About Us

First started by Aberdeen University students as a soup kitchen, Aberdeen Cyrenians now put the needs of North East Scotland's most vulnerable and socially excluded people first — leading at the frontline of service, care and influence for 50+ years.

Aberdeen Cyrenians work continuously to shift perceptions and change the outlook on homelessness and vulnerability in society — the reality often differs drastically from the 'labels' that people use when thinking of those who need support. Not accepting the current perception of homelessness is something that underpins Aberdeen Cyrenians' work. Our approach puts the reality of these situations front and centre.

This reality reminds us that anyone can find themselves in difficulty, and Aberdeen Cyrenians exist to support anyone and everyone — whether they're living on the street, at high financial risk, in an abusive living situation, struggling with mental health issues, struggling with substance addiction or involved in the justice system. Our core values support a mission that prioritises close assistance, unique care and standing steadfastly by people in the midst of their most vulnerable moments.

It's the passion and integrity of Aberdeen Cyrenians that makes us a formidable force against homelessness, abuse, violence and social exclusion — we make a lifechanging difference when working alongside the people who need their support the most.

Join our team and make a real difference every day

Working at Aberdeen Cyrenians, you will be helping vulnerable people, who are often at the margins of society, every single day. You will be helping them to build a positive future, resolve their current issues and move towards positive outcomes.

In addition to competitive rates of pay, we offer both on the job and formal training, support achieving professional qualifications and good career prospects.

You can expect the following working for us:

• Comprehensive training through our online Learning Management System
• Opportunity to pursue on the job qualifications and career progression
• Industry leading systems and technology - we use an amazing apps to support our care at home services and case management systems, which helps us to ensure paperwork is streamlined and as much time as possible is spent with the service user
• Online timesheets and expenses paid weekly
• We are a Living Wage Foundation accredited employer - pay is reviewed annually each April
• Benefits including Bike to Work Scheme and retail discounts
• Employee Assistance programme offering confidential support 24/7/365
• Mileage paid at the national rate
• A warm and friendly team environment where everyone is valued.

One of our core values is that we value diversity and inclusion: exclusion has no place in our workplaces. Please let us know if you need us to make adjustments to allow you to apply for a role or attend an interview with Aberdeen Cyrenians.

If you are care experienced or have lived experience aligned to our area of work, we guarantee you an interview, subject to you meeting the minimum requirements of the role that you are applying for. We are also a Disability Confident employer.

Nothing we achieve would be possible without our employees - that's why we're as committed to their careers and professional development as they are.

You can find out more about us at www.weareac.org.

About Ending Violence and Abuse Aberdeen ("EVAA")

Aberdeen Cyrenians Ending Violence and Abuse Aberdeen (EVAA) service work across the whole spectrum of gender-based abuse, recognising that many may experience multiple forms of abuse and crisis at once, and have different short and long-term needs. Providing person-centred holistic support for individuals, we help with both emergency and recovery, working collaboratively within local partnerships and inclusively through specialist support for LGBTQ+ abuse, sexual exploitation and trafficking.

Our aim is to ensure people are safe and healthy, respected and included, and that they are treated equally and compassionately.

Values are at the heart of our organisation informing the decisions we make, the way we offer support to our service users and our staff, and the foundation of how we deliver crisis support that is holistic, person-centred, trauma-informed and compassionate.

Job Title: Support Practitioner | Ending Violence & Abuse Aberdeen (EVAA)

Responsible to: Service Manager

Responsible for: Relief workers and volunteers, social work students

Salary: Scale Points 21–28 (£20,045 - £24,703)

Hours of Work: 36.25hrs

Terms: Fixed term Jan 2023 - Sept 2023

Main Responsibilities/Job activities:

· Delivering support to those fleeing gender and domestic violence and all other violence against women

· Increasing awareness and understanding of all forms of violence against women, reducing tolerance to abuse, and increasing recognition

· Working to ensure women are safe, respected and equal in our communities through safety planning, advocacy, establishing alternative accommodation, signposting referrals, emotional support, and assessment of holistic needs addressing all barriers to recovery in their lives such as benefits, housing etc.

· Inclusion of service users in the development of their own support plans, delivering freedom of choice and integrated support to prevent violence and maximise safety to meet service user’s identified needs

· Committed to equality and mutual respect, building healthy, positive relationships, challenging violence and abuse, and creating a safe and respectful psychologically and trauma informed environment

· Work with individuals on a 1-1 basis to address individual needs

· Ensure that the basic needs of individuals are addressed and met: personal safety, safety in environment, food, accommodation, clothing, etc

· Assist individuals to access temporary accommodation, or to remain in their own accommodation or work towards identifying alternative accommodation. This may include practical tasks of ensuring safety, getting/moving furniture, painting/decorating, completing benefit claims etc

· Provide practical, emotional and advocacy support, and access to other agencies, accompanying women as needed. The frequency, nature and duration of 1-1 support will be determined by each woman and their individual need

· Working in close partnership and liaise agencies: including social work, housing services, health services,

police, courts, utility companies, debt agencies, Department for Work & Pensions, other voluntary sector organisations and other professionals such as lawyers, etc

· Assess and follow up referrals through accurate & appropriate information gathering and the summarising of needs, ensuring an individual’s views and needs remain paramount and ensure that potential obstacles and issues are assessed and addressed

· Contribute to the production of statistical data through input onto InForm

· Plan individual and group support and implement and review support plans, demonstrating agily offerings in practical and emotional support; safety planning, finance, housing, debt management, anxiety and emotional stability, recovery, empowerment and awareness aiming to cover areas of:

• improved accommodation situation
• improved quality of life
• improved economic well-being
• improved health
• improved practical skills
• improved social functioning
• improved general outlook
• reduction in risky behaviour

SYSTEMS

• Maintain paperwork - service user documentation (InForm) records, letters on behalf of individuals, H&S logs, diary entries, hours worked on tasks, etc
• Handle finance (petty cash, service user finances, devolved budgets)
• Use computer/IT systems - Word, Excel, email, and databases.

