Practice Officer (Women's Justice)

What will you be doing?

We are looking to recruit a committed individual to support the delivery and development of our criminal  justice practice work, with a focus on women’s justice. This is an exciting opportunity where the successful applicant will be actively contributing to the design and delivery of our expanding women in justice area of focus within the Centre.

The role will primarily support our work to expand and enhance community justice for women. This means working in partnership with statutory partners such as police, probation, the judiciary and court staff, as well as 3rd sector organisations including women’s centres to support evidence-led practice.

The successful applicant will be responsible for supporting our women’s problem-solving court network. This will involve (i) identifying and convening practitioners and others who are interested in women’s problem-solving approaches; (ii) facilitating and delivering training and practice sharing workshops; and (iii) developing briefings and toolkits that support the spread of good practice.

Problem-solving courts are specialist courts that focus on addressing the underlying issues and problems that drive offending behaviour. They specialise in a specific set of issues or around a specific target group, such as women with multiple unmet needs. They operate with multi-agency teams to provide tailored interventions and supervision, combining this with judicial monitoring, where individuals regularly appear before the same judge to review their progress.

The Practice Officer will also support us to expand our reach in Out Of Court Resolutions (OOCRs) and pre-court diversion, working directly with police and other agencies to develop or improve their gender-responsive diversion schemes.

The role will also include:

• Supporting the delivery of our practice support in areas such as early intervention and diversion, and specialist problem-solving approaches for women;

• Identifying and supporting areas for practice development;

• Developing practical tools to support practitioners;

• Presenting at external events;

• Contributing to the design and facilitation of practice sharing events and workshops;

• Engaging with practitioners, stakeholders and service users to shape delivery and represent the Centre;

• Working with the Centre’s teams to ensure practice work feeds into our research, policy and communication activities.

Skills, Experience and Knowledge

The role requires the following skills, knowledge and experience:

Experience

The Practice Officer will have experience of:

• Frontline work with women in the justice system OR experience of managing projects and working with others to change frontline practice (essential);

• Working with clients / service users, and the practitioners who work with them, in a safe, legal and supportive manner (essential);

• Delivering training / facilitating workshops (essential);

• Influencing and supporting internal and external partners to deliver on shared plans (desirable);

• Involving clients / service users in the design of projects (desirable).

Skills and abilities

The Practice Officer needs to be able to:

• Deliver training and presentations and facilitate workshops for a range of audiences;

• Manage projects;

• Deploy strong written and verbal communication skills;

• Balance multiple priorities and manage their own workload;

• Have good organisational and team work skills;

• Work at pace and to deadline;

• Show energy and enthusiasm;

• Communicate and engage a variety of audiences and stakeholders confidently and constructively;

• Have the ability to work with vulnerable people and sensitive information in a safe, legal and supportive manner;

• Have a creative approach to solving problems and identifying practical solutions.

Knowledge

The Practice Officer needs knowledge and understanding of:

• The challenges and opportunities available to practitioners working within a criminal justice environment;

• The complex issues impacting women in the justice system such as trauma, substance use, domestic abuse, neglect and mental health issues;

  Prior knowledge and experience of criminal problem-solving courts is not essential, but the Practice Officer will be required to develop a strong technical understanding of the model once in post.

Requirements

The post holder needs to have:

• Eligibility to work in the UK legally.

Whilst we do not require the post holder to be office based, you must be willing and able to travel regularly within the UK.

Interviews will be held on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th May 2025 at our offices in Kennington, SE11 5DP.