Vulnerable children in the UK need your help

Wherever you work in the Action for Children family, you'll be helping to change the lives of the most vulnerable children in the UK.

Last year, we helped more than 670,000 children and families across the UK. From direct work in communities to national campaigning, we are focused on making sure every child has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive.

Why Action for Children?

Working here is more than a job. Everyone in the Action for Children family is passionate about protecting and supporting children. It's the sense of purpose that drives us every single day. Because we know that, when we work together, we can make a huge difference to bring lasting improvements to vulnerable children's lives.

A bit about the role

“Supporting mental health and wellbeing is a big part of what we do. We help young people talk about how they're feeling, and make sure they don't feel alone.”

An exciting opportunity to join an existing team through additional funding from Glasgow. This new position will sit alongside a team of established counsellors and is a fantastic opportunity to become part of an existing team and continue your journey in school counselling.

As part of the Glasgow Secondary Schools Counselling and Blues Service, you'll play a crucial role in delivering high-quality, school-based professional counselling and effective intervention, management of cases and assessment of needs you will ensure safe care and agreed positive outcomes to secondary school children aged 12-18 years who are negatively affected or are at risk of being affected by poor mental health.

The Blues Programme is an internationally acclaimed wellbeing programme for young people. Over six weeks, it teaches emotional resilience, and reduces low mood and anxious thoughts. Crucially, it gets teenagers talking.

As a Counsellor, you'll be able to effectively engage with young people to deliver counselling support, predominantly within a school setting but there may also be a requirement in a local community or home setting.

How you'll help to create brighter futures

Some key responsibilities for the Counsellor role are;

• Providing a high-quality service to young people, that is outcomes-driven and based on an assessment of need.
• Delivering complex and specialist interventions with young people on a 1:1 basis, group or community setting.
• Implement lead case/care planning management, including undertaking assessing, reviewing and managing risks.
• Attending and participating at relevant multi agency meetings, providing a lead role ensuring reflective and analytical practice review.

Let's talk about you

• A recognised counselling qualification (e.g., diploma counselling, COSCA counselling modules), with relevant experience and be registered/ accredited with COSCA (Counselling and Psychotherapy in Scotland) or BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) or equivalent.
• Experience of working within a multi-agency social care, schools, early years or health environment and applying safeguarding best practice.
• Experience of managing cases, in accordance with agreed procedures and completing assessments, planning and reviews to ensure positive outcomes.
• Capacity to train in relevant Evidence Based Programmes including the Blues programme or Decider.

Benefits:

• 29 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays, with up to 5 additional days for continuous service and option to buy or sell leave
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities
• Flexible maternity, adoption, and paternity packages
• Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover
• Staff discount portal and Blue Light Card eligibility with 15,000 national retailers

“The best thing about working for Aberlour is making a real difference to the lives of children, young people and their families.”

About Sustain Perth

Aberlour Sustain Perth is taking forward Aberlour’s ground-breaking ‘Edge of Care’ service. Sustain is a model of early intervention and engagement which offers personalised, flexible and responsive support to children, young people and their families. The approach seeks to maximise the potential of family strengths and assets, getting them access to the required support when and where they need it, enabling children and young people to remain living at home rather than moving into residential care.

What we are looking for

We are looking for a Community Support Practitioner to join our team, working 37.5 hours per week. As this post includes an unsocial hours’ allowance, you are required to be flexible with your approach, planning your own diary, and available to work weekends, early mornings, evenings and public holidays to meet the needs of the families you would support. It is also essential that you have access to a car due to the geographical layout of Perth and Kinross.

The ideal candidate will be passionate about supporting children, young people and their families to achieve the best possible outcomes as they live and grow within their communities. Our aim is to ensure that children, young people and families are supported to build on their strengths, assets and interests to develop enduring capacity and resilience. Working in partnership with parents, you will support them to develop their parenting skills, self-esteem and confidence and encourage self-reflection.

Applicants should be dynamic and creative and be able to deliver flexible, person-centred services to vulnerable children and families which is playful, warm, accepting, curious, tenacious and empathetic. Working in a culture based on respect, integrity, innovation, and the ability to challenge, you will share our vision that collaborative early intervention and engagement is the best option for children and families who are on the ‘edge of care’. You will bring a fresh and collaborative approach and, in discussion with the leadership team, be willing to try new approaches to ensure that strong and trusting relationships are developed with families and stakeholders.

