Manager (Student Wellbeing and Personal Development)

Manager (Student Wellbeing and Personal Development)

Reports to :CEO

Salary :£ Competitive plus healthcare and pension

Holidays :35 days pro rata

Location :Dundee

About Helm

Our vision is a Scotland where all young people dare to dream, and can be empowered to have their hopes and dreams turned into reality.

We work with over 250 young people aged 15-18 from Dundee every year who come to us at a time when they are working out how to make the best transition into adult life. All students have a keyworker whose role it is to develop great relationships with students, identify their key interests and passions, empower and encourage them to set their own goals, and then coach and support them towards achieving these. Keyworkers typically work with students in small groups, and also have weekly time with each student to catch up on a one to one basis and review progress together.

Students at Helm will at any one time be working on self-led study of core skills and a range of employability and vocational awards, be getting involved in a wide range of sports, dance, arts, cooking, first aid, lifeskills and discussion activities, beout in the community gaining practical work experience in areas of interest, or be working with specialist officers developing CVs, job seeking, completing applications and practicing interview skills, all with a view towards moving on from Helm into jobs, apprenticeships and college courses. Students are typically with us from 3-12 months.

Our experience is that students enjoy coming to Helm, and we get really good results, which improve year on year, trebling previously disengaged students’ attendance, and supporting 70% of young people into a positive destination. We are a registered charity, have a track record of over 30 years as a grassroots charity in Dundee, and work in close partnership with Dundee City Council, Skills Development Scotland, NHS Tayside, and with newly developing relationships with Dundee and Angus College and Dundee University. We are also supported by a large range of trusts and foundations, and work closely with over 50 local employers. We have a team of 25 staff, regularly host volunteer and student placements,and are governed by a Board of Trustees drawn from a range of business, HR, educational and public sector backgrounds.

About this role

The Manager of Wellbeing and Development is a new permanent role within the management team at Helm, created as a result of internal restructuring. The key focus of the role is the lead responsibility for the wellbeing and personal development of our students, all of whom are seeking to make positive transitions into adult life. This post holder will be providing an additional strand of intensive support for students who are facing more complex challenges which may be problematic for them at any point of their work with us ; leading some proactive group work with students on a range of relevant issues ; working at an organisational level to develop and review relevant policy and practice ; developing new areas of work ; and supporting our delivery team’s professional development.

Individual student challenges can include behavioural issues, mental health issues including anxiety, self-esteem, depression or self-harming, difficulties with family and peer relationships, substance abuse, or managing life with caring responsibilities or with conditions such as Asperger's, ADHD, or Autism.

About you

You will be a trained professional with a track record of successfully supporting young people with complex challenges, including mental health issues. You will be knowledgeable about adolescent development and be above all passionate and skilled in both understanding young people and their families. You will be skilled in enabling our students to develop the range of personalskills and resilience they need to engage, attend, develop and then move on successfully and sustainably from Helm.

You will understand and embrace the key underlying principles of our approach which is firmly centred on working with young people’s interests and respecting their dignity and choices, provided within a calm, structured environment in which attendance, punctuality, safety and mutual respect play key parts, and which is built around support to enable progression.

You will also be a great communicator with all levels of staff internally and externally, know your way around and be effective within the statutory support landscape for young people, and will be able to enthuse, support and train colleagues in coaching and counselling skills.

Ideally you will have some experience of working to develop policy and practice in this field within previous organisations. You will also be open to continuing professional development, have an interest in (and ideally some experience of) measuring and evaluating workdone to help students develop their emotional intelligence, and be capable of working alongside academic partners who will be involved in researching and evaluating new projects.

Key internal relationships

Operations manager (provide cover for, work closely with)

CEO(reports to)

Delivery staff (specific keyworker relationships when supporting their students, whole team relationship - continued professional development of)

Co-ordinatorsfor mentoring programme and family outreach work (will be direct reports, positions subject to successful funding bids)

Fundraising manager (case study development and funding applications support)

Key external relationships

Social work

Support agencies

Funders who support life coaching and related work

Families of students

Schools, offsite education and social work (referral practice)

Academic partners supporting and evaluating personal development and related research

Mentoring volunteers (training and support)

Training providers

Providers involved in coaching and personal development (with whom we share best practice)

Responsibilities will include but are not limited to :

Direct student coaching and counselling

• Responsibility for managing a caseload of students who require more intensive 121 support in order to help them progress

Policy responsibility and staff induction and training

• Reviewing and refreshing ofall policies and practice from a student wellbeing perspectiveincluding eg. behaviour, child protection and referral practice
• The design and delivery of relatedstaff induction and refresher training
• Reviewing and audit of systems used to link student needs to the design of student training and support plans
• Leading the training of the delivery staff team to continue to improve coaching and support techniques

Lead role in referral practice

• Taking a lead investigation and reporting role in the initial assessment and placement recommendation for students with more complex circumstances
• Co-leadership role (with Operations manager) working alongside stakeholdersto continue to refresh and review referral practice

Lead role in working with specialist support agencies

• Maintaining and developing a great network of community based and online support agencies to ensure not only that all specialist needs can be met, but also that students are also enabled to access these independently (and ideally form their own peer support networks) after they move on from Helm

Strategic project development

• Leading on the design, development and training involved in new strategic areas of practice including these current priorities :

Designing a community mentoring programme and managing the staff who will co-ordinate this

Working closely to support academic partners involved in the measurement and evaluation of our work particularly around personal development

Designing and managing a new family outreach programme to support parents of students and develop parent focus and peer support groups

Best practice learning and sharing of coaching and related personal development and wellbeing practice from other relevant settings

Person specification

Key competency / Evidenced by / Essential / Desirable
Central attitudes and values in line with the Helm approach / Interview
Observations
Reference / Y
Expertise in counselling and coaching students with challenges including behavioural, relationship and mental health issues
And ability to use this background supportively when working with academic partners / Degree in relevant area
Professional qualifications
Experience
Interview
Reference / Y / Some experience of measurement and evaluation in the field of personal development
Ability to work effectively with social work teams, schools and health professionals in the context of supporting young people / Relevant professional background
Interview
Reference
Experience / Y
Up to date knowledge of child protection / Relevant professional background
Experience
Interview / Y
Ability to work confidently with young people in groups / Experience
Observations
Interview
Reference / Y
Ability to deliver staff training / Experience of internal training delivery
Ability to review and develop internal policy and procedures / Experience of policy and procedures development
Open attitude to learning and continuous professional development / Discussion, and career development to date
Ability to develop great working relationships both internally and externally and represent Helm as required / Experience
Reference
Interview / Y
Competency with Microsoft Word and Excel and ability to produce and review reports / Degree
Written submission as part of selection process / Y
Team leadership / (Some) experience / Y
Ability to develop and manage small projects / (Some) experience including responsibility for budget management or running projects / Y

To apply : Please send a copy of your CV, and a covering letter which should include why you want the position, and how you consider you meet the specification.

Note : You must also please include in your covering letter :

• a note of your current salary and notice period
• confirmation you can be available on the interview dates
• confirmation you are legally allowed to work in the UK
• referee contact details from your current and previous employer (which will not be taken up unless you are offered the position)

Applications in by : 31st October 12 Noon

Interview dates : 14/15 November

Please send any questions and all information to :

Helen Sykes Chief Executive,