Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF) is Scotland’s national resource of expertise on drugs and related issues. We seek to lead and represent the drugs field in Scotland to improve Scotland’s response to problem drug use. This is an exciting opportunity to work as part of a busy, dynamic, and supportive team within a national third sector organisation.

We are pleased to be recruiting for this position of Coordination and Development Officer to drive forward the growth and development of SDF’s Recovery Worker Training Programme (RWTP) in Highland, at an exciting time of growth and change for the employability workstream in SDF.

This post will work to ensure that people with lived and living experience of drug and alcohol problems are sufficiently represented in drug and alcohol service delivery across the Highland geography.

The Co-ordination and Development Officer will grow an existing small network of stakeholders across Highland to support the project - placement providers (drug, alcohol, and social care agencies), employability partners, and education providers, to support and deliver the project outcomes.

With support from the Senior Development Officer, the role will also seek to establish multiple entry and employment pathways across Highland, in and out of RWTP.

This post is a key part of our Employability Support Team in SDF and will contribute towards the wider work of the team.

Benefits

As an SDF employee you will benefit from generous annual leave entitlement, a range of learning and development opportunities, competitive pension contribution and an employee support and counselling service. SDF encourage a healthy work life balance and offer a flexible working scheme.

Candidates should be willing and able to work effectively from home, ideally from a Highland-based location. The post holder will be expected to attend our Glasgow office as the need arises as well as for team meetings, one to ones and staff meetings. Frequent travel across Highland to support trainees is also anticipated.

Our ambition is to work together to promote a more inclusive environment, which attracts all candidates and signals our commitment to celebrate and promote diversity.

Barnardo's Highland are developing a new partnership service with the Highland Council, supporting care experienced children and young people with complex and additional needs.

This is a new service within Highland which will look at the individual needs of children and young people and develop bespoke residential care packages using a right based, trauma informed approach working with the whole family around the child.

The team working with the children will enrich their lives through care, support and activities which will be aimed at raising self-esteem, promoting a sense of mastery, and enabling the children to access experiences that are individually tailored to their interests and nurture their talents. The team will work with the wider partnership to ensure that Educational and Health needs are met.

SVQ3 level qualification in Health and Social care or equivalent is essential.

At Barnardo's we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we expect all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment. Our safer recruitment processes mean that the safety and welfare of the child is paramount at every stage of the process and therefore, we adopt rigorous scrutiny in our pre-employment checking. This post is subject to a range of pre-employment checks including a Criminal Records Enhanced Disclosure for the successful candidate.

About Barnardo's

At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is reflected in our values and our practice, and we have invested in this area of our work to ensure that we can deliver on our commitments to be an inclusive employer. EDI is a key enabler of our purpose as a charity and we want to ensure that the diversity of our teams is reflective of the communities we serve and that we continue to learn and develop our work with a focus on inclusion. We particularly encourage applications from candidates from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnic Communities, candidates who are LGBT+ and Disabled candidates.

Our basis and values

MCR Pathways is a national award-winning charity dedicated to addressing the long-standing inequality in education outcomes, career opportunities and life chances for young people in care and those on the edge of care and in need. Our in-school mentoring has proven to have profound impacts on young people; boosting their confidence, improving wellbeing and encouraging achievement and post-school progression. At present MCR mentors make and experience a life changing difference to over 5,000 young people from across the country.

We are looking for an outstanding Partnership & Mentor Recruitment Manager to cover our programme in the Highlands. The role will focus on forming leading partnerships with key public and private sector organisations to drive mentor recruitment.

You’ll establish a deeply personal service that inspires every partner, volunteer and individual to feel a hugely valued part of the MCR cause. This is exceptional relationship building and inspirational championing of the MCR cause in practice. You will be a motivated, committed, enthusiastic and resilient person with a strong and practical belief in addressing inequality.

There will be travel involved in this role so the successful candidate will have a driving licence and access to a car.

Read the Person Specification

Inspiring Young Voices is a SCIO (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation) whose objective is to enable children and young people, particularly those with additional support needs/disabilities, to have their voices heard – where and when they wish.

Are you passionate about giving children and young people a voice and enabling them to be actively involved in decisions that affect their lives, to speak out about their rights and to campaign for change?

Do you want to make a difference to the lives of children and young people in Highland with diverse needs and experiences?

We are looking for a special individual with energy and enthusiasm for youth participation and engagement work who is passionate about enabling the direct voice of young people experiencing challenges in their lives to be heard.

The young people we work alongside told us:

“We would like a fun, bubbly and chatty person who loves working alongside young people and has an understanding of mental health issues. We want someone who is compassionate and passionate about our cause, someone who is open minded and who makes us feel safe.”

JOB PURPOSE

Work alongside the young people from Inspire Highland and Inspiring Young Voices’ Participation Lead to expand our youth-led collective voice for young people in Highland at risk of harm and facing trauma and adversity in their lives.

This work would be delivered under Inspiring Young Voice’s Inspire Highland project, which was established in December 2018 due to an expressed need by young people with disabilities and additional support needs (ASNs) to have their voices heard, Inspire Highland is a creative, dynamic youth-led project led to promote the rights, participation and inclusion of young people up to the age of 25 who are facing challenges in their lives. We are a Highland-wide project with (currently) 30 young people, aged 12 – 25 years old which facilitates the active participation and voice of marginalised young people.

This role will target work at those young people most vulnerable in Highland, including those with long term health conditions, disabilities or additional support needs, specifically young people:

• Affected by mental health problems and mental illness.

• With learning disabilities and communication challenges.

• Impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES).

• Who live in remote and rural areas of Highland.

This approach of this project is rights-based and grounded in trauma informed practices and principles to ensure that our charity responds in ways that prevents further harm, supports recovery, addresses inequalities and improves life chances of vulnerable young people in Highland.

Our work is grounded in the principles and approaches of youth work and community development, and we adhere to the Community Learning and Development (CLD) Standards Council Code of Ethics.