Z House is an exciting new project for Caring in Bristol. It will provide much needed emergency short-term accommodation for 18 – 25-year-olds in housing crisis, which links in with daytime support to help people move on to sustainable appropriate accommodation.
Based in St Pauls, Bristol, Z House bridges the gap between high quality night shelter and person-centred homelessness prevention.
Z House is a low support needs night shelter that can offer placements for up to 4 young people, however we seek to increase this number over the course of the next stage of our journey.
After a successful pilot, we are now seeking a Weeknight (Monday – Thursday) Worker to help us deliver this vital work over the next year.
Starting at 8:30pm in the evening, supporting our young people to settle for the evening before your sleep-in shift from 11:30pm until 7:00am, in the morning you’ll support the young people and our volunteers with breakfast and room change for the day, finishing your shift at 8:30am.
WHO WE ARE
Caring in Bristol’s vision is a city empowered to solve homelessness. We work in innovative ways with people experiencing housing insecurity to help them navigate the barriers they face. We engage with the public and community partners to bring about lasting change in Bristol and beyond.
OUR VALUES
Collaboration
We learn, share and work with everyone in our community to create services that best meet need. Our beneficiaries inform the design, delivery, and evaluation of our work. We collect and apply evidence to build partnerships and embed our impact.
People first
We value the strengths people have and are committed to positive change and development in everyone. We will take positive risks with people. The wellbeing of our staff and volunteers is integral to the positive impact we can make with our beneficiaries. We are inclusive and celebrate diversity.
Focus on the end goal
We work with our beneficiaries and volunteers to achieve their ambitions. We are here to make ourselves no longer needed and want Bristol to be the first major city to end homelessness.
OUR CULTURE
Here at CIB, we are working towards implementing an culture of inclusivity and psychological safety. This means striving to be an organisation which:
- Is committed to reflection and learning, including sharing failures and uncertainties; openly taking feedback from each other and members of the community on our behaviour and work.
- Encourages staff to articulate their needs: the homelessness sector can be challenging – staff will be good at knowing their limits under pressure and will be confident to ask for help when they need it.
- Encourages colleagues and team to support each other and nurtures an environment where no-one feels worried about asking for help or support when they need it.
- Nurtures growing levels of self-awareness, including an understanding of how your background has shaped the opportunities afforded to you and how you relate to people from different backgrounds to you.
- Is willing to support the develop a collective emotional intelligence, including a growing ability to empathise with and appreciate others, creating opportunities for those we work with to grow.
ACCESSIBILTY
As an organisation, we are committed to ensuring an inclusive environment for all. Unfortunately, due to the current layout of our building, we are unable to fully accommodate certain access needs. The building's design, including narrow corridors, multiple staircases, and the absence of adequate ramps or lifts, presents challenges for individuals with mobility impairments. We recognise the importance of accessibility and are actively exploring potential solutions to address these limitations. In the meantime, we provide reasonable adjustments wherever possible and are happy to discuss individual access needs to find alternative solutions. Please do contact us to discuss your needs in more detail
SAFER RECRUITMENT
We believe in providing equal opportunities for all individuals, regardless of their past. While we conduct Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks to ensure the safety and security of our workplace, we recognise that having a criminal history does not automatically disqualify someone from employment. Each applicant is assessed on a case-by-case basis, considering the nature of the conviction, its relevance to the role, and the time that has passed since the offense. We are committed to supporting rehabilitation and offering second chances where appropriate, fostering an inclusive and diverse workforce.
ABOUT THE ROLE
Alongside a volunteer and the Monday to Thursday night worker, you will be responsible for providing a safe space, listening ear, support and guidance for young people who will have just started to experience homelessness or housing insecurity.
Reporting to the Youth Services Manager, successful applicants will maintain a safe and welcoming environment overnight at Z House, provide appropriate person-centred support to young people and manage overnight issues and incidents should they occur.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Housing Management
· Sign up and induct young people arriving outside of normal working hours
· Carry out any required health and safety, housing management, risk management monitoring, keeping accurate and complete records throughout.
· Identify and report defects in the buildings, furniture, and equipment to promote a safe
working environment in line with Health and Safety and follow relevant procedures to
remedy all defects.
· Contribute to the upkeep of services, ensuring young people’s rooms, communal and
colleague areas are well maintained, serviced, safe and clean.
Supporting Young People
· Provide support and guidance for young people as appropriate and liaise with their support worker to ensure strong communication.
· Promote the participation and involvement of young people within and outside the
organisation to elevate users’ voice in the delivery of the Z House service.
· Ensure initial safeguarding duties and Policies are met alongside our DSL and on-call manager.
· Ensure all relevant records (including case-notes, safeguarding, incident, and other logs) are
completed for all shifts.
Volunteers
· To support and provide guidance to volunteers partnering your shift.
· Ensure the volunteers’ experience at Caring in Bristol is enjoyable and adds value to the lives of those we support.
· Record volunteer needs with the Youth Services Manager or Project Coordinator.
Other
· Ensure all shift handover tasks and processes are completed satisfactorily including a
comprehensive handover for the Z House Coordinator.
· Safeguard the welfare of children, young people, and adults at risk, working within Caring in Bristol’s
safeguarding policies, Southwest Child Protection Procedures, and local procedures for
safeguarding adults at risk.
· Carry out day-to-day administration functions to ensure that all records and files are
maintained and stored securely in line with the Data Protection legislation.
· Deliver a diverse and culturally sensitive approach, ensuring that anti-discriminatory practice
and equality of opportunity are promoted within all aspects of Caring in Bristol services.
The list of tasks is not exclusive, and duties may be varied from time to time, with the job
description being subject to review and periodic amendments.
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
We welcome applications from people who have the passion to help young homeless people in Bristol, have a can-do attitude and can think on their feet, and are willing to continually improve their knowledge of high-quality youth support work.
Caring in Bristol recognise that candidates will have a wide and varied level of experience and want to ensure we reach out to those with sector experience or those with transferable skills.
Successful candidates will be fully inducted and offered a range of training, including recognised Safeguarding training.
