Outreach Worker

Overview

Outreach Worker (Rough Sleepers)

Location – Harlow (West Essex)

Hours – 37.5 hours per week – Permanent (Monday-Friday 09:00 – 17:30)

Salary – £25,000 per annum

Closing date – 12 November 2025

Summary

The Outreach Worker will take a specialist lead on engaging, assessing and signposting rough sleepers into treatment and other support services. Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, you will aim to reduce the number of rough sleepers, engaging with and supporting them through structured drug treatment, building recovery and creating effective care plans, so they do not return to the streets once resettled.

What you’ll be doing

• Work in collaboration with Phoenix Futures and other partner agencies (i.e., drug & alcohol services, housing support, physical/mental health and wellbeing workers) to engage, assess and signpost people who sleep rough across Essex into treatment and other support services.
• Work effectively and in partnership with stakeholders across the county, you will manage a caseload providing skilled and focused time-limited interventions to improve the readiness of people sleeping rough to consider and access treatment for their drug use.

A day in the Life of an Outreach Worker (Rough Sleepers)

• A DASS (Drug & Alcohol Street Support) worker is part of a multi-disciplinary team working across the treatment services to support our most vulnerable and hard to engage people.
• A typical day may include booking and attending GP and housing appointments with the person you are supporting.
• Helping someone fill out applications for benefits, housing, and rehab.
• Carrying out outreach visits and getting to know the homeless in the area.
• Liaising with relevant professionals and organisations to ensure progress is happening on a weekly basis.
• Completing relevant paperwork and risk assessments for alcohol and substance intake and referring clients to agencies that can help with their specific support needs.
• Above all, DASS is about building trust in relationships, and showing patience and understanding to high risk and high need individuals who otherwise fall through the net.

What it’s like to work for Open Road

Open Road provides drug and alcohol treatment services across Essex & Kent including a range of interventions that deliver mentoring, advice and information programmes. Accredited with Investing In Volunteers, our mission is to empower a diverse range of individuals, families and communities to lead healthy and more meaningful lives, free from addiction, offending behaviour and disadvantage, to ensure healthier, happier lifestyles.

Benefits

• £25,000 per annum
• Royal London Pension and Death in Service benefit
• Access to our in-house Organisational Training Plan, and full training tailored to your development needs
• Legal training including Health & Safety, Safeguarding and GDPR
• 25 days Annual Leave plus Bank Holidays, plus a day off for your Birthday!

What you need

• Experience of working with people affected by drug use, homelessness or other forms of disadvantage.
• Capacity to work under pressure and manage time effectively, whilst remaining enthusiastic and motivated.
• Ability to work with people in an empathic and non-judgemental way.
• Knowledge and understanding of effective risk management as well as the ability to complete risk assessments.
• Good interpersonal skills; able to communicate effectively with a wide range of people.
• Due to the outreach nature of this position, access to a car and the ability to drive will be advantageous.