Job Title: Female Support Worker x 2

Reports to: Service Co-ordinator

Objective: To work directly with female service users experiencing complex needs and support the development of a women’s only service.

Hours: 39 hours per week

Contract: 1-year fixed term

Salary Scale: €30,360 – €37,800 (39 hrs per week)DOE

Main responsibilities:

• Working specifically to target and engage with female service users (women over 18 who are experiencing multiple disadvantage- homelessness, health and addiction, abuse, marginalisation, inequality)
• Development of women’s only service/centre – a female only space that supports and attends to safety needs of women.
• One to one crisis interventions that gives women immediate access to support.
• Inter-agency and collaborative working with specialist services to better meet the needs of women, in a holistic, person centred way.
• Work to improve the outcomes, creating pathways and enabling access of women into appropriate services.
• Network with other organisations and agencies who support and work with women with complex or multiple needs and issues.
• Provision of an empowering, peer support and group space/environment that strengthens and encourages the belief for women in their own ability to make positive change in their lives, at their pace.
• Develop peer lead initiatives and programmes within the women’s service.
• To work with and facilitate women’s groups that provide educational, emotional and personal support to its participants.
• Developing collaborative initiatives with specialist services aimed at addressing complex needs of women.
• Working to enable access to and pathways out of services.
• Advocacy work, raising awareness of issues women face, in order to promote, inform and influence policy.
• Developing strategies in order to increase engagement with women.
• Attend training, seminars, conferences, networks, engagement forums etc related to women’s specific services/representing etc
• Establishing and developing links and interagency working with specialist and statutory services.
• To participate in internal and external meetings as required.
• To have a flexible approach to the work in response to organisational change, development and review of best practice.
• Reporting to the Service Coordinator for individual support, supervision, performance appraisal and working within the parameters of the MQI HR and H&S policies and procedures.
• To ensure that Health & Safety standards are maintained in accordance with the H&S Statement of MQI and to attend H&S Committee Meetings.

Client work:

• Build trusting and supportive relationships with female service users.
• Developing classes and programmes that promote personal and social development of females.
• To support female services users in safe, client centred, trauma informed environment.
• To identify the multiple needs of female service users.
• To provide early and crisis intervention, information, referral, advice, advocacy in a person-centred capacity.
• To provide high quality needs led and targeted supports to women with complex needs.
• To provide crisis and case management support in an outreach and in reach capacity.
• Working within a trauma informed approach to improve outcomes for women accessing crisis services, with multiple needs.
• To when, and wherever possible, involve and include service users in the ongoing development of the service and to have their participation built into service plans when feasible.

Reporting:

• Produce standard monthly reports for the Service Co-Ordinator and/or Manager of Day Services in line with funding agencies requirements and compile any ad hoc information requests as required.
• Responsible for ensuring that service user records and data are kept updated on the CRM system at all times and provide reports to the Service Co-Ordinator in keeping with all required deadlines and on an ad hoc basis as required.
• To complete all administrative tasks such as report writing, collation of statistics maintenance of accurate service user records, up to date case notes, relevant form filling in order to ensure that the service runs smoothly, safely and effectively.

Person specification:

• Must have a relevant qualification (minimum QQI Third Level 7 or equivalent) e.g. social care, addiction.
• Must have a minimum of 2 years relevant employed work experience in addiction, community development, health & social care, education or related fields.
• Have experience of key working, case management and group facilitation.
• Understanding of the issues facing women with complex needs
• A knowledge and understanding of a trauma informed approach