Outreach Practitioner

Wdp; Ilford; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 33,000; Full time

Job summary

A well-renowned organization is seeking an Outreach Practitioner in Ilford to support those experiencing homelessness and substance misuse. This role requires strong interpersonal skills and offers opportunities for professional development, including training in trauma-informed care. The successful candidate will work as part of a supportive team to engage clients in vital support services.

Benefits

30 days annual leave

Health and wellbeing initiatives

Financial perks and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Experience with substance misuse assessments.
• Language skills in Punjabi, Romanian, Lithuanian, or Russian are desirable.
• Commitment to outreach work and case management.

Responsibilities

• Engage homeless individuals and conduct substance misuse assessments.
• Develop care and risk management plans.
• Deliver harm reduction advice and interventions.

Skills

Strong communication skills

Empathy

Patience

Job description

Job Reference JOB0193 Location Ilford, London Borough of Redbridge Salary £29,124 - £32,946 per annum, including London Weighting where appropriate Vacancy Type Permanent/Full Time Working Hours 37.5 hours per week Application Deadline Sunday, June 22, 2025 Job Summary

Are you looking for a sense of purpose in your job? Would you like to support people who are or have experienced homelessness and also struggle with alcohol or drug use?

Being an outreach worker is varied and rewarding work. It also gives invaluable insight into health and social care systems for anyone looking to go into public health and policy work.

The Role

You will be a professional and motivated individual who is committed to providing assertive outreach and case management to engage or re-engage people who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness into wellbeing services and drug and alcohol treatment. You’ll be able to work independently, but also as part of a supportive team. Some key aspects of the role include:

• To carry out triage and comprehensive substance misuse assessments, risk assessments and develop person-centred care plans and risk management plans.
• To provide evidence-based psychosocial interventions that align to the individual’s needs and goals, drawing upon Via’s Core Model curriculum and other tools and techniques, such as ITEP maps.
• Conduct street outreach to engage/reengage homeless individuals who are misusing drugs or alcohol.
• Deliver satellite provisions within local services e.g. hostels and day centres.
• Provide effective and relevant harm reduction advice and interventions, including needle exchange, advice about synthetic opioids, and suicide prevention.
• Represent Via by working professionally in collaboration with partner agencies including those in housing, immigration, healthcare, etc.

Strong communication skills, empathy and patience are needed for the post holder to providing care to service users who have diagnosed mental illness, have experienced complex trauma, and who experience difficulties engaging with mainstream services.

Language skills in Punjabi, Romanian, Lithuanian or Russian would be desirable but are not essential.

The Service

Via’s Outreach service in Redbridge is collocated with and works alongside Via’s other services in Redbridge. These include the Adult and Young People’s Drug and Alcohol Services, a sexual health service for young people and vulnerable adults, and our smoking cessation service. Whilst focusing on people’s alcohol or drug use, the outreach team work closely with a wide range of other partner agencies who also support of people who are experiencing homelessness or are vulnerably housed, to ensure that a wide range of services are able to reach them to reduce inequalities and improve their health and wellbeing.

Via is committed to the ongoing professional development of all our staff. Through joining Via, you will receive a warm welcome, peer support, access to a wide range of training, including trauma informed care, and Via’s ‘Tackling Substance Misuse’ qualification which supports practitioners’ progression through the pay scales. Practitioners have regular supervision and clinical reflective practice, and have opportunities to thrive in a lively and aspirational organisation.

Location

The role covers multiple service hubs across the Borough of Redbridge with the main base being our Via hub in Ilford.

To see the generous range of benefits we offer at Via including 30 days annual leave for all new starters, our health and wellbeing initiatives, financial perks and development opportunities – visit our Benefits Package

For an informal discussion about the position please contact Zoe Pithers, Team Leadervia [e-mail]

The closing date for applications isSunday 22 June at midnight.

Interviews are likely to take place on Monday 30 June, in person at our Ilford hub.

All our applications are sifted by humans. Please send us applications that reflect your own knowledge, experience and values and not applications that have been generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

We accept applications via https://www.viaorg.uk/work-at-via/career-paths/ using our short application form, and your CV. For guidance on how to complete the application visit https://www.viaorg.uk/work-at-via/how-to-apply/ . Please submit your application as soon as possible as we may close adverts at any time if we receive a sufficient number of applications.

Via welcomes enquiries from everyone, and we value diversity in our workplace. Our commitment to promoting diversity and developing a workplace environment where all staff are treated with dignity and respect is central to our recruitment process.

We’re a Disability Confident Employer and are committed to the employment and career development of disabled people. We offer an interview to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for our jobs, please confirm in the personal statement part of our application form that you are applying under this scheme.

Appointment to all our posts are subject to satisfactory completion of our safeguarding checks including DBS and we follow safer recruiting principles.

Please email [e-mail] if you have any recruitment enquiries or if you require this documentation in an accessible format.

Job Profile JD Outreach Practitioner