Specialist Complex Needs Worker

Assistance Dogs; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 36,000; Full time

Job summary

Single Homeless Project is seeking a Specialist Complex Needs Worker to support women in a short-term respite setting. You will build trusting relationships, balance supportive care with practical tasks, and collaborate with SHP and external partners to help women access the right services while respecting their autonomy.

The role emphasises trauma-informed, gender-aware support and patience in helping women take steps toward safety, stability, and independence.

Qualifications

• Experience supporting women affected by VAWG or multiple disadvantage (homelessness, trauma, mental ill health, substance use).
• Ability to engage with risk in safeguarding contexts and work calmly with professionals.
• Person-centred, strengths-based approach to enable goal setting.
• Collaborative, organised and able to manage competing priorities in busy accommodation services.

Responsibilities

• Build trusting, trauma-informed relationships with women to support autonomy.
• Support access to mental health, substance use or healthcare services as needed.
• Attend MARACs or work with specialist agencies to reduce risk.
• Help women plan next steps, maximise income and progress during stay.
• Balance meaningful support with practical tasks to support progress in respite.

Skills

Trauma-informed practice

Gender-informed approach

Risk assessment

Building trust

Collaboration

Job description

About the role:

A safe place can create the breathing space someone needs to begin taking back control of their life. Our Women’s Respite provides short-term accommodation and specialist support for women who have experienced violence against women and girls (VAWG), homelessness, trauma and multiple disadvantage.

As a Specialist Complex Needs Worker, you’ll work alongside women rather than directing their choices, building trusting relationships and creating the conditions for each person to take greater control of her own journey. Through gender-informed, trauma-informed and strengths-based support, you’ll help women recognise their strengths, make informed choices and identify what matters to them, turning their own goals into meaningful steps towards greater safety, stability and independence.

Your days will be varied and often fast-moving. You might be supporting someone to access mental health, substance use or healthcare services; attending a MARAC or working with specialist agencies to reduce risk from VAWG; helping a woman maximise her income or plan her next move; or simply creating the space for someone who has spent a long time having decisions made around her to feel heard, rebuild confidence and begin making those decisions for herself. Within a respite setting, you’ll balance meaningful, relationship-based support with the practical work needed to help women make progress during their stay.

You’ll be part of a collaborative team that understands progress looks different for everyone. Drawing on specialist colleagues across Single Homeless Project (SHP) and strong external partnerships, you’ll help women access the right support without losing sight of their autonomy, voice or individual journey. This is a role where patience, tenacity and consistency matter just as much as experience, and where you’ll have opportunities to strengthen your practice through supervision, training and ongoing learning.

*For genuine occupational requirement reasons, we are seeking applications from women only for this post (exemption under the Equality Act 2010; Schedule 9 Part 1).

About you:

• You are experienced in supporting women affected by VAWG and/or multiple disadvantage, which may include homelessness, trauma, mental ill health or substance use.
• You understand how trauma, gender and previous experiences of services can influence engagement, and can build trusting relationships without judgement or pressure.
• You are confident assessing and responding to risk and safeguarding concerns, working calmly in challenging situations and alongside other professionals to keep women safe.
• You take a person-centred, strengths-based approach, helping women identify their own goals and supporting them to make meaningful and sustainable changes.
• You are collaborative, organised and resilient, able to manage competing priorities, maintain professional boundaries and contribute positively within a busy accommodation service.

About us:

We’re London’s leading homelessness charity – and we get things done.

In a city where hundreds are forced into homelessness every day, our work has never been more needed or more challenging. And we’re not shying away. We’re rolling up our sleeves to make change and helping over 10,000 Londoners every year. We prevent homelessness, provide safe places to live and give people the opportunity to rebuild their lives and transform their futures. And we never give up.

We’re here for Londoners wherever they are on their journey. We start with trust, building relationships that help people feel safe, supported, and ready to move forward. Every day, we put people first in everything we do, challenging injustice and barriers that keep people from the safety, stability and opportunity they deserve. We stand alongside people as they rebuild and shape a future that feels their own.

Joining Single Homeless Project means joining a team that’s bold, compassionate and determined to do better for the people we support and for each other. You’ll work alongside colleagues with lived experience, in a space that’s trans-inclusive, disability-friendly, and actively striving to be anti-oppressive and equitable.

We’re not perfect, but we’re real. We listen. We learn. And we push forward, together. Because this isn’t just a job. It’s a chance to lead with empathy, spark change, and help build a London where no one is left behind.

Important info:

Closing Date: Sunday 25th October at midnight

Interview date: Tuesday 3rd November online via Microsoft Teams

Please note there will be a second stage interview in service in Camden for progressed candidates.

This post will require an Enhanced DBS check to be processed (by SHP) for the successful applicant.

Please note applications are reviewed for AI use in application questions. Applications with insufficient/without current right to work or requiring sponsorship will not be accepted for this role.