Complex Needs Support Worker

**The Housing Network - Who are we?**

We are The Housing Network (THN), a private Limited Company with a purpose.

We exist to provide 'More than a Roof', because when life is at its toughest, we believe everyone deserves a safe and stable place to rebuild their lives.

Homelessness is a vast and complex issue that does not have a single solution. In understanding that reality, we’ve learned the importance of perspective; appreciating that if we continue to innovate, collaborate, and give our best, we are playing our part in making a vital difference.

We are a team that is absolutely committed to innovate, excel and be dependable in all that we do.

Working hard together to achieve our mission of providing Better Accommodation, Better Support, Better Partnerships, and as a result Better Business.

**Role Overview - What is it?**

To join our Active Opportunity Pathway (AOP) services, working as part of the Support Team to help people experiencing homelessness and multiple disadvantages to overcome barriers to achieving greater independence.

As a Family Complex Needs Support Worker you will be supporting families and their children, who are facing homelessness and have multiple needs. This can include supporting drug and alcohol addiction, debt, parental hospitalisation or imprisonment, disabilities or special educational needs, school absenteeism, language barriers, and more.

You will provide support and help to access specialist services by delivering tailored interventions, enabling independence, and preventing homelessness. Using your knowledge and skills to help us create one of the most effective outcomes-focused services in the sector, adhering to the Making Every Adult Matter principles (MEAM).

You will be familiar with and have effectively operated in a strength-based and trauma informed way to help families achieve positive housing, health and wellbeing outcomes. Taking personal pride and ownership in enabling people who experiencing multiple disadvantage to achieve more than they ever thought possible.

You will have worked in an accommodation-based setting, with significant experience of providing intensive housing management, and tenancy management tasks. Drawing on that knowledge to support residents to manage their finances, facilitating appointments with specialist mental health, drug and alcohol services and access appropriate move-on accommodation on their journey towards greater independence.

You will hold a NVQ Level 3 Childcare, Social Work, Social Care, Counselling, Youth Work or Education Certificate.

This is a specialist role within a new team, offering you the chance to not only deliver life-changing support, but also help us shape and create a great service for those who need us most. You will act as an ambassador for The Housing Network, to promote its mission and values. Being respectful and kind is at the heart of everything that we do.

**Main Duties - What needs to be done?**

**Support Elements**:

- Employ a strength-based and trauma-informed approach to building trusting relationships with residents, using that to help create accurate, realistic and meaningful (outcome focused) support plans.
- Use your knowledge and experience of working with those experiencing multiple disadvantage to identify and capture risks, using that to help design mitigation strategies and inform coping mechanisms.
- Engage pro-actively and effectively with residents to help them identify barriers which are preventing them gaining greater levels of independence, then working collaboratively to build (and achieve) a plan for success.
- Uphold the highest levels of safeguarding awareness and protection for individuals, residents, colleagues and the wider community. Working within local frameworks to ensure policies and mechanisms are applied correctly.
- Maintain and regularly update accurate records of all support engagements, support plans, risk assessments and other support pathway elements, using them to support appropriate partnership working with local partner agencies.
- Champion the principles of trauma-informed engagement and support across the service and wider organisation, helping colleagues develop their skills and communication approaches to support the achievement of outcomes.
- Take time to engage pro-actively with all residents in the scheme, using the less formal engagements to help deepen the understanding and effectiveness of support plans and achievement of outcomes.
- Work with the service manager and senior leaders to engage pro-actively with local multi-disciplinary and network groups, seeking to maximise outcomes for individuals and build added value into the service as a whole.
- Deliver a blend of both individual and group sessions, with a focus on helping residents to build and develop their independent living skills and abilities, recording all engagements within our digital support system.
- Manage your caseload of residents in an effective and dynamic way, ensurin