Support Worker (Hostel)
Contract: Permanent
Salary: £24,000-26,000 FTE per annum depending on experience
Hours: 22 hours per week based on shift patterns 7am – 3pm, 9.30am – 5.30pm and 11am – 7pm. (will include some weekend work)
We work hard to provide flexibility of hours to benefit both our teams and customers.
The Company
At Squared we pride ourselves on being a great place to work, where everyone feels fairly treated and enjoys their work in a welcoming and friendly environment. We're a not-for-profit housing association that has been providing affordable housing in Luton and South Bedfordshire since 1962.
We currently have several fantastic opportunities for a support worker to help our hostel customers make the move to independent living. We firmly believe in proactively supporting our customers to improve their lives and we want to coach them to realise their goals, moving from supported housing to an independent way of life.
The Role
You'll carry out assessments of new customers, devise and implement support plans and risk management plans; conduct regular coaching sessions and support the Service Managers, participate in group and one to one intervention with customers of a specialist nature (e.g. CT informed interventions, motivational interviewing or harm minimisation interventions) where possible. You'll also participate in reflective practice sessions with regards to supporting customers with complex needs; utilise your knowledge, skills and experience to recognise difficult or challenging resident situations, supporting colleagues to influence and bring about positive change to the customers behaviour, all whilst ensuring that customers are fully informed of their rights and responsibilities. There will be mandatory training to take part in during your induction, which takes place during the working day as a general rule, so you'll need to be available for this.
The Person
The successful candidate will have experience working with vulnerable people within a customer centred environment and will have an awareness of social issues such as homelessness, well-being, support services and affordability. You will be self-motivated, have excellent communication skills, be IT literate and a confident decision maker and highly organised, enabling you to plan and prioritise effectively. Ideally, you will have evidence of community-based work/voluntary work and have experience in social care or housing-related sector. You will have a real passion for supporting and empowering others, with a non-judgemental approach.
A full clean UK driving licence with access to your own vehicle for work purposes is preferred. Please note, this role will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.
So, if you welcome the challenge, and like to work in a collaborative and authentic way that gets results, we'd love to hear from you. In return we can offer various amazing company perks including 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, access to health plans, discounts and regular rewards.
Company Overview
Squared is a not-for-profit housing association that has been providing affordable housing in Luton and South Bedfordshire since 1962. We strive to find ways to continuously develop and grow with our tenants and residents needs at the heart of everything we do. We are proud to support the local community and embrace its diversity. Our aim is to empower individuals to make choices about their lives on their journey to lead fulfilled, independent lives, through an innovative approach to tackling local housing needs and homelessness. We don't just give people a key, we offer on-going support to unlock their potential. We don't just give advice; we offer genuine warmth and non-judgmental care. We don't just provide business services; we offer expert consultancy and management. We provide homes for independent living and homes with support in Luton and Central Bedfordshire. To complement this work, we also run a lettings service for private landlords; a social enterprise inspired cleaning and gardening service; and an employee excellence focused HR consultancy - People Excellence. Every day, the people on our team make a difference to our customers. Whether they're working with them directly or supporting behind the scenes they're helping them regain their independence and live more fulfilled lives. As we expand our services, we're also helping other businesses to thrive. This continued positive impact on our customers is extremely important to us and our success, and we can only achieve it by finding the right people to work with us. We look for people who share our ambitious, forward-thinking outlook and supportive, hardworking approach. If you join us, we'll invest in you and continue to nurture your potential to help you achieve great things for you, us and – most importantly – our customers. We strongly believe in providing a working environment which recognises individuals' differing needs, therefore encouraging a work/life blend is key to us.