Sanctuary Coordinator – Changing Lives, Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough Safe Accommodation Service is delivered by Changing Lives, providing a coordinated, trauma-informed, and recovery-focused response to those who are fleeing domestic abuse. This includes adult victims and survivors, their children and young people.

As part of our safe accommodation model, we coordinate the Sanctuary Scheme within Middlesbrough. Sanctuary is a community-based domestic abuse service that enables victim-survivors to remain safely in their own homes where this is their preferred option and where it is safe to do so. Sanctuary support combines practical security measures, often referred to as target hardening, with specialist domestic abuse support, safety planning and multi-agency partnership working to reduce risk and improve safety and stability for individuals and families.

Overall Role Purpose

The Sanctuary Worker will assess referrals, coordinate the implementation of sanctuary measures, and provide check in support to adults and families experiencing domestic abuse. The Sanctuary Worker will sit within our wider team of refuge, dispersed and community workers. There will also be a expectation of co location working, working with partner agencies. The successful candidate will work closely with the Staying Put Team, Cleveland Police, housing providers and safeguarding partners, the postholder will ensure that sanctuary measures are appropriate, effective and responsive to changing levels of risk.

The successful candidate will use a holistic and strength-based approach to support all individuals; supporting individuals who may have experienced multiple disadvantages and have unmet needs, who require specialist trauma informed and non-judgmental support. The service is run in accordance with the co-produced Protect and Support Plan and follows Changing Lives Theory of Change; Being, Becoming, Belonging and Beyond;

Being - Meeting immediate needs e.g. working closely with other domestic abuse services, safety and support planning, accessing clothing, food bank vouchers, bank accounts, emergency packs, universal credit and building relationships.

Becoming - Helping to manage challenging emotions and overcoming trauma using a range interventions, supporting individuals to access recovery and addiction programmes, building resilience and life-skills e.g. parenting, budgeting.

Belonging - Planning for safe, sustainable move-on accommodation, ensuring longer-term/informal support networks in place and supporting transition into independent living.

Beyond - Advocating for individual and community needs with agencies, adapting to change and needs of those we support, empowering futures through collaborative and integrated support.

At Changing Lives, we value a diverse workforce and are keen to recruit people of all ages and from all backgrounds, abilities and ethnicities.

Please see attached job description for more info.