Relief Bank Support Mentor - Luton

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are looking for a dedicated team to deliver person centered and bespoke trauma informed support to vulnerable women in Luton.

As part of a new provision, this service will be open to women who experience sexual exploitation and are dependent on drugs/alcohol, and will offer stable and psychologically informed support in safe, secure surroundings they can call their home.

The service will work in collaboration with multiple services and partners, to embrace a flexible, strengths based approach, displaying tolerance, recognition and understanding the impact trauma can have on behaviour.

The service will engage with women who are sexually exploited and are facing homelessness due to multiple forms of exclusion, such as historical or ongoing abuse, involvement in the criminal justice system, mental health challenges, drug and/or alcohol dependency and who are engaging in survival sex or sex work, enduring high levels of violence and coercion. These are women who often find themselves repeatedly going through the accommodation pathway and have exhausted all other available options.

We are looking for Relief bank Support Mentors to work with a passionate and committed team focused on delivering essential support and safe accommodation to sexually exploited women in Luton who suffer extreme levels of violence, coercion and trauma.

You will support and empower our residents and participants to maintain their health and wellbeing, to be part of the wider community and help them to lead more fulfilling lives. You will be involved in organising and delivering stimulating and engaging groups and activities across our sites to address the challenges faced by our residents and participants, to support them on their journey towards independent living.

We will be holding a recruitment day for this service on the 14th of January 2024 in Luton. (This is a Women's Service and we will not be accepting applications from men).

ABOUT THE SERVICE

The service will consist of 11 self-contained flats, plus one sit-up space for women in crisis and private space for keywork sessions. The accommodation has been designed to offer women their own homes, behind a protected front door. This model is delivered locally in mixed units and has shown that people with a range of needs can thrive in this type of accommodation.

The service will embrace a flexible approach, displaying tolerance, recognition and understanding the impact trauma can have on behaviour. The service will remain conscious of the societal tendency to unconsciously exhibit bias against women, whereby behaviours considered acceptable from males are often deemed unacceptable for females due to ingrained gender stereotypes. Sexually exploited women will not be expected to change to fit into a service model, rather the service model is designed to support women with high levels of trauma and a complex array of support needs and behaviours.

The service will provide tailored support on an individual basis, adopting an intensive, strengths based, person-centered approach in collaboration with multiple services and partners as required. The service will work with each client on a co-produced, comprehensive support plan where the priorities are set by the client.

Support plans will include:

• Health and mental health needs
• Drug/alcohol and other dependencies
• Exploitation
• Exiting sex work
• Risk and resilience
• Self-care
• Offending
• Relationships
• Move-on/Resettlement
• Education/training/employment

If you have the passion, creativity, and tenacity to make a real difference in people's lives, challenge stigma and make our communities safer, we would love to hear from you!

ABOUT YOU

You will be creative and able to support and implement new ideas and initiatives, being a team player and able to communicate effectively with people from different backgrounds! You will be able to use your own lived experience to support and empower others, whilst recognising the diversity of experience and journeys that our residents and participants have. We're looking for someone who is passionate about what we do and can live through our values and culture to help make a difference.

What we are looking for:

• Basic IT - ability to learn new software programs, including Microsoft
• Excellent communication skills both written and oral relationship building
• Ability to manage own workload and determine priorities - time management skills.
• Able to manage emotionally challenging, distressing and potentially triggering situations
• Able to work as part of a team with internal and external partners

What we would like, but not essential:

• Ex