Habilitation Specialist

Guide Dogs for the Blind Association; Shrewsbury; Vor Ort; GBP 24.000 - 34.000; Teilzeit

Benefits dieser Stelle

26 days annual leave

28 days after 3 years + bank holidays

Real Living Wage Employer

Flex pot for benefits

Buy/sell annual leave

Discounts and cash-back scheme

Excellent pension scheme (match +2% up

Zusammenfassung

Guide Dogs is seeking a Qualified Habilitation Specialist to deliver mobility and independence training for children and young people with vision impairment. You will assess needs, design tailored programmes and support families across a wide region with travel as required.

The role emphasises person-centred planning, collaboration with schools and professionals, and the ability to adapt trainings to complex needs. A flexible working approach is welcomed.

Qualifikationen

• Qualified as a Habilitation Specialist per job description
• Post qualifying experience in statutory or voluntary sector.
• Experience teaching mobility and independence to individuals with vision impairment in home/education/community settings.
• Experience supporting children and young people (not necessarily vision impairment related).
• Experience carrying out access and environmental audits.
• Proven ability to liaise with other professionals/agencies.
• Evidence of effective assessment and planning skills.

Aufgaben

• Holistically assess needs of CYP with VI and create person-centred training programmes.
• Plan, implement and review habilitation training for CYP with VI (incl. complex needs).
• Deliver habilitation services to empower CYP regionally or nationally.
• Write reports and monitor progress against training goals.
• Deliver habilitation awareness training to parents/carers and professionals.
• Provide guidance to parents/carers and school staff to reinforce training.

Kenntnisse

Person-centred approach

Assessment & planning

Mobility training

Independence training

Working with CYP

Liaising with professionals

Environmental audits

Ausbildung

Habilitation Specialist qualification

Jobbeschreibung

About The Role

This role is 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm. However, flexibility is required to occasionally work outside of core hours and support weekend events when needed. The role involves extensive travel across the region and beyond, covering areas from North Wales through to Wolverhampton, Stoke, Liverpool and the Midlands, with Shrewsbury as your nominated office base. Travel may be required on a daily basis, with approximately one day per week allocated for administration, which can be undertaken from either Shrewsbury or home.

Part-time applications will be considered, and we welcome interest from candidates who can meet the requirements of the role on a flexible working basis.

We would also be interested in hearing from qualified Rehabilitation Specialists who are willing to undertake the top-up Habilitation (HAB) qualification, where required.

Applicants will be located within a commutable distance of the region.

Unleash your potential - Your Career. Their Independence

Come and join us as a supportive and confident Qualified Habilitation Specialist and be part of something life‑changing - helping people with sight loss live the life they choose.

As a Qualified Habilitation Specialist at Guide Dogs, you’ll deliver specialist mobility and independence training to children and young people, including those with complex needs, helping them build the skills they need to confidently navigate the world. The Qualified Habilitation Specialist will be an expert in assessing individual needs, designing tailored habilitation programmes, and providing practical, person-centred support in a range of settings. Our Habilitation Specialists play a huge part in ensuring everything we do enables us to deliver on our purpose and exceed expectations.

Key Responsibilities

• To holistically assess the needs and capabilities of children and young people (CYP) with a vision impairment (VI) and produce appropriate person-centred training programmes and recommendations as required.
• Plan, implement and review habilitation training programmes for CYP with vision impairment (including those with complex needs).
• Deliver specialist habilitation (mobility and independence) services which support the Guide Dogs strategic objectives and bring independence and freedom to CYP with a vision impairment, across your region or nationally.
• Write reports, maintain accurate records, and monitor CYP’s progress against set training programme goals, adapting these as required to ensure they continue to meet the CYP’s individual needs and identify any further training requirements.
• Deliver habilitation awareness training to parents / carers and professionals.
• Provide advice, information and training to parents/carers, professionals including school staff and any others supporting CYP with a vision impairment to promote and ensure reinforcement of training programmes and to raise their awareness of vision impairment and resources available.

You

You’ll have a person-centred and collaborative approach to teaching mobility and independence skills, alongside carrying out assessments and developing tailored support plans. You’ll enjoy working in a variety of settings including home, education and community environments, with a dedicated focus on supporting children and young people to develop confidence and independence, whilst being committed to delivering high-quality, safe and effective services. You’ll act with integrity and honesty in everything you do.

Skills and Competencies

• Qualified as a Habilitation Specialist - please refer to the Essential Education/ Qualifications criteria within the attached Job Description
• Demonstrable post qualifying experience in statutory or voluntary sector.
• Demonstrable experience of teaching mobility and independence skills to individuals with a vision impairment in home, education and/or community settings.
• Demonstrable experience of supporting children and young people (Not necessarily vision impairment related) e.g., Youth Work, in an education setting, brownie or scout leader.
• Proven experience of carrying out access and environmental audits.
• Proven ability to liaise effectively with other professionals / agencies.
• Demonstrable evidence of effective assessment and planning skills.

Benefits

We wouldn’t be able to change the lives of people with sight loss without our people. That’s why it’s important for us to provide a variety of benefits that reward our colleagues in a way that suits them and recognises the hard work and contribution that they make.

• 26 days annual leave. After three years of continuous employment, this increases to 28 days plus bank holidays.
• Real Living Wage Employer
• Flex pot - equal to a proportion of your annual salary to use on our wide variety of flexible benefits
• The option to buy and sell annual leave
• Discounts and cash-back scheme
• Excellent pension scheme (We will match your pension contributions plus 2% up to a maximum of 9% employer contribution)
• And lots more!

For high volumes of applications, we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than advertised.

About Us

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

BehindEvery Guide Dog Is Someone Like You - We’re passionate about creating aninclusive workplace that celebrates and values diversity. Bring your whole selfto work regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, maritalor civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, nationality, ethnic ornational origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We don’t wantyou to ‘fit’ our culture, we want you to enrich it.

Saferrecruitment

GuideDogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding thevulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work historywith any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee detailsfully covering the past 5 years. If you are applying for a disclosure role,please note that you will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check and signup to the DBS update service.

At GuideDogs, we believe in fair and equitable hiring practices. A criminal record willnot automatically disqualify an applicant from consideration for a position.Each case will be evaluated individually. We encourage all candidates todisclose relevant information, and we assure you that it will be handledconfidentially and fairly.