IRIS Advocate Educator

Role:               IRIS Advocate Educator

Based:            Black Country Areas – Sandwell, Walsall and Dudley

Rate:               £25,590

Start Date:      ASAP

Duration:        Permanent

Hours:             Full Time 37.5 hours

Our client, a specialist Domestic Violence charity based in the Black Country is looking to recruit an  IRIS Advocate Educator for their specialist domestic violence and abuse (DVA) training, support and referral programme for general practices. The IRIS Advocate Educator provides in-house domestic abuse training and ongoing consultancy for general practice teams and is an advocate to whom patients can be referred for support.

Synopsis of duties:

• Deliver training, work in partnership with health and other agency professionals and provide emotional and practical support, risk assessment and safety planning to standard and medium risk clients
• Train and support around 25 general practices and hold a caseload of around 25 clients
• Develop and maintain an excellent relationship with all general practice staff, and other associated healthcare professionals, and work effectively as part of the practice team by:

1. Providing ongoing consultancy and training to practice staff on domestic violence and abuse
2. Attending relevant meetings, such as GP and safeguarding forums and multi-disciplinary team meetings.
3. Supporting and encouraging health professionals to ask patients about their experience of abuse and respond, record, safety check and refer for support

• Provide direct casework support, advice, information, advocacy and empowerment to individuals experiencing DVA through telephone contact, and/or meetings at the relevant practice or office.
• Work with individuals experiencing DVA to increase their personal safety (and that of any children) and inform them of their rights and options in terms of housing, legal and welfare rights.
• Develop good working relationships and liaise with outside agencies when needed; this will include referrals to colleagues, other specialist DVA services or other external agencies where appropriate.
• Contribute with data collection and provide an analysis of referrals and client outcomes for the quarterly and annual reports, which are distributed to commissioners and other relevant stakeholders.

Essential Requirements:

• Experience of needs and risk assessment and support of individuals experiencing domestic violence and abuse
• Experience of working with vulnerable adults and children, acknowledging safeguarding concerns and responding appropriately
• Experience of working with complex casework, including issues such as child abuse, mental health, substance abuse, working with trauma in adults and children and crisis intervention
• Experience of building and maintaining partnerships with other agencies.
• Experience of attending and responding to actions from multi-agency meetings, such as child protection conferences and MARAC
• Experience of working/liaising within a multiagency setting with a range of stakeholders and representing clients/organisation at external meetings
• Experience of arranging, delivering and reviewing training for professionals

Supporting Futures Consulting acts as both an employer and an agency.