/ Job Description: Services Officer – Sexual Health
Salary: £17,670 - £21,636(+10% Pension)
FTE: 1
Special Terms: Fixed term for 1 year, vaccination for hepatitis B required (we can arrange this for you)
Accountable to: Sexual Health Lead
Accountable for: Volunteers

Role Summary

LGBT Foundation bases its services on well-developed expertise around a range of health and wellbeing topics, including mental health and sexual health. These issues often interact with each other, and we shape our services to be person centred and provide wraparound support to the individual. Alongside this, we recognise the importance of being able to provide specialist provision and have therefore developed a model where all clients access LGBT Foundation via an integrated triage system, before being directed into the most suitable service.

The provision of sexual health services has always been a priority for LGBT Foundation and it continues to be a key area of growth and opportunity.In order to successfully navigate the ever-changing commissioning and service delivery environment, we have identified the need for specific sexual health delivery roles to deliver specialist services, information and resources.

The Service Officers - Sexual Health will be overseen by the Sexual Health Lead and will be responsible for the delivery ofsexual health services, working towards key quality, performance and activity targets. They will primarily be responsible for the organisation and delivery of testing services (including the Nurse-Led Clinic and Rapid HIV Testing Service), condom and lube distribution scheme, men’s workshops and brief interventions. They will also work closely with the Service Officers – Outreach to share the delivery of targeted sexual health outreach and netreach sessions. Service Officers – Sexual Health, will also be expected to support the development and work of the Men’s Leadership Group; who will be tasked with devising delivery plans for the Sexual Health Vision 2016-19.

Role Accountabilities

1.To deliver a range of services and functions across our sexual health service provision.

  • Trained to deliver a range of sexual health interventions, including: rapid HIV testing; brief interventions; initial assessment and group support.
  • Trained to deliver brief sexual health interventions; helping individuals to increase their knowledge, understanding and confidence around sexual health.
  • Support the Services Officers – Outreach with the occasional delivery of netreach (engagement with social networking sites, live chat, email responses and other services as they develop), around a range of sexual health and wellbeing topics.
  • Responsible for the delivery of CLDS, working with suppliers and access points to ensure MSM across Greater Manchester have access to LGBT Foundation’s safer sex resources.
  • Support the delivery of triage & intake; working closely with the Services Officer – Wellbeing, to assess a minimum number of referrals per week.
  • Trained to deliver a range of other health and wellbeing services, with clients who may present with multiple and complex needs (such as Intake Assessments, pop-ins, helpline calls etc.) supporting LGBT Foundation to retain integration across its services.
  • Provide a consistently high level and quality of service to people who access the LGBT Foundation, ensuring their needs are met through the most appropriate service.
  • Understand internal principles, internal policies and procedures and be able to apply these to service delivery situations (e.g.safeguarding information governance, confidentiality etc.).
  • Work with the Sexual Health Lead and Marketing, Communications & Campaigns Co-ordinator to produce and disseminate sexual health promotion, information materials and resources.

2.Support the organisation and administration of sexual health services

  • Work with the Sexual Health Lead to oversee the day-to-day running of sexual health services.
  • Ensure all relevant paperwork is completed at point of delivery.
  • Ensure that all activity, performance and client data is kept up to date on CRM, producing reports as and when requested.
  • Support the engagement of volunteers within delivery, and where necessary support in supervision and management

3.Work to expand the reach and visibility of LGBT Foundation’s sexual health services

  • Work with the Service Officers – Outreach, in the planning and delivery of outreach and engagement sessions across Greater Manchester and a range of settings to ensure LGBT Foundation’s sexual health services are reaching diverse communities.
  • Where necessary, take responsibility for specific geographic locations or service types to support increased awareness of and access to services.
  • Support the Sexual Health Lead to increase the visibility and involvement of LGBT Foundation, by attending events and meetings as required.

LGBT Foundation Accountabilities

  • Completion of specific tasks allocated through work plans, project plans and the annual business plan ofLGBT Foundation.
  • Provision of monthly information (accurate data and informative commentary) within your areas of responsibility for performance management purposes.
  • Compliance withLGBT Foundation’s policies, procedures, management and monitoring systems.
  • Display a genuine commitment to equality of opportunity and an understanding of the issues faced by LGBT communities.
  • In common with all staff, you have a responsibility for your own personal and professional development and training, and for drawing attention to your own training needs as well as those of colleagues that you work with. We are a learning and development organisation and will consistently provide and support opportunities for staff to exceed theirs and our expectations.
  • Any other duties commensurate with the skills and abilities of the post holder as directed by your line manager.
  • All staff are expected to maintain a flexible approach to their roles and respond to the LGBT Foundation’s changing needs. The responsibilities of this post may be changed subject to review, over a period of time. This will be done in consultation with the post holder.

Person Specification

Essential Elements

Qualifications & Training

Skills & Abilities

  • Excellent verbal communication and interpersonal skills
  • Excellent written communication skills with the ability to produce a range of written materials including content for websites, promotion materials and activity reports
  • Ability to provide brief interventions for a range of sexual health topics
  • Ability to provide information, advice and support in a range of formats, including face-to-face, online and via telephone
  • Ability to work both as part of a team and independently; prioritising own workload and using initiative

Experience

  • Experience of delivering one-to-one and group-based sexual health services
  • Experience of disseminating sexual health information to a range of audiences
  • Experience of supporting the administration of services
  • Experience of working with volunteers

Knowledge & Understanding

  • An understanding of LGBT communities and their needs
  • Knowledge of sexual health, particularly related to men who have sex with men
  • Understanding of HIV testing, treatment and support services
  • Awareness of key innovations and developments in sexual health, particularly related to LGBT communities.

Occupational vaccinations

  • As the Service Officer– Sexual Health will be required to deliver rapid HIV testing, we require them to be fully vaccinated against Hepatitis B (this is something we can arrange if you are not already vaccinated).

This role, in common with all staff at the LGBT Foundation, will be expected to display a range of competencies specific to their grade and area of work. These will be measured during annual performance appraisals, and there will be an expectation that staff will be able to evidence the ways in which they have met these competencies over the course of the year.

This role, in common with all staff at the LGBT Foundation, will be expected to display a range of competencies specific to their grade and area of work. These will be measured during annual performance appraisals, and there will be an expectation that staff will be able to evidence the ways in which they have met these competencies over the course of the year.

Desirable

Qualifications & Training

Recognised qualification in the field of health and wellbeing

Skills & Abilities

Experience

  • At least 2 years’ experience of working in a sexual health service delivery role
  • Experience of community engagement and outreach work

Knowledge & Understanding

  • Knowledge of sexual health and other relevant support services across Greater Manchester
  • Understanding of key concepts and developments in the field of sexual health (e.g treatment as prevention, chemsex, Prep, PEP etc).

Terms and Conditions

(i)Hours – 37 per week, with an expectation of evening and weekend work

(ii)Annual Leave – 25 per annum plus Bank Holidays, rising to 30 after 5 years’ service(pro rata where appropriate)

(iii)Probation Period – Post subject to successfully completing a 6 month probationary period

(iv)Employers contributory pension – 10% of annual salary.