Qualified Vision Rehabilitation Specialist

Guide Dogs; Exeter; Hybrid; GBP 28,000 - 38,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days annual leave

Real Living Wage Employer

Flex pot

Buy/sell annual leave

Discounts and cash-back scheme

Excellent pension scheme

Job summary

Guide Dogs in Exeter seeks a Vision Rehabilitation Specialist to empower people with sight loss to gain mobility, independence and wellbeing. The role involves travel across Somerset, with some days from the Exeter office or home, and a 35‑hour week Monday to Friday.

You will deliver personalised rehabilitation, support independence and use assistive tech to help clients achieve meaningful life goals, while collaborating with partners across community services.

Qualifications

• Qualified as Mobility Instructor or Rehabilitation Worker with relevant qualifications.
• Willingness to travel across Somerset and work from Exeter or home as required.
• Ability to walk long distances daily and manage physical demands.

Responsibilities

• Build trusted relationships with people living with sight loss and tailor support to goals.
• Conduct holistic assessments of mobility, independence, wellbeing and functional vision.
• Develop and deliver tailored rehabilitation and training programmes to build confidence.
• Support clients to use assistive technology and other services to reach goals.
• Review progress regularly and adapt support plans for positive outcomes.
• Collaborate with colleagues and local services to maximise impact and continuity.
• Mentor colleagues while keeping accurate records and safeguarding compliance.

Skills

Mobility instruction

Independence training

Holistic assessment

Assistive technology

Driving licence

Education

Mobility Instructor or Rehabilitation Worker qualification

Job description

About The Role

Unleash your potential - Your Career. Their Independence

Come and join us as a supportive and confident Vision RehabilitationSpecialist (VRS) and be part of something life‑changing‑ helping people with sight loss live the life they choose.

As a Qualified Vision Rehabilitation Specialist (VRS) at Guide Dogs, you’llempower and enable people with sight loss to develop the skills, confidence and independence they need to live the life they choose. Through personalisedassessment, rehabilitation and wellbeing support, you’ll help individuals adaptto changing circumstances and achieve their goals at home, work and withintheir communities.

The Vision Rehabilitation Specialist will be an expert in visionrehabilitation, independent living skills training, holistic assessment, andsupporting people with sight loss to build confidence, resilience andindependence.

Our Vision Rehabilitation Specialists play a huge part in ensuringeverything we do enables us to deliver on our purpose and exceed expectations.

This role sits within the Exeter team and involves regular travel across Somerset, which will generally take place on three days each week. The remaining working days can be based either from the Exeter office or from home. You will work 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday, between 9:00am and 5:00pm. Some flexibility is required, as there may be an occasional need to work outside of core hours, including evenings and, on rare occasions, weekends.

Interviews will be held in person on 20 October at our Exeter site.

Key Responsibilities

• Build trusted relationships with people living with sightloss, taking a personalised approach to understand their goals, strengths andsupport needs.
• Carry out holistic assessments of mobility, independence, wellbeing and functional vision to identify the right support for eachindividual.
• Develop and deliver tailored rehabilitation and trainingprogrammes that build confidence, independence and everyday life skills.
• Support clients to use assistive technology, equipment andother services that help them achieve their goals.
• Regularly review progress with clients, adapting supportplans to ensure positive outcomes are achieved.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues, partner organisationsand local services to provide seamless support and maximise impact.
• Share your expertise by supporting and mentoring colleagueswhile maintaining accurate records and adhering to safeguarding and dataprotection requirements.

You

You’ll have a person-centred and empowering approach tosupporting people with sight loss to develop their mobility, independence andwellbeing. You’ll enjoy working independently and collaboratively acrosscommunities and multi-agency environments, with a dedicated focus on deliveringtailored rehabilitation programmes and achieving meaningful outcomes forclients, whilst being committed to helping people live the life they choosewith confidence, dignity and independence. You’ll act with integrity and honestyin everything you do.

Skills and Competencies

• Qualified as either a Mobility Instructor or RehabilitationWorker - please refer to the Essential Education/ Qualifications criteriawithin the attached Job Description
• Able to meet the travel requirements of the role. This maybe through holding a valid full UK driving licence or alternative arrangementssuch as Access to Work support or public transport, if suitable for the rolelocation.
• Able to undertake physical demands of the role, includingwalking long distances daily for extended periods of time, in all weatherconditions. Be able to handle equipment and specialist resource required forthe role.
• Proven post qualification experience of working with peoplewho are blind and partially sighted.
• Proven experience of liaising effectively with otherprofessionals / agencies.
• Has proven skills and approaches to work with people whohave additional needs.

Benefits

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

• 26 days annual leave. After three years ofcontinuous employment, this increases to 28 days plus bank holidays.
• Real Living Wage Employer
• Flex pot - equal to a proportion of yourannual 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 yourpension contributions plus 2% up to a maximum of 9% employer contribution)
• And lots more!

For highvolumes of applications, we reserve the right to close adverts earlier thanadvertised.

Please contact [e-mail] should you have any queries on the role.

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.

OurCommitment 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.

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