Food & Health Development Worker (21Hrs)

Job Description

Food & Health Development Worker (21hrs)

Context:

The post will cover various aspects of Food and Health work delivered by Edinburgh Community Food (ECF) across the city. The key aspects will be development and delivery of a programme of cooking courses, nutrition workshops and health promotion sessions.

Job Tasks:

1.  Willow Project – (12hrs per week).

The hours are normally required to be worked 10.30am to 2.30pm on Mon, Tues and Thurs. Willow is a partnership project between NHS Lothian, City of Edinburgh Council and Sacro to address the social, health and welfare needs of women in the criminal justice system. ECF delivers the healthy lunch and food and nutrition element of the programme.

1.1 Prepare a healthy affordable lunch for women on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

1.2 Prepare and deliver food, health and nutritional input sessions.

1.3 Facilitate informed discussions around food and health.

1.4 Prepare handouts specific to the project.

1.5 Arrange 1:1 cooking sessions with service users.

1.6 Update nutrition board with information on healthy eating.

2.  Food and Health Development Work (9hrs per week)

2.1 To create and deliver a programme of activities addressing food and health issues in the community.

2.2 To work in partnership with other local agencies to support and develop food and health initiatives.

2.3 To identify and/or develop resources to support community-based food and health work.

3.  Monitoring, Evaluation and Quality

3.1 Plan and undertake routine and regular monitoring and evaluation of all aspects of programme delivery.

3.2 Carry out necessary administrative work connected to the position.

3.3 Provide regular reports relating to the work and participate in supervision with line manager.

3.4 Participate in relevant networks and forums.

3.5 Undertake any other appropriate duties as required, which are within the competence of the post holder.

Person Specification:-

Qualifications/ Education/ Training

·  Nutrition/relevant community health degree or community learning and development degree.

Knowledge

·  Knowledge and understanding of the barriers to healthy eating, causes of health inequalities, knowledge of interventions to bring about health improvements through dietary changes.

Experience

·  Experience of working to break down health inequalities.

·  Experience of working as part of a team as well as on own initiative.

Skills, Abilities & Personal Attributes

·  Ability to manage and prioritise a varied and complex workload with minimal supervision.

·  Ability to prepare and cook healthy meals for small groups.

·  Excellent verbal and written communication skills at all levels.

·  Computer literate.

·  Ability to work under pressure.

·  A commitment to equal opportunities.

Terms & Conditions

The salary will be £23,078 per annum pro rata. There will be some degree of flexibility required in hours worked, dependent on the needs of the post.

Annual leave entitlement is 25 days + 10 days public holidays, pro rata for hours and duration of the contract.

Additional Information - Role at the Willow Project

Role of the nutritionist

·  The nutritionist provides a healthy lunch for between 2 to 12 women, fortnightly on Mondays and every Tuesday and Thursday, working for approx. 3 hours each session

·  These sessions are supported by a Willow staff member

·  Using lunch time to discuss nutritional topics providing educational information

·  To increase women’s knowledge and awareness of healthy food options, including how to cook at home on a budget

·  To liaise and work with the nominated ‘Health’ lead within the Willow team

·  Adhere to the NHS Lothian Infection Prevention and Control measures and specifically undertake tasks in the Willow procedure

·  Meet with the Willow manager 6 weekly

·  Report any issues arising to the Willow manager.

Planning meals and sourcing food

·  Involves identifying the necessary ingredients for lunch, sourcing these efficiently and having them delivered to Willow or purchasing them directly

·  Plan healthy meals, taking account of budget restrictions, when numbers of attendees can vary considerably and keeping wastage to a minimum

·  Recipes are planned in advance to allow women the option to bring in their own lunch instead (currently only one member of the group does not participate in lunch)

·  Note on the blackboard should the week’s meal schedule

·  Planning the menu- Can be discussed with women the week before during lunch or based on initial food heaven/hell and food preference sheet.

·  Lunch

·  The table will be set by the nutritionist before lunch and 1 group member at a time can be encouraged to help serve

·  Lunch takes place after morning group ends, at 12.30pm and ends at 1.15pm

·  10 minute discussion about what food has been provided and why, also any cooking methods used and any particular foods with health benefits etc.

·  Topics which may be of interest to the women include: caffeine drinks, energy drinks, salty snacks, sugary snacks, vitamin D, iron and anaemia, benefits of fish, nutritional content of popular eating places.

·  After lunch the nutritionist will clear the table, and encourage women to assist in this

·  Store any leftover ingredients appropriately, wash, dry and put away dishes and clean kitchen including worktops the appropriate cleaning materials.

Daily Tasks

·  Checking and recording fridge temperature on arrival and departure

·  Preparing meals and checking temperatures prior to serving

·  Brief and informal nutritional input discussion (and handouts where appropriate) over lunch

·  Ensure appropriate food storage and labelling.

Weekly Tasks

·  Clearing out fridge and throwing away “out of date” ingredients.

·  Cleaning fridge and general tidy up of kitchen area.

Additional tasks

·  Ensuring adequate information is sought from all women at Induction (Mondays sessions) regarding food allergies or non-meat eaters etc

·  Respond to the individual needs and requests of women, where appropriate

·  To facilitate an educational group input to the women, supported by a member of the Willow staff team

·  Preparing recipes (if required), other educational handouts and printing them out for the women.

Challenges

·  Working with women who, as a result of their mental health problems, can over disclose personal information and have difficulties maintaining appropriate boundaries in relationships

·  Budgeting, feeding a large group with minimal cost

·  Planning meals with low salt and low fat which will appeal to everyone

·  Planning meals which will meet the nutritional needs of the group and will be accepted by the group

·  Trying to engage with and interest women into making healthier nutritional choices who often have chaotic lifestyles and poor diets and irregular eating patterns and at times limited access to cooking facilities.

·  Responding to the varied needs of different individuals

·  Presenting food in an attractive and appetising manner

·  Maintaining a relaxed, friendly, non-judgemental approach whilst ensuring appropriate professional boundaries.

Kirsty Pate

Willow Manager