Together Women Projects (Yorkshire & Humberside)
Together Women is looking for an outstanding Women Specialist Criminal Justice Practitioner to be a part of our Sheffield team.
This role will work closely with local community organisations to encourage women to access existing resources, as well as building new opportunities.
The role is only open to women, in accordance with the sex-based exemptions of the Equality Act 2010 pursuant to Schedule 9, Part 1 support.
Join Our Team
* Are you driven and passionate about working within a women-centred support service?
* Are you looking for a dynamic and rewarding role working for an organisation that delivers specialist gender-specific support to women and girls?
* Do you believe in our values; to listen and support, to empower and respect, collaborate, innovate and take accountability?
What we can offer you - Employee Benefits
* 25 days holiday increasing by one day per year to a max of 30 days, plus public holidays
* Pension scheme with 5% employer contribution
* Annual cost of living increase up to 4%
* Enhanced Training and Induction programme covering all areas of Together Women’s work
* Access to our Employee Assistance Programme with discount offers and free telephone counselling service
* Access to our online wellbeing platform
* Employee eye-care scheme and free eye tests
* Organisation-wide away days
Role Summary
Together Women have been commissioned to provide needs-led support to women under the supervision of the National Probation Service across South Yorkshire as part of the SY Women’s Justice Partnership (SYWJP). This comprises leading South Yorkshire charities: Together Women, GROW and Changing Lives.
Women become involved in the Criminal Justice System for a complex range of reasons. In our gender-specific centres, we provide holistic support to women by women, to overcome challenges and address needs, enabling them to successfully move on from services and live fulfilling, crime-free, flourishing lives. We will be particularly required to support women with overcoming issues around their:
* Accommodation
* Finance, Benefits and Debts
* Employment, Training and Education
* Family and Significant Others
* Lifestyle and Associates
* Social Inclusion
* Dependency and Recovery
This role will be part of the SYWJP, delivering an inclusive and supportive programme driven to achieve the best for local communities. You will work closely with local community organisations to encourage women to access existing resources, as well as working to build new opportunities. You will support women to build upon their strengths and work through any barriers that are preventing them from progressing and achieving their potential.
This role requires agile working, which will include being office-based, delivering within the community and with the possibility of some remote working. Therefore, you will need to be able to work effectively independently, and as a virtual team, under pressure to meet challenging deadlines.
You may also be required to provide in-reach support to women in custody, therefore prison clearance may be required.
At Together Women, we value a diverse workforce and are keen to recruit people of all ages and from all backgrounds, abilities, and ethnicities.
Key Accountabilities
Responsible for a caseload of women, to whom you will provide high-quality customer support via the following:
* Assist women in identifying their own needs and supporting them to progress using a strength-based and trauma-informed approach to reduce the likelihood of further offending.
* Provide flexible, pro-active outreach support to women who may be reluctant to engage with services or who need additional support to comply with Court/Prison Licence requirements, reducing the likelihood of breach or recall to custody.
* Provide in-reach support to women in custody.
* Accompany women to appointments in the community, acting as an advocate as required.
* Facilitation and delivery of therapeutic group-work activities.
* Work with other practitioners within the Partnership to review and monitor women’s progress against agreed support plans.
* Determine the nature and extent of treatment and support that is appropriate to develop social capital and rehabilitation for women.
* Promote the programme using branded literature and materials throughout the community and in local prisons.
* Contribute to the development of a cohort of peers who can support learners.
* Establish community focus and development approaches to ensure that all women accessing the service have effective sustainable support networks in place.
* Identify and support access to community resources to support a successful exit from the programme.
* Working within and alongside an integrated model of care involving Health, Criminal Justice System and Social Care professionals.
* Encouraging feedback from women using the service to promote quality assurance.
* Contribute to measuring and monitoring systems as required.
* Ensure all necessary records are properly maintained in line with policies on client files, finance, and administration.
* Use evaluation, learning, experience and feedback to support service development.
* Manage and update own skills-base to ensure quality service delivery and personal development in role.
* Promote the service and maintain professional relationships with partners.
* Keep accurate records, updated within specified deadlines, keep the National Probation Service informed of participant’s attendance, prepare reports, and contribute to all information sharing forums.
* To work to the performance standards provided and requested by Together Women, Ministry of Justice, and National Probation Service.
