Independent Living Skills Support Worker

Could you be the highly motivated individual we're looking for?

This post is fixed term maternity cover. We are looking to recruit a Project Worker  in our Transition to Independent Living and Training Flat team at the Barnardo's Swansea Service, Barnardo's Cymru Western Bay Locality. 

What is Barnardo's Swansea?

At the core of all Barnardo's Swansea Services we recognise the importance in building children and young people's self-confidence, resilience and emotional wellbeing. 

Our services include:

• Bloom  - Life coaching and befriending
• Supported Lodgings – providing supported accommodation with a host family
• Transition and Training Flats Service – independent living experiences and life skills support
• Barnardo's Wellbeing Service – emotional wellbeing support for children and young people aged 9 to 17 years

As part of the Transition Training Flat Service you will undertake direct, planned and structured one to one and group sessions with young people. Working toward distinct outcomes you will support young people to reach their person-centred goals in a trauma-informed way.

Key elements of the service include:

• Group work promoting independent living skills to young people in preparation for their ‘move on' housing options. This will include delivering accredited Independent Living Skills programmes, facilitating visits to accommodation providers, as well as providing opportunities to develop practical skills such as cooking, budgeting, cleaning and bill paying in a home environment
• Support for those at risk of homelessness or those at risk of placement breakdown, for young people aged 16+. This is targeted one-to-one support for those young people who may be experiencing instability in their accommodation or placement.
• This service will provide young people aged 16+ with an independent living experience in order for them to better understand their accommodation needs and options. Intensive individual support will be provided to those young people accessing the training flats (includes evening and weekend working).

What does the Job Role involve?

Your duties will include:

• This service provides support to young people from 9am until 8pm Monday to Friday and from 10am until 6pm on weekends.
• The service requires flexibility of work as we support young people around their needs. This means rota working including the evenings and weekends.
• Working with young people and professionals to develop agreed support plans.
• Delivering accredited group work programmes in the areas of Independent living and tenancy readiness.
• Visiting and supporting service users in their placements providing support to young people and their carers.
• Visiting  young people accessing the training flats on a regular, planned basis. Undertaking entry/exit tasks, safety and welfare checks as well as responding to emergencies and crises that may arise within service hours.
• Supporting young people to ensure they are aware of their accommodation options and entitlements in readiness for move on. This will include assisting young people to complete benefit applications, offering support through appeals as well as supporting service administrators with the monitoring of data.
• Supporting young people to integrate into their communities and to encourage participation in community events and activities.
• Tracking a young person's support journey through the use of outcomes scoring. To discuss, score and record outcomes, implementing a young person-centred approach.

You will have (essential criteria):

• Knowledge of the issues affecting young people particularly those who have been ‘looked after', are care leavers, or are homeless/threatened with homelessness.
• Experience of direct work with young people in a relevant setting.
• Experience of creating tailored support plans with young people and demonstrating the positive outcomes achieved.
• Experience of delivering group based sessions such as issue-based workshops and independent living skills programmes.
• Experience of managing a workload and prioritising competing demands
• The ability to travel independently to meet the requirements of the post.

Additional Information:

You must demonstrate in your application that you currently use the skills outlined above, and those in the Job Description/Person Specifications, or have used them previously in employment, education, training, volunteering etc.

Although this contract has a fixed term status currently until 31st March 2025 funding is awarded annually and we are waiting to find out if funding will continue past this date. Should continuation funding be received, the post will be extended to 11th July 2025. 

Your main office base will be at Barnardo's Swansea, Penlan but you will be expected to work locally.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.