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

Are you looking for a new opportunity for 2024?

Are you passionate about working with children and young people in and education setting?

Our Glasgow Education Support Team works with schools in and around Glasgow to support children, young people (CYP), families and the education workforce to ensure that CYP have the best start in life and have the support they need to access and benefit from education. This can vary tremendously from whole school models of support, working with groups of children or parents to intensive family support work.

We are looking for someone to join our experienced team who is committed to supporting CYP and families make the most of the opportunities provided by education and who revels in opportunities to be flexible and creative.

Location of this post:

This role will involve working in several schools across Glasgow, East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire.

If you have direct experience of working with children (individually and in groups), families, communities and partner agencies – ideally in an educational setting – and really want to make a difference, then this could be the role for you!

In return for your commitment, you will be supported with meaningful and supportive 1:1's, ongoing personal development and opportunities to make positive change in young people's lives.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document (if applicable).

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

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 in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.

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 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.

Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements
• 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing after 5 years service
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

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

Do you want to make a difference to our children and young people?

Do you believe that every one of Scotland’s children and young people deserve the chance to flourish?

If so, this is the post for YOU!

About Aberlour Glasgow Intensive Family Support Service (IFSS)(City Wide)…

Aberlour will be working in partnership with the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership and other Third Sector providers to promote the wellbeing of children and young people by offering caring and responsive support, something which is now needed more than ever as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Aberlour Glasgow Intensive Family Support will deliver the support families need, when they need it. The aim of the service is to ensure that children and young people can continue to flourish at home, at school and in their local community.

What we are looking for....

We are looking to recruit a Family Support Worker, working 26.25 hours per week, you will work directly with families to nurture relationships, build on existing strengths and interests, help children and families build skills and confidence and strengthen community connections. You will be part of a multi-disciplinary team that works for a period of up to 12 months with families to support and enable positive change and improve outcomes. Our ambition is to help children, young people and families feel safe, confident, capable, and included, offering support when it is needed, including evenings and weekends. We believe in working alongside families, empowering them to lead positive change in their own lives.

We are looking for candidates who are experienced in working alongside vulnerable families to assess strengths and needs as well as plan, deliver and evaluate interventions and strategies which enable families to thrive. You will have experience of child and adult protection issues. Experience of working within other childcare settings such as Residential Child Care will be considered.

You must share our vision that collaborative working and relationship based early intervention is the best option for children and families who are feeling overwhelmed or excluded. Ideally you will hold a relevant professional qualification at SCQF level 7 or above, together with relevant experience of working directly with children or young people and their families. Not afraid to test new ways of working, you will bring a fresh, caring, and collaborative approach which recognises strengths and responds empathically to the needs of children, young people, and their families – this will include early mornings, evenings, and weekends.

To succeed in this role, you will need to work flexibly within a variety of locations across Glasgow City, including family homes, schools, and community settings.

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. Have a look at our values to understand more about what we are looking for from our employees.

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. Find out more about our Employee Benefits and our commitment to Equality and Diversity

Do you want to make a difference to our children and young people?

Do you believe that every one of Scotland’s children and young people deserve the chance to flourish?

If so, this is the post for YOU!

About Aberlour Early Intervention Family Support Service Glasgow…

Our Aberlour Early Intervention Family Support Service, based in Glasgow will work in partnership with children and young people (aged 12 years and under) and their families to develop relationship-based, strengths-focused whole family support.

What we are looking for....

We are looking to recruit Family Support Workers, working 21 hours per week. As a Family Support Worker you will develop a person-centred working relationship with your families, based on a model of ‘VOICE, VALIDATION and HOPE’. As a Family Support Worker, you will work directly with families to build on their existing strengths and interests, help children and families build skills and confidence and strengthen community connections. Our ambition is to help children, young people and families feel safe, confident, capable, and included, offering support when it is needed, including evenings and weekends. We believe in working alongside families, empowering them to lead positive change in their own lives in a variety of settings including family homes, schools, and within the community.

We are looking for candidates who are experienced in working alongside vulnerable families to assess strengths and needs as well as plan, deliver and evaluate interventions and strategies which enable families to thrive. You will have experience of child and adult protection issues and of working with children, young people and parents/carers affected by domestic abuse, mental health and/or substance misuse. You must share our vision that collaborative working and relationship based early intervention is the best option for children and families who are feeling overwhelmed or excluded.

Ideally you will hold a relevant professional qualification at SCQF level 7 or above, together with relevant experience of working directly with children or young people and their families.

Not afraid to test new ways of working, you will bring a fresh, caring, and collaborative approach which recognises strengths and responds empathically to the needs of children, young people, and their families – this will include early mornings, evenings, and weekend work.

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. Have a look at our values to understand more about what we are looking for from our employees.

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. Find out more about our Employee Benefits and our commitment to Equality and Diversity