* Actively participate in one-to-one meetings and any required training and development activities.
* Ensure that the set requirements for the protection and safeguarding of vulnerable adults and children and all statutory guidelines are followed.
* Always present a professional image of Together Women.
Role Requirements
* Experience of the delivery of services for women
* Knowledge and understanding of the issues faced by women in the criminal justice system
* Experience of working with women in a support role
* Experience of working with women in the criminal justice system
* Experience of case management and recording
* Experience of working with and building positive partnerships with other agencies
* Strong IT skills (PC literate and competent in using MS Office, Excel, and Word)
* GCSE (or equivalent) in Maths & English - Grade C or above
* Full UK Driver's Licence and use of a car
* Commitment to ongoing personal and professional development
* Has security clearance to work in prison, or be able to meet the requirements of this
* Knowledge of the Criminal Justice System and methods of effective practice
* Relevant degree or professional qualification (NVQ or equivalent at Level 3 or 4) in a related field e.g. Criminology, Management, Probation, Health Care, Social Work, equivalent overseas qualification
* Experience of working with women
* Experience & competence in report writing.
* An understanding of the particular problems faced by women offenders with dependants.
* Experience of outreach work
* Knowledge of child and adult safeguarding
* Experience of running training sessions and workshops
Our competency framework: qualities we are looking for in candidates:
Client focus
Service Provision
* Demonstrates commitment and enthusiasm for working with our customer group
* Demonstrates empathy with customer group, and an understanding of gender-specific, trauma and personalised approaches.
* Ensures that the needs, wishes and aspirations of women are the main driver for casework interventions, providing encouragement and support to enable her to make choices about her future, and advocating on her behalf when necessary.
* Has/ is working towards core skills which ensure that the women receive support that is personalised, strengths-based and trauma-informed.
Recording & monitoring
* Maintains case files and administrative/monitoring systems effectively.
* Understands the importance and can describe the benefits of good record keeping, and contract monitoring/ reporting.
* Manages caseload and delivers support as per the requirements of the service contract and the internal quality audit framework requirements.
Interpersonal Skills
Working with others:
* Builds and maintains effective working relationships with customers and stakeholders, both within the organisation and external to it.
* Ensures that clear professional and emotional boundaries are established and maintained, while balancing this with a person-centred, trauma-informed approach.
* Demonstrates the ability to adapt approach or communication style when engaging with different groups (e.g. customers, partner agencies, stakeholders and colleagues).
Communication
* Presents spoken and written information clearly and appropriately and to a high standard.
* Ensures that women feel informed and are involved in decisions about them.
Diversity
* Builds trust and demonstrates respect for others, showing an awareness of the impact of own behaviour on others.
* Treats everyone fairly and consistently.
* Demonstrates an open and non-judgemental approach, seeking to understand others’ experiences and perspectives.
* Demonstrates efforts to provide inclusive environments, culturally specific support, and promotes a feeling of psychological safety for all women.
Personal effectiveness
* Works safely, in line with policy and procedure, knowing when to escalate or share concerns.
* Applies and promotes risk management for customers, staff, stakeholders and self.
* Aware of the need for confidentiality in dealing with certain information; an understanding of the circumstances in which confidentiality should be preserved and the circumstances in which it is right to reveal confidential information, and to whom.
Approach to work
* Willing to learn and develop.
* Plans, organises and implements work, on own initiative with minimum direct supervision.
* Flexible and creative approach at work; able to adapt to the changing needs of the programme.
* Ability to manage time, prioritise and meet deadlines.
* Organised approach, with keen admin skills and attention to detail.
* Makes clear decisions and deals calmly and positively with challenges.
We actively encourage applications from women from a variety of backgrounds, and with a range of skills and experiences. We are particularly interested to hear from Black, Asian and minority ethnic women and women who have personal experience of the criminal justice system. This post is open to female applicants only as being female is deemed to be a genuine occupational requirement under Schedule 9, Paragraph 1 of the Equality Act 2010.
How to apply for the job
Please email your up-to-date CV with a cover letter outlining how you meet the criteria for the role to admin@togetherwomen.org.
Applicants will only be considered if you provide both a CV and Cover Letter
* not be used as part of the selection process;
* not be seen by the interview panel;
* only be used for statistical purposes. No information will be published which allows any individual to be identified.
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