Housing Support Practitioner

Salary: £25,500 per annum

Location: Posts available in Haddington and Edinburgh

Contract/Hours: Permanent / Full Time - 37 hours per week (rota pattern including some weekends)

Benefits:

· 29 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays, with up to 5 additional days for continuous service and option to buy or sell leave

· Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities

· Flexible maternity, adoption, and paternity packages

· Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover

· Staff discount portal and Blue Light Card eligibility with 15,000 national retailers discounts.

We are one of the largest children’s charities in the UK and have been making a difference to the lives of the UK’s vulnerable children for over 150 years.

Find out more about Action for Children on our careers page, X, LinkedIn, Facebook or YouTube to get to know us better.

A bit about the role

Our housing support and care at home service is all about empowering young individuals to live independently within their own homes and communities. We currently provide full-time, 2:1 care and support for two wonderful young people, a young man and a young lady, both of whom have learning disabilities and occasionally face challenging behaviours and hold their own tenancies.

Our approach is centred on assisting them with daily routines, personal care, and medication, all while nurturing their zest for life and activity. We keep them engaged with exciting adventures, walks, swimming, surfing, park visits, and exploring new experiences.

As a Housing Support Worker in our team, you'll play a crucial role in creating and implementing personalised care plans. You'll have the rewarding opportunity to support our young people in their journey towards greater independence, helping them achieve milestones, make informed decisions, and actively engage with their community.

At the heart of our philosophy is the belief that behaviour is a form of communication. We strive to understand the messages behind challenging behaviours and guide individuals to express themselves in positive and effective ways.

How you'll help to create brighter futures

Working in this environment can be so rewarding when you see the difference you're truly making. Our aim is to give every young person we work with the support and guidance to reach their potential and support their aspirations for a positive future, and this is a vital part of our work.

Some key responsibilities of a Housing Support Practitioner are;

· Helping young people in all aspects of their daily lives.

· Maintaining effective working relationships and communication with colleagues, young people and families.

· Being alert to child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures.

· Helping young people transition in to happy and healthy adults.

· Being solution focused and building on strengths.

· Achieving the highest standards of safeguarding, whether through direct care provision or support activities to the young people who come into contact with our services, or by appropriately reporting concerns.

Let's talk about you

You don't need a lot of previous experience or qualifications for this role – we're looking for someone with a positive attitude, and the desire and commitment to giving the best care to children and young people.

· A positive approach, providing a fun environment for the young people in our care.

· Ideally, a HNC and SVQ 3 in a social care discipline (or a qualification which would meet the registration requirements) or a commitment to working towards these.

· Ability to manage difficult situations.

· Willingness to participate in relevant on the job or off site training

· Providing support and care

· A commitment to working on rota pattern, which includes weekends and some bank holidays.

Good to know 

Please note we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role

Diversity, equality, and inclusion

At Action for Children, we're dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. We actively encourage applications from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic, and disabled candidates as they are under-represented within Action for Children. We want to take deliberate and purposeful action to ensure equal opportunity to all groups in society and for Action for Children.

Male staff are under-represented within our Children Service roles. We would like to encourage more male applicants for our Children Service roles