Family Support Worker

Bank staff based at the Lilias Graham Trust

Hourly rate:  £14/hr

The Lilias Graham Trust is a Scottish charity which offers independent parenting capacity assessments within a residential setting in Thornhill, a rural village 10 miles from Stirling Town Centre.  The Lilias Graham Trust provides accommodation for up to five families at one time.

Role

Our busy team is expanding and we are looking for experienced practitioners to work alongside our family support services and consultants in Psychiatry, Health, Counselling, Play Therapy, Art Therapy and Social Work who provide a trauma-informed, person-centred service to assist vulnerable parents and their children change their lives.  

We are seeking highly motivated, confident, enthusiastic, warm, flexible individuals who have the skills to work as part of a team but who are also confident in lone working.

An applicant must be able to provide practical and emotional support to parents in a wide range of activities to promote parenting and routines following NHS guidance.

As a family support worker, you would have a working knowledge of child development and attachment theory when working with parents and their families.   Parents are given every opportunity to succeed while staff ensure that the child’s best interest is paramount. The Lilias Graham Trust delivers a wide range of support and therapeutic services to meet all levels of need. As a Family Support worker you would have a positive approach and an understanding of social issues and how poverty affects individuals.

The successful applicant will be a creative thinker, non–judgmental with a positive and flexible attitude who has a value base which promotes equality, diversity, anti-discriminatory power and an individual’s capacity for change.

Requirements

The successful applicant will be required to register with the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme.

You will have at least a years’ experience of working with families within a community or social care setting.  You will have a minimum qualification of SVQ3 - HNC / HND in Social Care. A Degree in Social Work or Psychology or similar qualification is desirable.

The post will require flexible working which will include shift work, sleepovers, waking nights, public holiday which may include the Christmas period.

Full driving licence and use of your own vehicle (mileage paid @ £0.45/mile)

Contact Jane Carter on 01786 850 259 or email  janecarter@thelgt.org.uk for more information

Service Manager

Job Title and Salary

Job Title:                     Service Manager

Salary:                         £38,500 pa

Accountable to:          CEO

The Post

This is an excellent and rare opportunity for an experienced manager and qualified worker to join The Lilias Grahm Trust.  The post involves supporting practitioners and families whilst developing parenting capacity assessment and the delivery of service.   The post holder will contribute to the unique culture and ethos of LGT.

Key Responsibilities:

The successful candidate will:

• Work proactively to achieving positive, engaging, relationships with families, all other services, and stakeholders.

• Lead their team and delegate effectively.

• Motivate families, individuals, and the team with excellent communication, listening and interpersonal skills.

• Undertake high quality written assessments whilst demonstrating critical thinking and warmth in their assessments.

• Continually work to develop the team and service delivery to ultimately benefit the families we serve.

• Contribute and participate in the development, and delivery of the day to day running of the service to promote of the welfare of staff and families.

• Monitor the efficiency and quality of policies, procedures, and current documents, actively promoting a culture of continuous improvement.

• Provide supervision, coaching, mentoring, training and induction to staff and volunteers.

• Be committed and willing to meet the needs of the service, working 9am-5pm, five days a week and additional shift, evening and weekends as required.

• Participate in the on-call system which includes public holidays, evenings, and weekends.

Essential skills and Experience Required

The successful applicant will:

• Hold a degree in Social Work or another relevant degree eg psychology as a minimum qualification with ongoing personal development for continued practice.

• Be trauma informed with a working knowledge of the significant impact that poverty and systems have on children and families.

• Have a keen interest in attachment theory, child development and understanding of an approach of therapeutic parenting.

• Have a current working knowledge of child development, and attachment and trauma informed theory which will underpin practice.

• Be registered with the Scottish Social Services Council and adhere to standards in line with their requirements.

• Have the creativity, compassion, and skill base to deliver robust and focused parenting capacity assessments.

• Have a keen interest in the delivery of The Promise Scotland and the supports required to scaffold families in the community.

• Have Line Management experience (essential) of multi-disciplinary agencies, in children and families.

• Be proficient in the use of Microsoft office programmes, including Excel and PowerPoint.

• Hold a full driving licence and have use of their own vehicle (mileage paid).

• Provide two references and join the PVG Scheme.

Who are we?

The LGT is a registered Scottish Charity which offers independent parenting capacity assessments within a rural residential setting near the village of Thornhill, 10 miles from Stirling town centre.  We provided residential placements to parents and their child/children in cases where a Local Authority has concerns about the parent’s ability to meet the children’s needs.  By working with the families, we are able to provide evidence -based information about whether the child can remain safely within the family, and if so, what support is required. The LGT’s practice is based on Kate Cairns ‘Five to Thrive working model’ and, via a 12-week parenting capacity assessment we assess, support, and develop parent’s confidence, skills, and insight to promote healthy attachments. The LGT staff team work closely in partnership with independent consultants in Social Work, Psychiatry, Counselling, Health, Play, Music, and Art Therapy to provide a holistic and organic assessment.

The LGT has a committed and motivated staff team whose focus is to strengthen parent and child relationships to provide a better future for families.  We are committed to providing high quality support designed around families’ abilities, needs and choices and we do this by providing high quality services that will build parent’s and children’s capacity to overcome stress and alienation arising from poverty and social exclusion.

Values

At the Lilias Graham Trust, we know that there is no prescription or rulebook for every situation. We have therefore developed a statement of values that will underpin and guide all our work. The successful candidate will have the key qualities and share these common values.

The role holder will maintain and develop a culture of:

• Compassion: We will treat every parent, child, family and colleague with kindness, compassion, and warmth.

• Respect: We will treat every parent, child, family, and colleague with respect for our shared humanity as well as for our individual uniqueness. Although we will make assessments, we will not jump to judgemental conclusions and will work in a transparent, honest, and equalising way. Human beings are fallible, and we can all make mistakes. This shared aspect of being human is something we understand.

• Hope: We will create the conditions within which hope can blossom, by believing in the potential of families and understanding how difficult things have been in the past.

• Trust: We will seek to earn the trust of the families we work with. Through transparency, honesty, and solidarity we will aspire to be trustworthy in everything we do, even when outcomes may not be what everyone would hope for.

• Care: All our work will be underpinned by taking time to build authentic, warm, and caring relationships with parents and children. Through proper listening and empathy, we will seek to understand families, their situations, and future hopes.

At LGT families are provided with an opportunity to achieve their potential.  As a practice manger you will look for these glimmers of potential and guide the team through evidence-based practice.

Outline of Terms of Employment:

Salary:                         £38,500pa

Contract:                     Permanent

Leave entitlement:      20 Annual leave days & 10 Public Holidays

Hours of Duty:             40 hours per week

Pension:                      Workplace pension scheme

Shift work:                   Shift and weekend work may be required.

On Call:                       The post holder will participate in the on-call system.          

Please complete an Application Form and send this along with your CV to Claire Thomson at clairethomson@thelgt.org.uk