Link Worker

**Job Title**:
Link Worker

**Responsible to**:
Team Leader

**Responsible for**:
N/A

**Hours of Work**:
38.6 hrs per week

Full Time Fixed Term (6months) Link Worker (shift pattern 4 on 4 off 12hrs)

**Location**:
YMCA Together

**Salary and benefits**:

- £20,766 per annum
- 25 Days Annual leave including holidays per annum
- Paid Medicash support
- Birthday bonus
- Charity day of your choice
- Well-being Hours
- Cycle To Work Scheme
- Refer a Friend Scheme
- Christmas Voucher
- Company Pension Scheme 4%
- Funded Training Opportunities
- Hardship/DTH Loan

**This post is only available to female applicants as an Occupational Requirement and permitted under the Equality Act 2010**

YMCA Together is a registered charity and company Limited by Guarantee. We were founded in 1846 and so we build on a long history of providing a place for people experiencing challenging times in their lives.

YMCA Together is a truly value driven organisation.

Our vision is that everyone should feel safe, understood, empowered and positive for their future. We meet our vision by working within our values of Strength, Humility, Respect, Empathy and Kindness. These SHREK values run through all that we do from recruitment to how we work alongside people in our services to our partnership approach with other providers.

Our clear vision and values come together to help us in our mission to inspire and support people to change their lives by instilling hope, valuing the person and maximising potential.

**Job Purpose**

Link workers will assist the Practitioners in the day-to-day management of the service, focusing on conducting the intensive housing management element of the role. All staff will be expected to undergo Cognitive Analytic Therapy Skills Training (CAT) this will provide a framework for understanding and working with individuals and colleagues in managing psychological and relational aspects of mental health, personality disorder and high-risk behaviours. Training will also be provided around Trauma Informed Care. These approaches will be used for planning and assessing effectiveness of a variety of interventions and risk management.

Link Workers will be based across Fae and Grace House, accommodation based services for women and their dependent children fleeing or at risk of domestic violence. Our vision for the Services is one that breathes hope and ambition and promotes choice and independence.

Work with the Empowerment Practitioners in delivering a range of interventions to adults, children and young people to build strength, enhance resilience and encourage progress.

**Duties and Responsibilities**
- To ensure that Intensive Housing Management tasks are completed in a timely way and to a high standard
- To build supportive and therapeutic relationships with care givers and their children through dialogue
- To deliver activity-based interventions
- To support in preparing households to resettle into their community of choice
- To ensure that Housing Benefit forms are completed in a timely manner.

**Intensive Housing Management and Risk Assessing**
- Assist the Practitioners with the induction and management of their case load taking direction as required
- Ensure Housing Benefit paperwork is completed in a timely fashion
- Update and communicate household risk assessments in line with YMCA/borough wide policy and procedure
- Assist in the planning of workshops to individuals and groups that inform/ teach service users around how to manage a tenancy, manage a home and live independently
- Creatively engage service users that have a wide range of complex and challenging support needs
- Encourage households to take part in activities
- Offer a creative but assertive approach in order to seek to re engagement
- Assist Practitioners in the management of personalised behaviour / support agreements
- Provide clear, comprehensive and accurate information on handovers to the team making recommendations where appropriate
- Assisting households in the cleaning of their room
- Complete void checks and get rooms ready for letting
- Maintain accurate up to date electronic and written records
- Post holders must be willing to support clients who display challenging behaviour, including verbal aggression.

**Service User Involvement and Engagement**
- Encourage involvement, participation and co-production from households in the running and development of the service
- Provide a safe, welcoming environment with excellent standards and an ethos of service delivery that encourages households to engage

**Multi Agency Working**
- Working closely with Practitioners to promote and encourage pathways to independent living, help prevent mental health deterioration, hospital admissions, offending behaviours and substance misuse
- Encourage households to engage with services
- Assist with the provision of resettlement support
- Promote and encourage the pathway to independence working to a CAT approach.

**Reporting/ Monitoring**
- M