Carr Gomm is one of Scotland’s leading social care and support charities; we strive to support people to achieve their individual hopes and dreams every day. We know our work is challenging and very rewarding, and we require people with a flexible and inspirational approach who are able to find innovative solutions with people, not for them.

Carr Gomm’s Community Contacts provides an independent advice and support service to people who are interested in Self-Directed Support (SDS), to enable them to identify issues that affect their ability to live well and think of ways to address these. Taking a person-centred approach, Community Contacts supports individuals to understand the values and principles of SDS and helps them identify personal outcomes and priorities as well as any challenges that need to be factored in.

Community Contacts originally operated across Argyll and Bute; we have now secured Scottish Government funding to extend into Highland. This is an exciting opportunity to join a small team of 5 home based workers – the other post holders cover the other Highland planning districts.

The role:

As our Specialist Project Worker for Community Contacts, you will ensure that a person-centred service is available to people in your locality, who wish to explore what SDS means to them.

Your core responsibilities will be as the contact point and development worker for Community Contacts in your area of operation. This will include ensuring ensure that people are aware of their choices and rights around making social care decisions and in the delivery and management of their SDS option, as well as promoting the service and networking across your area.. Great communication skills are essential, as you will work with partners including other third sector and Health and Social Care colleagues. In recognition of the considerable geography each team member is responsible for, you and the other team members will typically offer the service remotely, using mechanisms such as phone, e mail, post and Skype.

You will hold excellent reporting and monitoring skills with a working knowledge of using IT systems and tools. You will proactively use your problem-solving and creative thinking skills to ensure the opportunities SDS brings are maximised for individuals and families.

The candidate:

Successful Specialist Project Workers come from different backgrounds and have a range of work and life experiences, but all have a flair for engaging with and relating to people, an eagerness to support people to realise their rights and responsibilities with SDS and to navigate any barriers they may encounter along the way.

In our eyes, the best Specialist Project Workers are self-motivated people who embrace the challenge of developing the service across their locality, whose people skills enable them to see the bigger picture and suggest next steps, in a collaborative way, with individuals and their families. We are looking for a diplomat who understands and appreciates the complexities of using rights based processes with a range of stakeholders.

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