Housing Night Worker

Hove, Sussex
YMCA Downslink Group

37.5 hours per week / Permanent / working onsite on a seven-day rolling rota, including evenings, weekends and bank holidays on a four-on-four off shift pattern

Our mission is to help children and young people have a fair chance to be who they want to be. We do this by providing a safe home, increasing life skills and self-confidence, and improving emotional wellbeing and mental health.

Horsham Y Centre supports 50 young people aged 16-25 to alleviate the risk of or impact of homelessness. Situated in the middle of Horsham, the service has strong links with and contributes to the local community. The service is staffed 24 hours a day with a support team, night team and management based onsite. It aims to support residents into independent accommodation through life skills support.

We are looking for a Housing Night Worker to join our Horsham Y team. Main areas of responsibilities are:

Safety and security

• Provide a friendly and professional front-of-house welcome to residents, visitors and staff, and ensure the building is safe, secure quiet and welcoming
• Maximise the wellbeing of residents and visitors by ensuring adherence to health and safety protocols and house rules, all within the terms of tenancy agreements
• Assess and monitor the risks presented by residents to ensure they can keep themselves safe and, where possible, continue their development
• Record all incidents and accidents and share appropriately with the wider team, your manager and, if necessary, the central safeguarding team

Engagement with residents

• Welcome residents home and provide informal and responsive support so they can articulate their aspirations and ambitions and acquire the skills they need to live independent and fulfilling lives
• Ensure resident’s views, aspirations, concerns, and ideas are sought so they can play an active role in influencing the services they receive
• Proactively promote the services on offer and ensure residents are encouraged to engage with those services
• Contribute to, or support, evening groupwork activities so that residents can access tailored solutions that meet their needs, wishes and aspirations

Administration and housekeeping

• Undertake tasks as directed, including but not limited to inputting data, assessments, reviews, case notes onto our client database and entering new residents details/closing ex-resident records
• Completing health and safety/compliance checks, and recording estate inspectors and room checks
• Adding maintenance requests to our property services system

General

• Work as part of a team, on a rota four on four off shift pattern, alongside another Housing Night Worker, ensuring young people at the service have non-judgemental, objective at night, along with taking responsibility for personal safety during periods of lone working
• Contribute to a great working environment, with a calm, yet assertive manner, being able to handle potentially difficult situations
• Participate in relevant continuing professional development and utilise Reflective Practice Supervision as part of leading psychologically informed practice

There will be times when lone working will be a requirement for this role, but you will get to know the team and service, along with an induction and training prior to starting on a rota. Please download the job profile for full role details.

ABOUT YOU: We know that there are great candidates who will not fit everything described below, or who have important skills we have not mentioned. If that is you, please do not hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

This is a dynamic and varied role; you will be passionate about being involved in the support and growth of young people.

Experience and knowledge

• Experience of working in a customer facing environment, remaining calm and solution-focused when dealing with challenging behaviour
• Basic understanding of the support needs of young people and/or adults at risks
• Understanding of the impact of trauma on others, and the ability to work with a strengths-based approach with people who may be in distress
• Demonstrated confidence and competence in recording notes/actions in service log, incident forms and Health and Safety check lists
• Basic knowledge of good safeguarding procedures in relation to young people and/or vulnerable adults, and the ability to maintain professional boundaries (training provided)

Skills and abilities

• Ability to communicate clearly both verbally and in writing for appropriate record keeping (vital for handover to colleagues working day shifts)
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to build and maintain strong relationships
• Ability to work lone work, work autonomously, and use own initiative, as well as being part of a team
• IT skills, including proficiency in MS Office 365 package, as well as healthy and safety and client management systems (training on YMCA DLG systems provided)
• Ability to de-escalate volatile situations and manage challenging behaviour appropriately