Senior Support Workers
Would you like to work in a rewarding and stimulating environment which involves helping people with learning and physical disabilities lead more independent lives through the provision of personalised support? You will supervise a team of staff enabling people to take part in community life and make informed choices about all aspects of their lives, including developing a network of friends and acquaintances. This provides an excellent opportunity for gaining experience in people management.
You will support people in their daily lives and this may include personal care of either sex, subject to their wishes.You will support service users to:
- Prepare meals
- Tidy and vacuum the home
- Decorate their bedroom
- Do the laundry
- Manage their finances.
Personal care may involve assisting people to:
- Take a bath or shower
- Go to the toilet
- Take or manage their own medication
- Carry out domestic duties
- Improve their skills in the above.
Other activities:
- Shopping
- Visiting the doctor or dentist
- Swimming
- Attending football matches
- Going on holiday (additional payments are made)
- Going to the pub or a restaurant
You will need to use your own initiative as you may regularly spend time alone with service users. Sometimes you may find that service users become aggressive but you will be fully trained to deal with these situations. Voyage employ a team of behavioural therapists who develop strategies to help staff teams cope in these circumstances.
A full-time senior support worker would normally work 37.5 hours per week (40 hours in day services) although Voyage offer flexible working opportunities, such as part-time working, subject to the operational needs of the service. You will be expected to work flexibly to meet the needs of the service which will vary between services. You can expect to work shifts over 365 days of the year including weekends and bank holidays. Most services operate shift patterns consisting of an early shift, a late shift and a night shift. There may be opportunities to work additional hours over and above full-time hours which attract an enhanced rate of pay. While you will be appointed to work at a specific service, you may be asked to work in other services for operational reasons.
You will have regular, one-to-one supervision and support sessions and an annual appraisal. All services have regular management team meetings to discuss issues of concern to the service and to share important information.
Call the information and referral line on: 01543 437 037