Independent Living Support Worker (Peer-Led)

CIH International Housing Group; Belfast City District; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 28,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Enhanced Annual Leave 35 days

Paid Sick Leave

Maternity & paternity pay

Contributory Pension scheme

Health Cash Back & Rewards Plan

Christmas Savers club

Bluelight discount card

Job summary

Depaul Independent Living Service in Belfast is seeking an Independent Living Support Worker (Peer-Led) to provide peer support to individuals experiencing homelessness, addiction, and mental health challenges. The role emphasizes harm reduction, lifeskills development, tenancy sustainment, and community integration.

You will work with service users in temporary accommodations or their own homes, engaging them in individual and group settings.

Qualifications

• Experience working with people facing homelessness, addiction and mental health challenges.
• Good literacy and basic IT skills are required.
• Willing to travel outside of Belfast when required.

Responsibilities

• Support service users to build capacity and resilience to live independently and achieve goals.
• Provide individual and group interactions for confidence building, skills development and social interaction.
• Identify external agencies to meet needs and facilitate information sessions between parties.
• Provide feedback to internal stakeholders on work completed.
• Carry out project administration: record keeping, incidents, and financial records.

Skills

Homelessness awareness

Boundaries & confidentiality

Literacy & IT skills

Group facilitation

Job description

Independent Living Support Worker (Peer-Led)

Salary: £ 25,394.88 Contract: Fixed Term December 2027

Hours: 35 per week - Varied 7 day rota with several shift patterns

Location Unit 4 Nelson Street BT15 1BH

Employee Benefits

• Enhanced Annual Leave - 35 days per year, increasing as your length of service increases
• Paid Sick Leave
• Company maternity & paternity pay
• Contributory Pension scheme
• Health Cash Back & Rewards Plan
• Christmas Savers club
• Bluelight discount card

Plus, many opportunities to learn and develop within the organisation

Why work for us?

Depaul is a cross border charity supporting some of the most marginalised individuals, couples and families experiencing homelessness. Our mission is to end homelessness and change the lives of those affected by it. Would you like to help us to meet our mission?

We are a values led organisation and aim, at all times, to live and breathe these values in our everyday work. Our values are based on four key principles:

• We celebrate the potential of people
• We put our words into action
• We aim to take a wider role in civil society
• We believe in rights and responsibilities If you choose to work for Depaul

Independent Living Support Worker

is a part of the Housing First/Complex Lives portfolio. As an Independent Living Support Worker you will have personal insights into the challenges of homelessness, addiction & mental health - this is crucial to the role.

The role focuses on providing peer support to service users whose complexities may include addiction, mental and physical health needs in combination.

Service users may be in temporary accommodations or their own homes with the you engaging them individually and in group/social settings.

Key aspects of the role include providing harm reduction advice & guidance, personal development through lifeskills development, tenancy sustainment, community integration and good neighbourhood support, support to access education, enhancing employability and building social networks and supports

You will be a part of a wider network of Subject Matter Experts within the organisation. You will act as a peer expert for any research, advice and information or peer groups as and when needed and will be required to engage in any other task assigned, that supports service users access and attendance to health/ life skills supports.

Key Responsibilities

• Be able to support service users to build the capacity and resilience in order to live independently and achieve their life goals and ambitions.
• Provide individual and group interactions that offer confidence building, skills development and social interaction.
• Identify & liaise with external agencies that meet the needs of service users and facilitate information sessions between both parties
• Provide clear feedback to internal stakeholders on any work completed
• Carry out project administration tasks such as record keeping of Service User's files, reporting of any incidents or accidents and financial records
• Participate in assessing new referrals to the service with the support of the line manager.
• To adhere to all Depaul policies and local procedures.
• To adhere fully to Organisational Risk Management Procedures, especially in relation to assessing risk to lone working.
• Work with referring agencies such as complex lives and other homeless providers to ensure continued care for all service users.
• Engage in different groups/ research to provide feedback and knowledge of the experience of homelessness.
• Promotion of the LSPA programme through visits to homeless services.
• To attend and participate in team meetings and staff team days.
• To attend all mandatory training and any training deemed relevant to service delivery.
• To participate in regular supervision and annual appraisal, and help in identifying your own job-related development and training needs.
• To respect service users' rights to confidentiality in our relationship with them as per the Depaul Confidentiality policy and code of conduct.
• To promote respect, diversity and equal opportunities.

The above list is not exhaustive; additional areas of responsibility may be added over time and flexibility to cover for other staff roles is required from time to time.

Experience

1 year paid relevant work experience or 2 years relevant volunteering experience

Personal Requirements

• Personal insights into the challenges of homelessness, addiction& mental health
• Have a good standard of literacy and basic IT skills
• Good understanding of need for boundaries and confidentiality
• Willing to engage in their own development and growth
• Have a good knowledge of skills required for independent living
• Be comfortable with working alone with service users and to be aware of any risks should they arise.
• Be willing to travel outside of Belfast when required.

This Post is subject to an Enhanced Access NI check. Having a criminal record will not necessarily debar you from working with Depaul. This will depend on the nature of the position, together with the circumstances and background of your offences or other information contained on a disclosure certificate.

NISCC

This post is subject to NISCC registration, if you do hold a valid registration this must be completed within your probationary period.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES:

Depaul strives to create a diverse and inclusive programme and is committed to ensuring equality of access to our opportunities and equality of treatment for our staff in all our policies and practices. We welcome applications from individuals aged 18 and over from a diverse range of backgrounds.

View our privacy statement here: https://ie.depaulcharity.org/about-us/careers/