Team Leader/shift Leader

**Team Leader/Senior Support Practitioner - Specialist, person-centred role supporting one remarkable individual**

**Specifications**

As part of our unwavering commitment to person-centred support, we ensure that each individual has choices, involvement, and autonomy in how their care is delivered. Due to personal care needs and dignity considerations, this post is open to **female applicants only**.

**About the Role**
Are you an emotionally intelligent, compassionate practitioner who wants to lead a small, highly specialised team making a big difference in one person’s life?
We’re looking for a **Team Leader**to work primarily 2:1 with a bright, creative and animal-loving woman in her 40s, who is making the transition from hospital into her own home in West Cumbria near the White Haven area, while also leading and supporting a small, close-knit team around her.

This individual is passionate about her pets (cats and dogs), loves walking in nature, and is currently studying for a Master’s in Criminology. She’s also navigating complex mental and physical health needs, including dissociative experiences and emotional dysregulation. She values consistency, honesty, emotional warmth and people with strong, heart-led values.

If you have the right mix of calm presence, leadership skills, confidence and kindness — and you love the idea of helping someone reclaim their independence, find joy in daily routines, and feel safe and connected — this is an exceptional opportunity.

**What’s Important to this Individual**
- A fun, thoughtful and communicative personality who genuinely enjoys connecting
- Someone who respects her boundaries and honours her lived experience
- A love of animals and willingness to help care for her dogs and cats
- Time outdoors and long walks in peaceful settings
- A sense of humour and a belief in lifelong learning
- Someone who will help her build trust and navigate life on her terms

**What You’ll Be Doing**
As a _Senior Support Practitioner/Team Leader_, you will:

- Support this individual in her home and community to live with independence, dignity and confidence
- Provide personal care, medication administration, household support and daily living assistance
- Use grounding techniques and trauma-informed strategies to provide psychological safety
- Encourage her to maintain routines and pursue academic, social and personal goals
- Act as a calm, consistent presence to help her manage complex emotional and physical needs
- Support appointments, community activities, and daily planning
- Maintain clear, accurate digital records (Nourish app) and contribute to reflective practice

In addition, as _Team Leader_, you will:

- Provide day-to-day leadership and guidance to the small support team, modelling best practice in trauma-informed and person-centred care
- Liaise with the wider multidisciplinary team (MDT), family, and professionals to ensure cohesive and responsive care
- Facilitate team debriefs, reflective sessions and support supervisions (with management support)
- Help coordinate rotas, manage on-shift decisions, and ensure team consistency
- Monitor care plans, risk protocols and documentation, ensuring they are followed and reviewed in line with AW’s evolving needs
- Offer mentorship, coaching and emotional support to your peers within the team
- Play a vital role in shaping the team culture — one rooted in trust, emotional safety, and shared learning

**Requirements**:

- Nursing qualification or NVQ Level 3 in Health & Social Care or above.
- At least 5 years’ experience and above in complex care, mental health, or autism support
- Proven leadership or supervisory experience within health or social care settings
- Excellent communication, emotional regulation and team collaboration skills
- A trauma-informed, person-centred approach
- Confidence supporting behaviours that challenge and managing distress or risk
- Ability to follow highly tailored care plans and risk management strategies
- Strong record-keeping, safeguarding knowledge and a reflective mindset
- Willingness to lead, learn, and support others to grow

**Desirable**:

- NVQ Level 3 or above in Health & Social Care
- Nursing qualification (preferably mental health or learning disability nursing)
- PMVA, MAPA or CPI training
- Full UK driving licence
- Experience with dissociation, sensory needs or therapeutic approaches
- Experience supporting eating disorders, trauma, or emotionally unstable personality presentations

**What’s In It for You?**
- Competitive pay rate depending on experience ranging between £22 - £24 per hour.
- Enhanced training opportunities through our Care Bridge Academy
- Leadership coaching and specialist team development support
- Blue Light Card eligibility for retail and travel discounts
- Mental wellbeing support via Frontline 19 (free confidential sessions with qualified therapists)
- Career progression in our specialist LDA, mental health and complex care division
- The opportunit