Welfare Officer (First Mate) - Virtual

WeMindTheGap is currently recruiting for the following positions:

1 x WeGrow First Mate (Welfare Officer) – 30 hours per week

Job Description

In any other setting this role would be called a ‘Welfare Officer’, but our WeMindTheGap ethos means that we much prefer the title First Mate. The role is to be just that: a First Mate who is there to make sure that our young adults can make the most of every opportunity presented to them over a six-month holistic programme and further.

You will ‘walk alongside’ our Gappies, the name we give to our young people, be the ultimate role model and mentor, consistently encouraging, practical support, and most importantly love and care to a maximum of 10 young adults. They could be experiencing social isolation, lacking in life skills or low confidence and may have little education. By building trust and caring for their individual journeys you will become an important part of their lives and will be key to them growing new confidence, developing new skills and learning from new experiences so that they develop aspirations and ambitions for the future.

You will live by the values of our Magic Cs:

·       Compassion: to drive your care for our Gappies

·       Courage: to do what is right and not what is easy

·       Curiosity: to always ask why, to keep learning, to help the Gappies grow and develop

·       Can Do attitude: walk alongside the Gappies, take the initiative, make things happen

·       Constancy: in the support you provide them

·       Confidence: in our vision and the model

·       Commitment: to walk alongside your Gappies and do everything that you ask of them

·       Celebrate every little success for yourself, your crew and the Gappies

·       Capacity: being aware you are at your limits, that the crew need help and not being afraid to ask

·       Connectivity: to the Hub, to our supporters, to the outside world

Key Responsibilities as First Mate

·        You will get to know your Gappies’ community well, regularly dealing with other stakeholders in our programme and acting as an advocate for our Gappies with the organisations that they are involved with (e.g. housing services, welfare services).

·        Be responsible for the holistic love and care of each Gappie, ensuring each has a GP, dentist, and optician, online bank accounts, and can access sexual health clinic advice.

·        Liaise with community agencies over housing issues and role model conversations with any agency and/or professional.

·        Be responsible for administration and paperwork for the 6-month period, recording attendance daily and ultimately being accountable for the submission of the information for payroll and evaluation, being curious to any excuse for non-attendance.

·        Be aware at all times of safeguarding and the wellbeing of the Gappies in the cohort, ensuring timely and relevant notes are made on CPOMS, our safeguarding platform, as appropriate.

·        Agree who will be the point of contact during out-of-hours on a rota with the Skipper.

·        Lead where appropriate difficult conversations with the Gappies as required regarding their behaviours, being curious as to their root cause and empowering them to change or find a solution.

·        Attend and support during literacy and numeracy sessions, following up on any homework that has been set.

·        Support the Gappies throughout their work placements by providing transport and facilitating feedback.

·        Attend Launchpad, Outdoor Education centres and the Big Trip and be an active role model in participating in the activities.

·        Initially you will be making sure that every Gappie is ready for their day and in the right place at the right time. As the months progress and as their own work habits improve, you will become more of a helper and advisor as our Gappies look to future roles.

·        Be the ultimate role model for the cohort in showing them what a good employee looks like, sharing life skills and experience in a way which encourages the cohort to follow behaviours.

·        Collate and record all photos of Gappies taken during the various models and have responsibility for producing a photo book of each of Gappies' journey ready for graduation.

·        Assist with the development of CVs during ‘My Future’ module and ensure handover of all CVs to the

WeBelong team.

·        Work in partnership with the Skipper to ensure that the organisation always does what is right by the Gappie, discussing and agreeing an approach for any issue arising during delivery.

  Person Criteria

·        Experience as a mentor or voluntary role with young people with complex needs would be advantageous, as would experience of working with young people with various educational and social needs, but not necessary.

·        Ability to think smart, have active listening skills and build relationships.

·        Be flexible due to the very nature of the role, and the support that you will be giving to the Gappies means that you will need to be flexible in your approach and time management.

·        Work collaboratively together as a team with support from our central offices, our ‘Hubs’.

·        Be happy to visit London, or another major city, for our final Broadening Horizons ‘Big Trip’ at the end of the programme. This consists of a two-day, one-night trip, staying in a hostel.

·        Driving license and competent driver essential as you will be required to utilise the pool car for any journey which involves transporting the Gappies.

·        Are the ‘rare responsible employee’ who takes initiative, is self-aware, never says ‘that’s not my job’, has self-discipline……and picks up the rubbish from the floor on the way out.

You will be required to attend “Launchpad”, the "Big Trip", and the Outdoor Education activities week with a total of 5 nights away. As a result of our ‘walk alongside’ approach, you will be required to participate in all outdoor pursuits activities and activities during the 6 months, so a reasonable level of fitness and enthusiasm is necessary.

What can we offer you?

·       25 days Annual Leave plus Bank Holidays (FTE)

·       Pension with combined contributions up to 8%

·       Personal Self Development Coaching Programme

·       Welfare Support Programme

If you would like to learn more about the role, please read the full job description attached here, or contact us.

We will be holding interviews as suitable applications come in - please don’t hesitate if you’d like to apply!