Candidate Information
About the Information Officer posts
We are recruiting for two posts in our busy helpline team. This is an ideal opportunity for someone who wants to make a real difference in the lives of abused older people.
Our helpline is a core service for us because, not only do we reach out and help people, but we gain valuable knowledge and information from the calls that we receive. And we want those calls to increase, which is why we have established partnerships with The Silver Line and are working to increase the publicity given to issues of abuse.
Listening to people talking about abuse is not for everyone, you have to be kind and empathetic and you must be personally committed. We can train new staff on the options for protection that are available, but a one-to-one phone call can be challenging at times so staff need the right sort of support. This is a key aspect of this new post, to help us develop and implement policies of the highest standard and to help us support, lead and develop or tam of helpline operators and volunteers.
This is a good time to join the helpline because we are moving on from providing advice and guidance. Of course we will continue to do that, but we also want to directly help those who might find it a challenge to follow advice, by making referrals for them, and by staying in touch until they have resolved their concerns. We want to know we make a difference.
Who are we?
Action on Elder Abuse is a national UK organisation based in Streatham in London.
It was established in 1993 by a group of practitioners from health and social care, academics and representatives of the voluntary sector who were concerned about the lack of information and assistance for older people who were abused.
As a multi-disciplinary membership organisation AEA aims to prevent the abuse of older people by raising awareness; encouraging education; promoting research; and collecting and disseminating information. It does this through providing up to date information for its members; running conferences on elder abuse and related issues; giving presentations to a wide range of organisations; producing leaflets, resource materials and reports for professionals and the public; and acting as a resource for television, radio and the press.
What are we like?
We are a small team that has been successful in raising awareness of elder abuse but with the help of new five year funding from the Big Lottery we are getting a whole lot bigger and are increasing our impact as a charity for older people.
We care about what we do, and that means we care about the people who work with us. We need team members, people who are motivated by their own commitment to challenging abuse, who will see opportunities without waiting for someone else to do so, and who will know when a colleague needs help and give it without asking. People like coming to work in our charity and we want that to continue.
People are very flexible in our organisation, because they see the bigger picture. Challenging abuse is something that matters to us all, and we want people to join us who feel the same way, who will 'go the extra mile' not because they are asked, but because they want to. In return, we care and we are flexible because we want to be a bigger team, but with the same smaller team values.
What do we believe?
We believe it is vital to recognise that elder abuse exists and that it may have a profound effect on the quality of life for older people; that both the rights and autonomy of the older person, and their possible need to be protected from abuse, are recognised; that all older people should have the confidence, knowledge and support to take the action they choose to counter abuse; that health and social care practitioners, at all
levels, are trained to recognise the different types of abuse and to respond to the needs of both the abused and the abuser; that both health and social services purchasers and providers have staff and services which are responsive to the needs of the abused and the abuser; that the responses of all statutory, voluntary and independent agencies should be collaborative and appropriate; and that a broad range of research is undertaken to expand knowledge of the issues;
What do we do?
Helpline
A core activity for Action on Elder Abuse is the provision of our helpline, which operates from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. Monday to Friday.
The helpline is confidential and provides information, guidance and emotional support. It is available to people who are being abused, those who are concerned about possible abuse, carers and workers who may have similar concerns, and those who are interested in finding out more about elder abuse. Calls have steadily increased over the last few years (they have tripled in three years), and there are more people turning to us for help when they don’t know what to do
We are working in partnership with a number of other organisations, including
The Silver Line loneliness helpline, and we plan to increase those partnerships in the near future
We currently have two dedicated part time helpline operators, a full time operator and a number of equally dedicated helpline volunteers.
We also plan to recruit helpline volunteers in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
Your role would be to help us lead and develop the changes we need to make in the helpline, and provide day-to-day support to make that happen.
We need someone who is comfortable with change, and who can help us take the good work that has been done in our helpline so far and turn it into excellent work. This means helping us build on the best, and change things if they can be improved,
Helplines are not for everyone. It takes a real commitment to people in vulnerable situations to provide support in this manner.
There is a good future for AEA. With five year funding from the Big Lottery we have the potential to reach many more thousands of people who need us. And with the right staff group we can make a real difference to their lives.
Social Policy
We are very active in establishing and influencing social policy for older people and other vulnerable adults who are abused. To that end we regularly comment upon Government and Assembly proposals and seek to influence the national agenda in relation to older people.We were responsible for the Parliamentary Inquiry into elder abuse, the review of the English No Secrets adult protection guidance, and we heavily influenced the Welsh consultation.
This is a major function of our work because it seeks to positively influence and affect the lives of hundreds of older people throughout the four nations. Our plan is to significantly increase our activities across the four nations so that we can ensure best practice crosses borders, and overall legislation improves.
Conferences
Throughout each year we run a variety of conferences aimed at raising awareness of issues to do with elder abuse.These are always very well attended, and we plan to introduce them into all four UK nations over the coming years.
Our national conference, held each March, is the major annual opportunity for Adult Safeguarding staff to consider new developments in this area. We will be turning this into a UK wide event and looking to make it 'the' place to share knowledge and experience.
Training
A major activity for our organisation is the raising of awareness on issues to do with elder abuse. In that context we offer a number of training packages geared toward various staffing groups and situations. These include training packs, videos and DVD’s that are popular among those who want to target this issue.
We also provide regular training sessions on abuse issues, including on financial abuse and on understanding the dynamics of abuse and the current law. We will be introducing a new training package on advocacy and safeguarding as part of the Lottery funding.
Peer Support
Over the last seven years we have explored various ways in which we could encourage and support older people to learn about abuse, and help older victims who want to recover from the impact of their experiences. This is challenging and rewarding work, and we have explored various ways in which this could be done.
As part of our expansion we have employed a national coordinator to promote this concept across the four nations and seek out partners and funding to make this happen on the ground, and we have also employed a local coordinator, based in our London office, to develop a scheme covering the three local authorities in our vicinity.