WEEKEND MENTOR – The Brick, Greater Manchester

WEEKEND MENTOR

Salary: £13.45 -14.50 per hour (depending on experience), plus 22 days holiday pro rata, life insurance and health cash plan

Hours:Weekend shifts of a minimum of 10 and maximum of 12 hours, depending on the service or project. Saturday, Sunday or both; flexible arrangements and job shares considered.

Contract Length: Weekend working arrangements to be agreed with successful candidates

Holidays: 22 days holiday pro rata, life insurance and health cash plan

Based At: Wigan (WN3 and WN2) male and female specialist accommodation projects

Responsible To: Service Manager

Accountable To: Queens Hall Action on Poverty

To Apply: Please upload your CV and a covering letter telling us why this role matters to you, how your experience would help The Brick, and how your values connect with ours, using the link below:

Closing Date: TBC

Interview Date: We will be interviewing as we receive applications

Job Summary:
About The Brick
The Brick is an anti-poverty and homelessness charity working alongside people and communities across Wigan and Leigh. We believe every person has worth, strengths and potential, whatever they have been through. Our work is rooted in dignity, trust, relationships, practical support and hope.
We provide housing, support, food, reuse, volunteering and community-based services for people experiencing poverty, homelessness, crisis and exclusion. We do not define people by the hardest moment of their lives. We believe in second chances and in helping people rebuild, belong and thrive.

Job Purpose: Purpose of the role
Our Weekend Mentors will help create a safe, calm and welcoming environment for people staying in two of our accommodation projects: one supporting men and one supporting women with histories of rough sleeping and multiple, complex needs. People may be experiencing trauma, poor mental health, substance use, exploitation, exclusion or other significant challenges.
This is far more than supervising a building. You will be a consistent, approachable presence, building trusting relationships, offering practical and emotional support and helping people take steps towards greater stability and independence. You will work in a trauma-informed, person-centred and harm-reduction-focused way, combining compassion with clear and fair boundaries.
You will oversee the safety and day-to-day running of the project during your shift, respond to incidents and safeguarding concerns, and record and hand over important information to colleagues. Some shifts may involve lone working, subject to the project’s risk assessments and safe staffing arrangements. Full induction and relevant training will be provided.
What we need this role to bring
We need people who can remain calm when situations are difficult, avoid making assumptions about someone’s circumstances and understand that building trust takes time. You will be able to challenge behaviour respectfully, without shaming people, and recognise that safety, choice, consistency and relationships are central to lasting change.
Key responsibilities
• Provide a visible, supportive and welcoming presence for residents throughout your shift, including regular welfare checks and meaningful engagement.
• Keep the building safe, secure and well managed, following relevant house expectations, policies, risk assessments, fire procedures and health and safety requirements.
• Build positive, trusting relationships and encourage residents to engage with their individual support plans, appointments, activities and longer-term housing goals.
• Offer practical help with everyday living skills, maintaining communal areas, managing routines and preparing for independent or more settled accommodation.
• Notice and respond promptly to safeguarding concerns, mental health crises, substance-related risks and other incidents; seek emergency or specialist assistance when necessary.
• Use trauma-informed de-escalation and proportionate, consistent boundaries when behaviour causes concern. Follow the charity’s warnings and exclusions procedures, with decisions escalated as required.
• Work in line with the project’s drug and alcohol, harm reduction, confidentiality, professional boundaries and safeguarding policies.
• Complete accurate and timely records on the case management system, including incidents, welfare contacts, safeguarding actions and relevant outcomes.
• Provide clear handovers to colleagues and managers, ensuring concerns and changes in residents’ circumstances are followed up.
• Welcome new residents when required, completing induction and essential paperwork in accordance with service procedures.
• Help maintain a clean, safe and respectful shared environment, including waste and recycling arrangements and reporting repairs or hazards.
• Work constructively with colleagues, outreach teams and external services, making referrals or escalating concerns through agreed processes.
• Carry out other reasonable duties appropriate to the post and the needs of the project.
Person specification
Essential experience, knowledge and skills
• Experience supporting people facing significant challenges or distress, or transferable experience from homelessness, housing, care, community, mental health or related settings.
• Understanding of the impact of trauma, homelessness, mental ill health and drug or alcohol use, alongside a non-judgemental, harm-reduction approach.
• Ability to build trust, listen well and communicate clearly and respectfully with people from a wide range of backgrounds.
• Confidence to respond to conflict, distress or challenging behaviour calmly, while maintaining appropriate boundaries and seeking support when needed.
• Good judgement in recognising risk, raising safeguarding concerns and following emergency and lone-working procedures.
• Ability to keep accurate written records and use or learn a digital case management system.
• Reliability and flexibility to work agreed 10–12-hour shifts on Saturdays, Sundays or both, depending on the arrangement. The women’s project will likely be 10 hour shifts and the men’s project 12 hours but we are open to looking at different arrangements that meet the needs of the charity
Personal qualities
• Compassionate, patient, grounded and able to treat every person with dignity.
• Practical and proactive, willing to help with both people-facing and everyday building tasks.
• Resilient and calm under pressure, with a willingness to reflect, learn and receive feedback.
• Committed to The Brick’s values of Community, Compassion and Courage.
Desirable experience
• Experience of supported accommodation, rough sleeping services or women’s/men’s complex-needs provision.
• Training in trauma-informed practice, safeguarding, mental health, substance use, conflict management or first aid.
Weekend arrangements and project preference
We are recruiting across two projects and want to make weekend working accessible. Shifts will be a minimum of 10 hours and a maximum of 12 hours, according to the service. You may work Saturdays, Sundays or both. We are happy to discuss flexible patterns and job-share arrangements, provided they meet safe staffing and service requirements.
Please say in your application whether you would prefer to work in the men’s project, the women’s project or either, and set out your weekend availability.
Women-only project – occupational requirement
For posts assigned to our women-only accommodation project, being female is an occupational requirement under Schedule 9, Part 1, paragraph 1 of the Equality Act 2010. This requirement relates to the nature and context of the work, including providing sensitive, trauma-informed support and protecting the privacy, dignity and safety of women living in the accommodation. It applies only to posts within the women’s project. Applications for the men’s project are welcomed from candidates of all genders.
Equal opportunities
The Brick is committed to an inclusive workplace and welcomes applications from people with a wide range of backgrounds and lived or professional experience. We value people who understand inequality, trauma and the importance of second chances. Any occupational requirement will be applied only where lawful and justified.
Safeguarding
The Brick is committed to safeguarding the people we work alongside, our staff and volunteers. Appointments are subject to safer recruitment checks, including an enhanced DBS check appropriate to the role. Successful applicants will be supported through induction, training and supervision.