At Aberlour we want to make sure every child and young person has the love, support and opportunity they need to reach their potential. If you share the same vision, we want you to join our team. Aberlour’s values are critical and drive everything we do. We will be looking for someone who can demonstrate how Aberlour’s values of Respect, Innovation, Integrity and Challenge will be visible in their practice. You must be comfortable working in an environment where Aberlour’s values are lived in practice.

What we Offer

As well as a supportive team and excellent training opportunities, we want all our employees to feel valued and rewarded for the vital work they do. When you work with us, we'll recognise your efforts with generous annual leave, an excellent employer pension scheme and a range of deals and discounts across various retailers.

We are seeking a playful, adaptable, and confident individuals for play worker posts at Play Midlothian, to deliver high quality services, enabling children to thrive through play.

Community Play Worker (CPW)

• First Aid: Desirable – can be attained whilst employed by the company. PM can support sourcing and funding courses.
• Child Protection Training: Essential – PM can support sourcing and funding courses.
• PVG Membership – Essential – PM can facilitate.
• Responsibility / duties – facilitating adventurous and creative play under the supervision of the Play Team Lead. The Community Play Worker may be asked to ‘lead’ a session alongside another CPW or APW once an agreed induction period has been fulfilled.

About Play Midlothian

Play Midlothian is a registered charity (no. SC025474) working to support children to thrive through play. We focus on play because we know how much this benefits children’s health, wellbeing and development. It is important for their lives in the here and now as well as for their future life chances.

We strive to remove barriers to play where they exist, to ensure all children have access to play that meets their needs. We provide services for children and families and build the capacity of communities to support play. This includes training and development opportunities for other settings, including schools. We are also a partner in the Midlothian Play Strategy, which takes a strategic approach in planning for and promoting play in Midlothian.

We have an office base in Dalkeith but deliver services throughout Midlothian, and if commissioned, beyond.

About the role

Our Playworkers support session planning and the day-to-day practicalities of our play services, carry out play work, and support services users. It is essential that the successful applicant enjoys all types of play and can respond flexibly to the needs of participants.

We are looking for someone who enjoys working as part of a team and can build productive relationships with our participants, colleagues and other stakeholders, while demonstrating an enthusiasm for Play Midlothian’s aims and values.

The postholder will be directed day to day by a Team Leader, and work as part of a team of Community Playworkers and at times volunteers.

It is important the postholder can be flexible about their hours, which will be worked over four or five days on a rota pattern over a 7-day week. Out 2 Play shifts may finish approx. 6.00/6.30pm. We value employees having work/life balance and aim to establish a pattern that shares out any evening and weekend working, so each employee has regular weekends off.

Play Midlothian’s services take place in a variety of community settings. Some are indoors, though a high proportion of our current services are exclusively outdoors (all year round), therefore the role will particularly suit applicants with a fondness for the outdoors.

We work with children and young people aged 0-13 (and at times older), with their parents/carers at some of our services, and at times with specific needs (including disability and emerging mental health challenges). We work with a variety of service models, though with the focus firmly on self-directed play. The goal is always to ensure that children have access to play opportunities that enable them to thrive.

Information on our current services can be found on our website.

For the right candidate, this will be a highly rewarding and stimulating role, offering plenty of variety in their work – all the while enabling their passion for children’s play to shine though.

We have an exciting opportunity to be part of something new

Do you want to make a difference to the lives of young people setting up their own home?

You would be part of this new initiative, expanding housing options and housing support for young people. Based in Stirling with 24/7 supported tenancies and outreach to young people you should bring passion for investing your time and energy into supporting care leavers, enabling them to reach their potential and create positive futures. 4 one-bedroom tenancies will be available soon and we are looking for 2 waking night staff. All would be expected to be part of a collaborative team to provide round the clock support to young people.

We are looking for staff to join our Gap Homes Stirling Service with the following experience -

• A relevant qualification in children's services – preferably SVQ 3 or above or the willingness to work towards a qualification which ensures compliance with SSSC and Care Inspectorate Registration
• Knowledge/skills and experience of working with children and young people with a range of complex needs and issues including substance use, mental health, offending behaviour, trauma, bereavement, CSE and other adversities.
• Experience of working in partnership with a range of agencies including those working within housing support and 16+ services.
• Shifts on a Rota Basis.

Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out 1st April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a key pillar of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to grow and develop in their career at Barnardo's as it will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues to progress through the pay band of their role.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay progression steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.

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