Homelessness Substance Misuse Worker
Location: Brixton
Salary: £27,992 per annum
Vacancy Type: Permanent, Full Time
Closing Date: 24th September 2025
Riverside is a group of complementary businesses with a clear social purpose, anchored by a charitable housing association. Established over 90 years ago, Riverside has grown into a major provider of affordable housing, care, and support services in England and Scotland, managing almost 56,000 homes across 160 local authorities.
Riverside transforms lives by providing:
- High-quality, well-maintained affordable housing
- Support services to improve resilience and independence
- Opportunities to increase household income via employment, money advice, and energy efficiency programmes
- Community revitalisation through building homes, maintaining green spaces, and fostering engagement
Forward Trust works alongside Riverside to provide specialist substance misuse support to residents, helping them address complex needs and improve outcomes.
We are seeking a Substance Misuse Specialist to work within an integrated framework, providing support to homeless drug and alcohol users aged 18 and over. You will work alongside all relevant departments within Riverside and operate within a Trauma Informed Care (TIC) framework, delivering client-centred interventions using both harm reduction and abstinence-based approaches.
Key responsibilities include:
- Providing relapse prevention support to clients
- Delivering structured 1:1 and group-work sessions, including care planning, risk assessments, and SMART action plans
- Signposting and referring clients to other specialist services, including healthcare, probation, and housing teams
- Supporting and upskilling Riverside staff through substance misuse awareness training and expert guidance
- Ensuring through-care integration with partner agencies to achieve positive outcomes
- Contributing to targets and outcome measurement set by Forward Trust and Riverside
- Working flexibly, including occasional evenings and weekends
What We’re Looking For
Essential Skills & Experience:
- Experience working within substance misuse services
- Experience carrying out comprehensive assessments, risk management plans, and SMART care plans
- Ability to deliver harm reduction interventions and structured client support
- Experience facilitating groups and using motivational interviewing techniques in 1:1 and group settings
- Strong IT skills and familiarity with record-keeping systems
- Understanding of continuity of care, holistic care needs, and community services
Knowledge:
- Understanding of issues facing substance misusers and people experiencing homelessness
- Knowledge of harm reduction principles, including different substances, drug combinations, routes of use, and interactions with mental illness
- Knowledge of the Recovery Agenda
- Knowledge of safeguarding practices
About Us
We are The Forward Trust, the social enterprise with charitable status that empowers people to break the often-interlinked cycles of crime and addiction to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community.
We are committed to our cause and the work we carry out as a charity. Equally the wellbeing and the employees who work for us are also important. Joining us an employee, we will offer you the following benefits:
- Flexible working
- Training and development opportunities
- Simply Health Cashback Scheme (optional)
- Season Ticket Loan Scheme
- Cycle to work scheme
- Crisis Loan Scheme
- Electric Car Scheme
- 3 x Wellbeing Days (pro rata'd for part time employees)
- Access to Blue Light Card
- 25 days (rising to 30 with length of service) Annual Leave plus Bank Holidays
- Contributory Pension Scheme – Employer matched contributions of up to 6% in the first two years’ service and up to 9% thereafter
- Death in Service Payment (2x annual salary)
- Critical Illness Insurance (subject to qualifying criteria)
To Apply
If you feel you are a suitable candidate and would like to work for the Forward Trust, please click apply to be redirected to their website to complete your application.
