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IRIS Advocate Educator

Female Advocate Educator

IRIS (Identification & Referral to Improve Safety)

Hours: 30 Hours

Salary: Scale: NJC 2019 scale points 23 - 25 = £26,999 - £28,785 (Pro Rata)

We are looking for someone who is highly motivated to liaise closely with general practices, provide training for clinicians and offer emotional and practical support to patients who are affected by domestic abuse.         

The successful applicant will have:

  • Experience of working with victims and survivors of domestic abuse
  • Experience of promoting services and building strong working relationships with external organisations
  • Experience of delivering training to a range of professionals
  • An empathetic approach
  • A full driving licence and access to transport. 

Line Manager: Head Of Service                             

AIMS OF THE POSITION:

  • To promote the IRIS programme, to build and maintain effective relationships with general practice teams, and to recruit local general practices to participate in the IRIS programme
  • To provide in-house training for general practice teams on understanding, recognising and responding to domestic violence and abuse (DVA)
  • To provide ongoing specialist advice and support around DVA to practice teams
  • To encourage general practice health professionals to ask patients about their experience of abuse and respond, record, safety check and refer
  • To provide specialist, individual and needs-led DVA advocacy and support to female patients who are or have experienced DVA who are referred from participating practices, and to provide onward referrals where appropriate
  • To provide signposting and onward referrals to male patients who are affected by DVA
  • To provide feedback on case outcomes to referring clinicians
  • To collect and collate performance and monitoring data for reporting purposes and also with a view to further embedding and developing the IRIS programme locally

SPECIFIC AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY: 

  1. Practice-based work
  • Work closely with the IRIS clinical lead to promote the IRIS programme within the area and to encourage local general practices to sign up to the IRIS programme
  • Negotiate dates for and arrange training sessions with practices that agree to participate
  • Prepare training packs for practice training sessions
  • Deliver, alongside the IRIS clinical lead, the IRIS DVA training to clinicians and non-clinical staff in participating general practices and prepare training materials where necessary
  • Promote awareness of the experiences and needs of women affected by DVA, particularly in relation to their health, in partnership with the Clinical Lead
  • Develop a good relationship with all general practice staff and work effectively as part of the practice team. This includes:
    • provision of systematic and ad hoc support to the primary care teams of participating general practices, including meeting with individuals and small groups of clinical and administrative staff
    • Attending relevant meetings
  • Maintain effective monitoring procedures and ensure that clear accurate records of practice-based work are kept and maintained, in line with IRISi requirements
  • Feedback on the use of the electronic medical record prompt linked to the IRIS programme and provide patient feedback and case updates /outcomes
  • Using the data collected, maintain an overview of local practices’ engagement with the IRIS programme
  • Act upon this overview to proactively ensure that the IRIS programme is well established and embedded, and that all local IRIS-trained practices are engaging with the programme.
  1. Advocacy and support service
  • Provide support to women experiencing (or who have experienced) DVA referred by primary health care clinicians from participating practices
  • Provide support to women experiencing (or who have experienced) DVA who self-refer from participating practices
  • Provide direct assessment, casework support, advice, information and advocacy to women experiencing DVA through telephone contact, and/or meetings at the relevant practice
  • Work with women experiencing DVA to increase their personal safety, and that of any children, and inform them of their rights and options in terms of housing, legal and welfare rights
  • Develop good working relationships and liaise with outside agencies when needed. This will include referral to colleagues within the specialist DVA service that is delivering IRIS, to other specialist DVA services or other external agencies when appropriate
  • Keep accurate records of all referrals received and of work done with or on behalf of service users, in line with IRISi requirements.

GENERAL: 

  • Attend and participate in the local IRIS steering group meetings
  • Contribute to monitoring and evaluation of the IRIS programme, by:
    • Collecting and collating all practice-based and referral and advocacy data and monitoring, and providing IRISi with this, as requested
    • Producing written reports as requested (e.g. quarterly reports, annual report), including for the local IRIS steering group
  • Engage with the national IRIS Network and participate in IRIS Network events

Please note this job description is intended to outline the main duties of the post and may change as the post and organisation develops.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

It is essential that the post holder has the following:

Knowledge

  1. Knowledge and understanding of the gendered nature of DVA
  2. In depth knowledge and understanding of the issues facing women who have experienced domestic violence and abuse and/or sexual violence with specific knowledge of the effects on health
  3. An understanding of the needs of women from diverse backgrounds affected by DVA
  4. Knowledge of options for and rights of women experiencing DVA and proven ability to use in casework, including knowledge of relevant legislation relating to DVA
  5. Knowledge and understanding of trauma and trauma symptoms                      
  6. In depth knowledge of training strategies and methods
  7. Knowledge of service evaluation and audit

Experience

  1. At least two years’ experience of working within the DVA sector
  2. Experience of conducting needs and risk assessments
  3. Experience of providing needs-led support to clients with a variety of support needs
  4. Experience of building and maintaining partnerships with other agencies
  5. Experience of delivering training to professionals

Skills and abilities

  1. Ability to work under pressure
  2. Ability to plan own workload, to manage time effectively and to deal with changing and competing demands
  3. Ability to think creatively and show initiative
  4. Ability to communicate sensitively with women who may be distressed
  5. Ability to establish and maintain appropriate boundaries when working with women who are experiencing crisis
  6. Ability to communicate effectively with a range of professionals
  7. Ability to instil confidence in health professionals and build robust relationships across all levels
  8. Excellent verbal and written communications skills including report writing and presentation, and including excellent spelling, punctuation and grammar
  9. Ability to maintain effective administrative and monitoring systems
  10. Proficient in word-processing, spreadsheets and databases, preferably using Microsoft Windows

Attitude and presentation

  1. Reliable and trustworthy
  2. Efficient and punctual
  3. Non-judgemental and non-directive approach to empowering women
  4. Willingness to critically assess own performance and reflect on own practice

Values and ethos

  1. Commitment to working with a feminist ethos
  2. Understanding of and commitment to equal opportunities

Education, qualifications & training

  1. Degree level education or similar/relevant professional qualifications
  2. Formal / informal training in a range of gender violence issues

Other

  1. Able to work at weekends and in evenings when required.

Closing date:   Thursday 3rd December

Interviews:      Friday 11th December

Please note that the successful candidate would need to be available on 8th January 2020 and the 11th, 12th 13th & 14th January 2020 for training.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN APPLYING PLEASE CONTACT: Lesley Storey at lesley.storey@mysistersplace.co.uk

Telephone: 01642241864 or alternatively recruitment@mysistersplace.co.uk

My Sisters Place is committed to Equal Opportunities. All posts are exempt under Section 7 (2) (f) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975Bottom of Form

Contact

Lesley Storey
01642241864
recruitment@mysistersplace.co.uk

The closing date for this job is 3 December 2020 - 5:00pm.