Residential Children's Support Worker

Bishop's Stortford

Job Role: Residential Children's Support Worker

White Trees group is owned and operated by SureCare Residential Ltd. Our role as a company is to provide a home for vulnerable and complex young people who find themselves in residential care for a magnitude of reasons, often completely out of their control and/or comprehension. Our company was founded on the belief that what we do, not only keeps our young people safe and away from harm, we actually grow and develop and build brighter futures for all of the young people in our care.

It is important that you understand your role within the company as a Therapeutic Project Worker and spend as much time as possible learning about and understanding your role within the company. It's not the individual that makes the difference in the long-term changes to a young person, it's the continuity that's provided through rigorous care planning, therapeutic interventions and understanding that the consistency of the team approach is what builds the brighter futures for all of our young people.

Personal Specification

You will be kind, caring, professional and understanding, even when highly volatile and challenging situations occur. We are here to support young people in their time of need, when they are at their worst.

You will be proactive, and inventive, to ensure a bespoke and individualised service is provided for each young person within the home.

You will have a positive outlook, and always strive to find new ways to respond to any difficulties faced.

You will be reflective upon your own work/skillset, and work on developing your role ongoingly.

Main Duties - In the Home

Actively supporting and encouraging children to progress towards their full potential.

To always hold in mind you are working in somebody else's home. You are here to provide nurture, love, guidance and support - it’s the small things that matter. Cleaning, tidying and generally making the home a nice/homely place to be, is in itself the most therapeutic thing you can do to support our young people to grow in their day-to-day lives.

To always be aware that you are not their friend, you are a professional, you are responsible for supporting and guiding young people to overcome significant challenges and build brighter futures.

You will empower and encourage young people to develop their life skills and independence skills, adhering to any independence programmes in place. (Preparing meals, travel training, domestic duties)

Ensure a detailed handover is given to staff coming on shift, and shift plans for the day are made in good time and are effective.

Ensure the young people’s paperwork is completed fully and includes all relevant information for that young person including their engagement, mood, conversations, thoughts and feelings. Ensure that all records completed are accurate and reflective.

To make sure that the day-to-day operations of the House are followed, safety checks are completed and that the home is clean, tidy and feels warm and welcoming.

Engage with our Wellbeing Services to ensure all of our young people get access to therapeutic support.

You will support the administering of medication in line with White Trees policy and regulatory expectations.

To be accountable when handling petty cash, ensuring all petty cash records are completed and accurate and inform manager of any discrepancies

Driving company cars to transport our young people to attend education, contact meetings and activities etc. You should ensure the car safety checks are completed prior to any journey taking place.

Occasionally you may have to provide personal care to the young people who are unwell or struggling to keep themselves on track with their own personal hygiene.

To ensure that you are up to date with all policies and procedures, and are familiar with how to implement these within your working practice.

SureCare Residential has an effective safeguarding and child protection policy which provides clear direction to staff and others about expected codes of behaviour in dealing with safeguarding issues. SureCare Residential expects all staff to be committed to the development of good practice and sound procedures. Any concerns and referrals are handled sensitively, professionally, and in ways which support the needs of children.

To promote, practice and represent our company ethos, values and expectations at all times.

Looking after young people will challenge you. Use your training, supervision and the experience of others to reflect. Work together to overcome challenges and enable you to understand and let go of negative emotions regarding incidents or interactions. Young People’s behaviour is not personal to you even though it might appear that way.

To understand that the values that you place on your own personal world may not be the values that we wish you to project onto our homes. Understand our values and frameworks are in place to build consistency and continuity between yourselves and your colleagues.

Main Duties – Care Planning

Encourage our young people to share their views, wishes, worries and concerns, to have a voice in their care planning. Develop individualised care plans for each young person, and ensure they are updated monthly (minimum).

Ensure our young people are actively involved in decision making around their own care. Advocate on their behalf, be their champion.

Actively look for ways to support our young people to achieve their targets set within their care plan - be inventive.

Ensure you are familiar with, and follow, the individual’s positive behaviour plan. Use the agreed strategies and discuss/share with your team if new positive ways are discovered.

Develop Risk Assessments (RAMPs) and Positive Behaviour Plans for each young person and ensure these are updated monthly, to reflect the changes in the young people. All staff to be familiar with all risk assessments in place for the young people within the home.Use approved NFPS techniques when a situation results in physical interventions. Partake in debriefs followin