Job Description
POST: Outreach Worker - Young Carers Ystradgynlais area
3 Yearcontract,6 month probation period
SALARY: £21,175 per annumpro rata
HOURS: 21 per week over a minimum of 3 days
HOLIDAY ENTITLEMENT: 27 days – pro rata, plus statutory bank holidays
PENSION: 3%
REPORTING TO: Young Carer Team Leader
RESPONSIBLE FOR:Young Carers Volunteers and/or Casual Workers
Introduction
Supporting Young Carers in Ystradgynlais
The Rank Foundation are funding Credu to undertake an exciting project to support Young Carers in Ystradgynlais. Credu – Connecting Carers is the new name for Powys Carers Service. We are a progressive charity that supports unpaid Carers of all ages throughout Powys as well as Young Carers in Wrexham, Conwy and Denbighshire. See Young Carer is someone under 18 who helps to look after someone in their family, or a friend, who is ill, disabled or misuses drugs or alcohol.Young Adult Carers are aged 18-25. Caring can be rewarding and Young Carers can be more mature, empathetic and responsible than their peers. However it can be a significant challenge to juggle the practical and emotional issues involved in looking after someone, with fulfilling their own needs and aspirations.
Our ambitious project in Ystradgynlais will support Young and Young Adult Carers to build on their strengths to achieve their aspirations. Significantly, the project is also about building community capacity and personal networks to support Young Carers.
We are looking for someone to join our experienced and committed Young Carer Outreach Team. You willbe creative and energetic, and keen to encourage Young Carers in Ystradgynlais to achieve their aspirations, enable them to have choice, voice and influence and be valued and recognised for their role and contribution.
The post is based at home. It requires significant time in the key areas with regular team meetings in Llandrindod Wells.
The ‘Young Carer’ below also includes Young Adult Carers.
Job Description
You will support Young Carers to enjoy a greater sense of wellbeing, supporting them to address personal challenges,build on individual strengths, develop social and supportive networks and have an influence on services.
You will engage in training, share your own knowledge and skills and be a reflective, yet proactive practitioner that aims to enable Young Carers to:
- Enjoy a greater sense of wellbeing and good life chances
- Feel more connected to other people
- Feel listened to, valued and respected in their relationships with services that matter to them.
- Feel more able to shape the services that impact on their lives
- Have access to information, advice and support that is coherent and enabling
You will achieve this by working at three different levels:
INDIVIDUAL: Work with individual Young Carers using coaching approaches,to help them to identify what matters to themand supporting them to achieve their goals.
COMMUNITY: Support individuals to build social networks, peer support and community links.
SERVICES / STATE (Particularly Schools and Colleges): Work with Young Carers and service leaders to enable Young Carers to influence services and how they are experienced by Young Carers and their families.
You are an enabler and change maker who is passionate about young people and communities. You are a natural coach and facilitator who recognises and is able to support the realisation of potential of individuals, groups and networks.
Responsibilities
1.Support Young Carers to access information, advice and support that is coherent and enabling
-Provide one to one support, giving information or support that matters to YoungCarers, on their own terms, where Young Carers determine the outcomes that they want.
-Tap into and contribute to information sources and services within your locality
-Sign post and refer to other organisations where helpful to the individual
2.Support Young Carers to enjoy a greater sense of wellbeing
-Use coaching methods and person centred planning approaches that support Young Carers to identify their aspirations and build a plan to achieve them.
-Give Young Carers social and emotional support that is important to them.
- Support Young Carers to feel more connected to others and less socially isolated
-Support and develop peer groups, trips, training and activities that connect Carers with each other as well as with opportunities to access experiences outside of their caring role
-Actively connect Young Carers with local communities and to access activities and opportunities alongside their peers.
- Support Young Carers to shape the communities and services that impact on their lives
-Carry out listening campaigns, co-design events with Young Carers, service providers and other stakeholders (with support).
-Provide advocacy and support.
-Develop local partnerships
-Coproduce local awareness raising campaigns to increase awareness of YoungCarers and how communities and services, (especially schools) can be more supportive.
-Recruit and support volunteers and supporters.
- Monitoring and administration
-To maintain case records on our central database.
-Management of budgets for individuals, groups and projects in agreement with the Team Leader
-Complete timesheets, expenses forms and administration duties.
-Draft Casestudies and Carers Stories to highlight Carers Issues and the difference made to Carers.
- Evaluation and learning
-Engaging in training with colleagues, which will include, coaching skills, sustainable livelihoods approaches, asset based community development, facilitation skills and influencing skills
-To participate in project and organisational evaluation sessions and share reflections and learning
- Uphold organisational values
Our inspirational framework for our principles, as an organisation is essentially ‘co-production’. This means that we believe in people – hence our name ‘Credu’; the Welsh word for ‘believe’.
-Co-production – People are the heart of everything we do; we work with people, empower and share power (rather than ‘do services’ to people).
-Learning – We support the personal development of Carers, volunteers’ staff and trustees. We are also keen to learn through doing and build on our practice through reflection on our actions. We aim to appreciate and build on our collective successes with Carers and other stakeholders as well as being open about mistakes and learning where things do not go so well.
-Enterprise and Innovation – We are committed to looking to improve and find creative ways to progress our purpose. Access to funds is never guaranteed, yet our purpose is too important to be subject to funding shortfalls. We are therefore committed as an organisation, to finding enterprising ways of fulfilling our purpose by maximizing our own assets and those around us as well as building our resources through social enterprise.
-Values driven – We are a values driven organisation. The values reflect the people who contribute towards our purpose are many and varied. However, ‘integrity’, ‘commitment’, ‘kindness’, ‘transparency’, ‘valuing equality and diversity’ and similar values, are ‘givens’. As a charity and as a civil society organisation, we aspire to the highest ethical standards in everything that we do. When we recruit staff, trustees and volunteers, understanding their values and whether they can be congruent with our principles is key. Once recruited, we trust that their core values will drive them to do an excellent job.
- Uphold safety
-Working in a way that is conducive to your own safety and that of others
-Work in a way that safeguards vulnerable children and young people and promote their safety
Person Specification
Essential Requirements
You have a professional qualificationand/or significant experience of working with young people.
You have experience of person centred planning and support
You are able to communicate effectively at all levels, including statutory and voluntary agencies, but most particularly with Young Carers, individually and in groups.
You are a creative thinker and can see opportunities for collaboration.
You have an understanding of the specific needs of Young Carers in a rural area
You can work on own initiative and as part of a team
You are proactive, dynamic and able to inspire and enthuse others.
A willingness to participate in initial training as well as ongoing personal and organisational development
You have good computer skills (Windows and Microsoft Office, Using Bespoke Databases)
You have good record keeping and reporting skills.
You have the ability to travel throughout Powys.
You are committed to putting equal opportunities into practice.
You are flexible regarding hours of work.
You are able to uphold confidentiality throughout the organisation.
You have strong values that are compatible with Credu’s values.
You have excellent interpersonal skills.
You have excellent facilitation skills.
You can work under pressure.
You are adept at prioritising work load and are effective at time management
You have knowledge of relevant legislation and strategies concerning Carers.
Desirable requirements
Ability to communicate in Welsh (highly desirable)
Experience of working with Young Carers
Experience of setting up community based projects
Experience of supporting people to influence services that impact on their lives