Personal Assistant (Support Worker)

Location: Craigmillar

Contract Type: Permanent - Full Time, Permanent - Part Time

Closing Date: 21 February 2021

Salary: Starting salary £9.30 per hour (£18,860.40 per annum (pro-rata))

Specific Hours: 30-39 Per Week

Personal Assistant (Support Worker)

 Job Description

  1. Job Details

Job Title

Personal Assistant

 

Line Manager

Lead Practitioner

 

 

Salary

£18,860.40 FTE

 

Department

Supported Living

Directorate

Director of H&W

 

Location

Thistle Foundation, 13 Queens Walk, Edinburgh, EH16 4EA

 

Hours

Full-time & part-time

 

FTE

39 hours

 

  1. Job Purpose

To assist those we support to lead full, active and socially connected lives and support people to reach their personal outcomes.

Our teams take responsibility for making their own decisions about how they organise their work and how they decide on how they’re going to get their work done. This role therefore requires good interpersonal skills and an ability to set and meet targets, ability to ask for and receive accurate feedback and ensure that cover is managed by the team at all times (e.g. holidays, sickness, training).

 

  1. Main Responsibilities

1

Develop an understanding of person centred working and work from its value base at all times.

2

Contribute to ongoing use of ‘My Life, My support plan’ by keeping details updated and relevant. Contribute to the yearly review of ‘My Life, My Support Plan’.

3

Work flexibly and responsively to support the individual to meet their personal outcomes.

4

Provide person centred personal support and assistance for the person according to their ‘My Life My Support Plan’

5

Work in partnership with individuals supporting them to be full citizens in their community.

6

Contribute to setting individual (personal) and team targets in relation to a person’s outcomes. Meet these targets 

7

Support the person to develop and sustain positive relationships with all those people (family/friends/professionals) that are important to them.

8

Contribute to efficient team working by taking a pro-active part in team meetings and discussions, including chairing and minute taking and taking on tasks as agreed (e.g. working out the team rota, Carista, family connector, on-call, setting and reviewing priorities, identifying and improving systems and processes, working on feedback from families and those we support.)

9

Take a pro-active part in the team by supporting colleagues, communicating well and helping to deal with issues as they arise.

10

Accountable to the person you support and those who advocate on their behalf

11

Be creative in involving the supported person in all decision-making related to them.

12

Work to Thistle’s Values into Action

  

  1. Thistle Approach: competencies to support wellbeing

The post holder is required to work to Thistle’s core competencies in ways which are relevant to their role.

Core Competencies

Description

Understanding self

We develop a good understanding of ourselves and the impact we have on other people.  Being genuine, respectful and listening with empathy to other people’s perspectives lies at the heart of all our interactions. We believe this practice is nurtured by the ability to continually reflect on ourselves and the impact we have on others.

Building person centred relationships

We develop supportive, collaborative and enabling relationships. We also believe that people are the experts in their lives and that they are doing their best and that by working alongside people we are more likely to succeed. We reflect on the extent to which we create trust in all our relationships and how well we work within teams.

Making a difference using person centred approaches

We believe that using person centred approaches can be critical to whether people make the changes they want in their lives or not. We do this by focusing on what matters to each person and what they want specifically to achieve including taking life enhancing risks. We always encourage feedback in order to learn and improve on what we do.

Focusing on strengths, resilience and contribution

We believe that people have strengths, skills, knowledge and resilience and the ability to contribute to their own and others’ lives. We need to be flexible and innovative to enable people to share these attributes and make the most of all contributions in order to find creative solutions. We celebrate the successes this brings and build our resilience by learning from setbacks.

Promoting wellbeing, citizenship and community

We believe that everyone is a citizen with rights, responsibilities and a contribution to make to their community. This is only meaningfully possible when you have genuine wellbeing and are fully included in your community. This belief drives the work we do at Thistle so we know we must try to influence the unequal and discriminatory aspects of our society in order to change how things currently are. This requires us to share the ‘Thistle Approach’ more widely and in turn, learn from the world around us. To do this well we must continually reflect on what this means for us as individuals and as an organisation.

 

  1. Key Contacts and Relationships
  • Person we support
  • Team members
  • Service Manager
  • Service Leaders
  • Team Facilitators
  • Other Thistle Staff and departments
  • External bodies/agencies including health services, social work
  • Family members of individual/s
  • Advocates

 

  1. Knowledge, Skills and Experience
  • Ideally have Higher Education Certificate in Person Centred Approaches or SVQ level 2 in Care or equivalent or be committed to working towards this to ensure registration to SSSC standard
  • Driving licence desirable
  • IT literate
  • Experience of supporting people with disabilities
  • Experience and understanding of working in a person centred way
  • Able to work autonomously
  • Good interpersonal skills
  • Ability to maintain clear & accurate records
  • Flexibility to respond to a changing environment including evening and weekend working as required
  • Ability to reflect on practice

 

  1. Dimensions
  • The post holder’s work normally takes place at the Supported Persons home offices
  • This is a permanent position

 

  1. Job context and other related information
  • The post holder is expected to commit to continually developing a personal understanding of the vision, mission and manifesto and strategic aspirations of the Thistle Foundation.

 

A young woman in her early 30’s has recently moved into her own home in Craigmillar.

She is looking for one more member to join her team of female* personal assistants who will support her in her everyday life, 24 hours a day on a 2:1 basis. 

  • She has a good sense of humour and enjoys arts and crafts including card and jewellery making.
  • She is enthusiastic, has an active lifestyle, and would therefore prefer similarly minded people.

Staff will have the opportunity to be involved in positive behavioural support with an emphasis on person-centred approach in a multidisciplinary fashion and thus develop invaluable skills in addition to our comprehensive training programme. 

  • Do you have enthusiasm for supporting people expand their horizons and try new things?
  • Do you have excellent communication skills?
  • Can you be creative, kind, understanding and able to develop positive relationships?

Experience of working with people with complex needs and in a 2:1 way would be preferred but not essential, as full training will be provided.

The shift patterns are yet to be finalised, but sleepovers and waking nights will be a part of the cover provided. The new team will plan and agree the shifts and rota in advance.

If you would like an informal chat about this vacancy please contact Leigh.Hunter@thistle.org.uk 

*Exemption under Equality Act 2010

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