Are you passionate about helping vulnerable young people thrive and flourish?

Do you have the skills to engage with young people and support them to reach their maximum potential?

This is an exciting opportunity to work in our new residential house in Auchterhouse near Dundee. You should be enthusiastic, warm, playful, accepting, curious and empathetic and be able to bring these qualities to your work with children and young people. Our approach is to work in a therapeutic way to support the vulnerable children and young people who live in our residential houses.

Children tell us that they want to live somewhere where they feel safe, with adults who know, understand them and love them and who they trust. They want the adults who care for them to have fun with them, to be silly, to help them learn and grow and share memories and experiences with them. Can you help to create these experiences for children and young people?

The care experience of our children is our first consideration and by creating the home environment that makes them feel safe, comfortable and loved, this also creates a rewarding and fulfilling experience for our staff team, providing valuable development opportunities. One of the key things for working with vulnerable children and young people is to provide consistency and so it is important that you can work with the rest of the team to deliver this, whilst taking account of the changing needs of the children and communicating effectively with your colleagues.

You must be comfortable working in a culture based on respect, integrity, innovation and the ability to challenge. You should be able to work in a nurturing way, enabling the children and young people to feel safe and loved. We are looking for individuals who will help us to achieve our vision, which is to:

• Provide the best option in Scotland for children who require to live in residential care;
• Provide the best life-long learning environment in Scotland which supports children to lead happy and successful lives;
• Be the best place in Scotland for staff to have a fulfilling work experience and to achieve their individual and collective potential.

Through a wide variety of learning and development opportunities we support our staff to be as effective as they can be, equipping them to employ best practice in their work and to be exceptional role models for the children and for staff.

Please see the ‘Person Specification’ document on our website for further details on preferred qualifications and experience.

We are developing an innovative selection process to have a focus on values and engagement with young people which is likely to consist of up to three slots over the course of the week commencing 8 February.

LinkLiving is a Scottish health and wellbeing charity that supports people of all ages to overcome the negative impacts of trauma, mental health, inequality, and isolation. We deliver our support to service users through a range of models including:

• Personal development and employability programmes
• Self-help coaching
• Supported accommodation
• Care at home
• Housing support
• Befriending
• Social cafes

At LinkLiving, our values are at the heart of everything we do and we put the people we support first. Our values are:

• Empathy (listen to and understand an individual’s needs and circumstances)
• Respect (treat others the way they wish to be treated)
• Integrity (be honest and have strong moral principles)
• Caring (show kindness and concern for others

Our main aim for this job role is to find people with the right values, behaviours and attitudes to match our own. An understanding of the issues affecting service users is also an essential requirement of the role.

The Job

The purpose of the job is to deliver an exciting new project which is supported by the Scottish Government’s Survivor Support Innovation and Development Fund and Action 15 from Fife’s Health and Social Care Partnership.

Better than Well supports adults who have experienced childhood trauma in Fife, including those who have found it difficult to engage with other services. Better than Well will be open to all adults who have experienced childhood trauma, but there will be an additional effort to engage with people who have also experienced homelessness.

The postholder will provide a person-centred service which responds flexibly and quickly to the mental health needs of adults who have experienced trauma in childhood, enabling people to recognise, understand and manage the symptoms. You will support people to identify their personal outcomes by undertaking baseline and exit assessments of the people we support, using appropriate clinical measures and agreeing a schedule of support sessions. In addition to conducting face to face sessions, the post holder will also be expected to carry out sessions using remote platforms. - either telephone or digital platforms. Due to current restrictions as a result of Covid-19, sessions will take place remotely initially. However, a blended model of face to face/ remote sessions will be made when conditions allow.

You will also be expected to develop positive partnerships with agencies which are relevant to support for adults who have experienced trauma and raise awareness of Better than Well through giving presentations and running training courses.

About You

You will be educated to diploma level (or equivalent) with experience of self-help techniques and CBT approaches and come with knowledge of issues affecting people who are excluded and marginalized.

Experience of using a person centered approach is fundamental to this role as well as knowledge of mental health self help resources and a commitment to their use. You will have empathy, active listening skills and be sensitive and responsive to people’s emotional and social health.

