About East Lothian Foodbank

East Lothian Foodbank is at the forefront of the fight against poverty in East Lothian. We believe passionately that everyone should have the right to respect, dignity and self-determination, in a world without hunger and poverty; our advice services and campaigning activities are designed to help achieve these goals, sitting alongside our core role of providing emergency food & essentials to those who need them.

As an independent Scottish charity, we are also fortunate to be part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by The Trussell Trust, working towards combatting poverty and hunger across the UK.

About You

We are looking for someone to join our team, who has a similar passion for driving meaningful change in our community. As one of our key “faces” to the outside world, the role would be suited to someone with strong communication skills and relationship building skills, who is driven and well organised.

About the Role

The East Lothian Foodbank Service Co-ordinator is at the frontline of our crisis service. As the first point of contact for our service users and referral partners you must be a confident communicator who can work well managing multiple tasks in a busy environment. Duties will include processing requests for emergency food support received via phone, email and online.

You will be taking care of day-to-day contacts and building relationships with partners, service users and others with regards to our crisis service. You will be expected to handle service user and referral partner information in line with data handling policy and procedures, notifying the Foodbank Manager of specific requests or requirements.

As an emergency food service, you may be dealing with people who are often in distress so the ability to deal with people sensitively and with compassion is required. The core values of East Lothian Foodbank must always be observed and promoted to ensure we offer the best possible support.

The Service Co-ordinator must maintain good working relations, not only with our referral agents and partners, but also with our volunteers. The core values of East Lothian Foodbank must always be observed and promoted to ensure we offer the best possible support to those in food crisis.

In line with our Recruitment and Selection Policy this role will be subject to a criminal record check.

We are looking for a skilled participation consultant to evaluate our participation work and support us in creating a three-year participation plan. This work will compliment our wider work to end the need for our crisis food support service. We seek someone with facilitation experience and excellent communication skills, and a strong understanding of the complex issues surrounding food insecurity, financial crisis and destitution who can complete this work before June 2025.

Ensuring the delivery of The Trussell Trust’s vision to end the need for food banks in the UK by developing an in-depth understanding of Trussell Trust food banks in their area and using coaching and assist to build and hold productive relationships to:

• Develop and execute a strategic plan for reducing the need for food banks’ services locally.
• Work alongside local partners to increase public will for long-term solutions to end the need for food banks.
• Develop and manage strategic relationships with key stakeholders to assist evidenced-based policy change at a local level and feed into activity to drive policy and practice at UK wide and national levels.

Around since 1923, SAMH is Scotland’s national mental health charity. We have represented the voice of people most affected by mental health problems in Scotland for almost 100 years. Today, in over 60 communities we work with adults and young people providing mental health social care support, services in primary care, schools and further education, among others.

These services together with our national programme work in See Me, respectme, suicide prevention and active living; inform our policy and campaign work to influence positive social change. SAMH is dedicated to mental health and wellbeing for all: with a vision of a society where people are able to live their lives fully, regardless of present or past circumstances.

About the Role

We are looking for a dynamic and experienced manager to manage and oversee our Care Inspectorate Registered Way Forward Service and non-registered services Gateways and New Routes.

The Way Forward Service is a Care Inspectorate registered service for people with severe and enduring mental health problems. This service works in partnership with Glasgow City Council, Glasgow City Health & Social Care Partnership and NHS Glasgow.

Working in close collaboration with other statutory partners, the Way Forward Support Service is well established, recovery focussed “move-on” service, which can support up to twenty-five individuals with housing tenancy support from SAMH and Wheatley Homes to achieve their desired outcomes and work towards independence with the end goal of maintaining their own tenancy.

The Gateways Service based in Inverclyde is a non-registered service that provides personalised support to people over the age of 16 years who have mental health problems and in recovery from alcohol and/or drug related issues.

Referrals to the service can be from a number of sources, including, but not limited to; Primary Care, Community Mental Health Teams and the Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service

The New Routes Service is a Scotland wide partnership working with our partners to provide mental health support to individuals of all ages who are serving short-term custodial sentences in every male prison in Scotland with the aim of reducing reoffending and rebuilding lives.

What we are looking for

We are committed to providing care and support to our service users and are looking for a Service Manager 2 who is equally dedicated to the provision of outcome focused person-centred care. The Service Manager 2 will provide dynamic, confident and positive leadership and management

These services flexibly operate 7 days a week throughout the year to suit the needs of the people we support. You will also be required to participate in a local rota management back up on call. To be successful in this post you will meet the essential criteria, core competencies behaviour and skills listed in the role profile and be able to demonstrate a proven track record of delivering outcomes for vulnerable adults; and knowledge and experience of working in the field of mental health and wellbeing.

Flexibility will be required as the post may require some occasional evening and weekend work. The post will involve travel across various locations in Glasgow and Inverclyde so a full driving licence and access to your own vehicle is essential.

What we will provide for you

You will work in a supportive environment and will be provided with a full induction and training opportunities. You will be given the chance to develop your knowledge and skills, as well as develop professionally. Some of our benefits include;

• Fully funded SVQ qualification to meet the conditions of your SSSC registration
• Reimbursement of PVG, Disclosure & SSSC annual fees and registration costs.
• Funded continuous learning and development opportunities, access to over 100 courses online in addition to classroom and virtual training sessions
• 30 days annual leave rising to 33 after 5 years’ service
• 4 public holidays 2 paid wellbeing days off per year to use on what matters to you.
• Team wellbeing budgets