REFERENCES

• Aims & Values Policy
• Practitioner Tasks
• Improving Employability Policy
• Health & Well-being Policy
• InForm Guidelines
• Supporting and Protecting Adults at risk of Harm
• Assessment, Planning, Intervention – additional guidance.

QUALITY STANDARDS

• Working to the appropriate Care Inspectorate Standards
• Working to N/SVQ 3 standards
• Working to the appropriate Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) standards for the registration of staff
• Working to the appropriate Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator standards
• Working to the appropriate commissioners standards
• Working to the appropriate Environmental Health standards.

GENERAL TERMS OF REFERENCE

• In carrying out the above activities, the Support Practitioner will:
• Work on their own and/or as part of a team.
• Maximise his/her own performance and contribution
• Ensure they comply with internal and external regulations, procedures and other requirements appertaining to the Service
• Maintain the good reputation of the organisation
• Keep abreast of developments and legislation relevant to the Service’s range of activities
• Seek to improve his/her knowledge and skills by both formal and informal means
• Carry out other relevant work commensurate with the post as required by the Line Manager.

BASIS, VALUES AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

• To respect and work according to the mission, aims and values in all aspects of the job, and be responsible for the demonstration of these in the course of the daily work.
• To respect and work according to our Equal Opportunities Policy and ensure its promotion in the course of daily work.

Qualifications/Education/Knowledge

Essential

• A qualification of N/SVQ3 in Care, or equivalent or relevant experience in a social care / similar environment, plus the willingness and ability to attain this qualification within five years.
• Literacy and numeracy at a level to maintain all the appropriate paperwork, write support plans and give budgeting advice.
• Able to use computer applications suand ch as Word, databases.
• An understanding of social justice issues such as homelessness, substance misuse, gender violence.
• An understanding of legislation/practice pertaining to the work.

Experience

Essential

• Relevant experience in a social care environment in a voluntary or paid capacity.

Desirable

• Experience of working with disadvantaged people.

Key capabilities

Essential

Interpersonal understanding – listens and understands expressed feelings; demonstrates concern for others; encourages others to express themselves.

Emotional awareness – manages strong emotions and responds constructively; good emotional resilience and positive coping strategies.

Service user orientation – strives to meet and surpass service users’ expectations; maintains appropriate contact until challenges are overcome or manageable; is available to support service users during critical periods; able to advocate on behalf of service users.

Flexibility – adapts easily to changes at work; modifies behaviour in response to a situation; sees the merits of differing viewpoints.

Initiative – takes responsibility; looks ahead and anticipates what needs to be done.

Team working – contributes fully to team work; establishes positive relationships with the team.

Working within Professional Boundaries – Demonstrates professional curiosity; accepts responsibility for own work; seeks and uses professional support; understands the principle of confidentiality.

Developing others – assumes responsibility for addressing service users’ skills; encourages initiatives in problem solving and making choices.

Circumstances / Health

Essential

• Able to work unsocial hours (where applicable)

Desirable

• Driving/clean licence

Aberdeen Cyrenians Aims & Values & Equal Opportunities

Essential

• Able to respect the aims and values of our work including a commitment to work with those with the most challenging needs to ensure that they have every opportunity to avoid further exclusion.

You can expect the following working for us:

• Comprehensive training through our online Learning Management System
• Opportunity to pursue on the job qualifications and career progression
• Online timesheets and expenses
• We are a Living Wage Foundation accredited employer - pay is reviewed annually each April
• Benefits including Bike to Work Scheme and an Employee Assistance programme
• A warm and friendly team environment where everyone is valued.
• Mileage paid at the national rate.

It's important to us that we recruit people who share our values and who want to make a difference. Our interview process is designed to get to know you better and to find out why you want to work for us. If you are nervous, please don't be - there are no right or wrong answers.

Because we work with vulnerable people, we have a responsibility to safeguard them. We undertake background and reference checks, and it is a term of employment with us that all employees register with the Protecting Vulnerable Groups ("PVG") scheme operated by Disclosure Scotland.

We guarantee an interview to candidates who have lived experience within the areas of society and the issues that we support and those who are care experienced, subject to meeting the minimum criteria for the role.

We're an equal opportunities employer and value diversity - exclusion has no place in our workplaces. If you need us to make reasonable adjustments to allow you to attend an interview with us, just let us know.

We regret that due to current Home Office rules, we are not able to sponsor applicants for this role, so you must be eligible to live and work in the UK without sponsorship.

The closing date for this position is 5 pm on Friday 10th February 2023

We review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert early should sufficient applications be received.