As the postholder is required to develop positive partnerships with agencies and participate in relevant network meetings, good communication skills are essential to the role.

For a comprehensive list of the essential and desirable criteria required for this post, please refer to the Job Specification in the Job information Pack.

Further Information

To find out more about what LinkLiving do, please visit our website at linkliving.org.uk

What’s in it for you?

LinkLiving offers excellent terms and conditions, and as an Investor in People and Healthy Working Lives Gold Award holder, we aim to provide a wide range of development opportunities and healthy living initiatives. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities.

You will work with colleagues who share our objectives – our employees, volunteers, funders, and our project partners. In return, we want people who are passionate, caring and dedicated, committed to our vision and values and will work to the highest professional standards.

As a LinkLiving employee, you'll benefit from generous annual leave entitlements, a wide range of learning and development opportunities, highly competitive employer pension contribution rates, discounts on shopping, restaurants and other services via Westfield Rewards, enhanced maternity and sick pay entitlements, employee support and counselling service and occupational health services.

This post is subject to Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme registration.

LinkLiving is a Scottish health and wellbeing charity that supports people of all ages to overcome the negative impacts of trauma, mental health, inequality, and isolation. We deliver our support to service users through a range of models including:

• Personal development and employability programmes

• Self-help coaching

• Supported accommodation

• Care at home

• Housing support

• Befriending

• Social cafes

At LinkLiving, our values are at the heart of everything we do and we put the people we support first. It is important to us to find people with the right values, behaviours and attitudes to match our own. Our values are:

• Empathy (listen to and understand an individual’s needs and circumstance
• Respect (treat others the way they wish to be treated)
• Integrity (be honest and have strong moral principles)
• Caring (show kindness and concern for others)

The LinkLiving Better Than Well service is an exciting new project supported by the Scottish Government’s Survivor Support Innovation and Development Fund.

Better than Well supports adults who have experienced childhood trauma in Fife, particularly those who have found it difficult to engage with other services. Better than Well is open to all adults who have experienced childhood trauma, but there is also an additional attempt to engage with people who have also experienced homelessness.

The Job

Working closely with the Service Delivery Manager, the Team Leader will ensure the achievement of high-quality services for people who have experienced childhood trauma to manage any resulting impact and focus on their safety and stabilisation.

The Team Leader will provide day to day management, leadership, support and supervision to a team of staff.

The Team Leader will work together with the team and Service Delivery Manager to facilitate training sessions and shared learning events with our range of external partners. The Team Leader will be responsible for ensuring outcomes are recorded and reported in line with funder requirements.

About You

The successful candidate must be educated to degree level (or equivalent) in Psychology (or other relevant subject) or hold a Diploma in Counselling or Self Help/Life Coaching. With prior experience of approaches in self-help techniques and/or CBT approach.

As this role involves the line management of a team of staff you must be able to lead, manage and motivate a team through regular planned meeting and support.

Additionally, you need to be able to demonstrate your knowledge of mental health self help resources and commitment to their use. It is essential that you have prior knowledge of issues affecting people who are excluded and marginalized and have an ability to build equal and positive relationships with people.

For a comprehensive list of the essential and desirable criteria required for this post, please refer to the Job Specification in the Job information Pack above.

Further Information

To find out more about what LinkLiving do, please visit our website at linkliving.org.uk

What’s in it for you?

LinkLiving offers excellent terms and conditions, and as an Investor in People and Healthy Working Lives Gold Award holder, we aim to provide a wide range of development opportunities and healthy living initiatives. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities.

You will work with colleagues who share our objectives – our employees, volunteers, funders, and our project partners. In return, we want people who are passionate, caring and dedicated, committed to our vision and values and will work to the highest professional standards.

As a LinkLiving employee, you'll benefit from generous annual leave entitlements, a wide range of learning and development opportunities, highly competitive employer pension contribution rates, discounts on shopping, restaurants and other services via Westfield Rewards, enhanced maternity and sick pay entitlements, employee support and counselling service and occupational health services.

This post is subject to Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme registration.