The role
About Southwark:
We are the largest local authority social landlord in London, managing 55,000 homes lived in by 40% of Southwark’s residents. We are home to over 18,300 businesses including iconic London venues and social enterprises and we have a young, diverse and growing population. At Southwark we are committed to making our borough just and fair and are taking positive action to tackle inequalities. Our residents and communities are our greatest asset and the passion we have for Southwark is shared by millions of Londoners who enjoy our outstanding cultural offer, use our hospitals and attend our universities. Our refreshed borough plan and focus on Southwark Stands Together, (which is our work with Southwark’s communities and the council’s staff to tackle racism, injustice and inequality) underpins all that we do.
About the Team:
Southwark Council's Adolescent Sure Start Team is dedicated to providing innovative, community-driven support to families and young people. Our team is at the forefront of delivering early help interventions that are crucial in preventing issues before they escalate. We work closely with families, schools, and various community organisations, ensuring that support is coordinated, timely, and effective. As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we are now offering a unique opportunity for internal staff to join our team and contribute to the development of our community early help initiatives.
About the Role:
We are excited to announce a 7-month secondment/fixed-term opportunity for a Family Early Help Practitioner! This role is fixed term until 31st March 2025 (with a possibility of an extension) and is designed to build on your existing expertise while allowing you to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of early help within the borough.
As a Family Early Help Practitioner within the Adolescent Sure Start Team, you will be instrumental in coordinating and delivering support to families, ensuring that interventions are both impactful and sustainable. Your responsibilities will include conducting CEHA (community early help assessments) developing tailored support plans, and leading multi-agency meetings to drive forward positive outcomes for children and young people.
You will work directly within the community, engaging with voluntary and community sector organisations to enhance the role of Lead Practitioners in our early help framework. This position offers a rare opportunity to influence and develop new approaches within the borough, contributing to the ongoing innovation in early help services.
About You:
We are looking for a practitioner who is passionate about making a difference in the lives of families and young people. To succeed in this role, you will need:
- Proven Experience: You have significant experience working directly with children and families, particularly in an early help context. You are skilled in formulating and implementing effective intervention plans and are adept at managing complex cases within a multi-disciplinary setting.
- Strong Communication Skills: You excel in building relationships with families, professionals, and community partners. Your ability to communicate effectively, both in writing and verbally, allows you to produce high-quality reports and lead team meetings with confidence.
- Innovation and Initiative: You are not just a practitioner; you are a problem solver and a leader in practice. You bring creative ideas to the table and are eager to drive forward innovative work that will embed best practices within the service.
This role will allow you to expand your skill set, work on exciting new projects, and take your career in early help to the next level.
Additional details
We will only consider applications from internal candidates, that are current employees or agency workers on an active assignment. We encourage any internal staff to to gain agreement from their substantive line manager if considering this is as a secondment opportunity.
This post requires a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) DBS check at Enhanced level.
Benefits and more information:
In your role, we want you to feel supported, challenged and rewarded. You will benefit from our family-friendly policies including flexible working, home working, and a local government pension scheme, plus many other staff benefits. You will join a motivated, driven and supportive team that strives for excellence and values its members. You will also be part of a successful and high-achieving development team that is making a real difference to the lives of residents in the borough. For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit our Staff Benefits page.
Recruitment timetable
Advert closing date: 11:59pm on the Sunday 15th of September
Shortlisting date/s: 18th of September 2024 and Interviewees to be notified by 20th September 2024.
Interview date/s: Friday 27th September 2024
Guaranteed Interview Scheme:
As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria:
• Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
• Are currently in care, or have previously been in care
• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition
SWCINT
We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together programme. We particularly welcome applications from members of the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.
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