability to use motivational interviewing techniques in both 1:1 and group settings.
Ability to carry out comprehensive assessments, designing and implementing SMART care plans.
Experience of direct line management and/or providing supervision, appraisals, guidance and constructive feedback to supervisees
About Us
We are The Forward Trust, the social enterprise with charitable status that empowers people to break the often interlinked cycles of crime and addiction to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community.
We are committed to our cause and the work we carry out as a charity. Equally the wellbeing and the employees who work for us are also important. Joining us an employee, we will offer you the following benefits -
Flexible working
Training and development opportunities
Simply Health Cashback Scheme (optional)
Season Ticket Loan Scheme
Cycle to work scheme
Crisis Loan Scheme
Electric Car Scheme
3 x Wellbeing Days (pro rata'd for part time employees)
Access to Blue Light Card
25 days (rising to 30 with length of service) Annual Leave plus Bank Holidays
Contributory Pension Scheme Employer matched contributions of up to 6% in the first two years service and up to 9% thereafter
Death in Service Payment (2x annual salary)
Critical Illness Insurance (subject to qualifying criteria)
To Apply
If you feel you are a suitable candidate and would like to work for the Forward Trust, please click apply to be redirected to their website to complete your application.
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