COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OFFICER: RE-SOLV STOKE-ON-TRENT
· Job Title: Community Engagement Officer
· Responsible to: Re-Solv’s Director
· Location: Stone, but a significant amount of time each week will be spent working directly with local community members and groups in Stoke-on-Trent
· Hours and Length of Contract: This role is funded for 2 years and 8 months on the basis of 35 hours a week (some out of hours work may be required.)
Applications made on a job share basis will be considered.
ABOUT RE-SOLV
Re-Solv, a registered charity, is the only organisation working across the UK to prevent volatile substance abuse (VSA) and has over 30 years of experience in this field. Volatile Substance Abuse (VSA), commonly known as solvent abuse, is the deliberate inhalation of gases, aerosols, solvents, petrol and other legal substances to achieve a high. Due to our expertise dealing with ‘legal’ or readily available substances where demand cannot easily be controlled, we also work to prevent the misuse of other ‘legal highs’ and our remit increasingly includes New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). Re-Solv’s prevention work is focused on anyone at risk from these forms of substance abuse, particularly young people.
ABOUT THE RE-SOLV STOKE-ON-TRENT PROJECT
The Community Engagement Officer will be one of the key workers in a new BIG Lottery funded programme that will deliver a community-based approach to prevention. The project is targeted at 11-25 year olds and also aims to raise awareness of the issue among parents/carers and key community groups. The project aims to bring the whole community together in Stoke on Trent (SOT) to raise awareness of all ‘legal highs’ and prevent deaths from them. Key ‘at risk’ groups will be targeted alongside a general programme of community awareness and support.
A key part of the project will be to engage with, train, and support professionals and community members about both ‘legal highs’ (New Psychoactive Substances) and solvent abuse (Volatile Substance Abuse).The Community Engagement Officer will work with community organisations to upskill them and link together local agencies so there is a support network of relevant agencies around individuals at risk of or actively misusing these substances.
The Community Engagement Officer will work with the groups to determine what support will be most beneficial and how Re-Solv can help them to deliver solutions.
ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OFFICER
Key elements of the role include:
· Developing and delivering targeted prevention sessions to young people (for example in care homes, pupil referral units) - and training staff working with these young people
· Working with schools, colleges and universities to develop and deliver harm reduction and prevention messages, and providing advice as required
· Delivering awareness sessions for parents and recruiting parent volunteers
· Delivering targeted training sessions on both Volatile Substance Abuse and New Psychoactive Substances to professionals working in services (e.g. sexual health, mental health, homeless services, youth offending teams etc.)
· Engaging and training community members working with young people to raise awareness of the issues (e.g. student welfare officers, youth club leaders, sports and community club leaders)
· Engaging and upskilling community members involved in the night-time economy to have greater awareness of ‘legal highs’ and to know how to respond in an emergency (e.g. bar staff, taxi drivers, security staff)
· Providing telephone and email support to concerned professionals or members of the community and signposting them to appropriate local services.
· Liaising with other relevant authorities, services, community groups and individuals.
PERSONAL SPECIFICATION
The Community Engagement Officer will be a highly organised and self-motivated professional with proven experience of community development work and of developing and leading awareness-raising or training sessions. You will also have proven experience of meeting target goals and deadlines. Ideally, you will have experience of working with young people or can demonstrate experience working in the substance misuse field. A knowledge of solvent abuse (Volatile Substance Abuse) and ‘legal highs’ (New Psychoactive Substances) would be ideal but we will provide training as required. An ability to pick up facts and new information quickly and accurately and to able be to summarise the key points is vital. It is important that you actively enjoy meeting new people and can tailor your approach to suit their needs.
Flexibility is required, as the role of the Community Engagement Officer will necessarily adapt to the changing requirements of the Re-Solv Stoke-on-Trent programme as it grows and develops. This job would suit a confident self-starter with a’ can do’ approach. Most work will take place within office hours but there may be a need to work during evenings or weekend, as required.
Key Requirements:
You must be able to demonstrate that you:
· Have excellent communication skills and a training qualification or related experience is essential.
· Can confidently present engaging awareness raising sessions with clear take-home messages
· Can create a good rapport with a wide range of audiences. It would be an advantage if you have experience of working in a variety of settings – e.g. with professionals, young people and community groups
· Can produce clear, compelling training materials in a range of formats
· Have a knowledge of prevention work, substance misuse or public health issues. A knowledge of Volatile Substance Abuse and/or New Psychoactive Substances would be ideal, however we will provide specific training as required
· Ability to work well with a wide range of people and to communicate confidently and effectively with them in different settings
General Requirements:
Ideally you will:
· Possess a high level of accuracy and excellent attention to detail
· Have an interest in and/or experience of working within the fields of health and/or awareness raising or prevention work
· An empathy towards those affected by substance misuse
· Enjoy team-working – encouraging and having a respect for the creative ideas and experiences of others
· A confident self-starter who is able to work independently
· Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills
· A willingness to problem-solve creatively and be flexible to the needs of the programme
· Good practical administrative skills
· Strong IT skills - proficiency in all basic Microsoft Office Packages is essential
Please Note:
· A full clean driving licence and access to a car is essential.
· All employees will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check.
· Re-Solv is an equal opportunities employer.