Support Worker in Newcastle upon Tyne

Join to apply for the Support Worker role at Protective Care Group. Did you know there are thousands of children across the country in incorrect or unsuitable care placements? That’s thousands of children who do not have access to the care and support they need to thrive, thousands of children being let down repeatedly and thousands of children who are misunderstood. Enter Protective Care Group, we exist to provide what we know is missing. We use a trauma informed approach, look past the challenging behaviour and recognise that beneath everything, there is a child who desperately needs the specialist support that our teams provide.

All the young people in our care receive:

• Robust, consistent, trauma informed care
• Staff who won’t give up, no matter how challenging it gets
• Truly person-centred care in solo residential placements
• Care delivered by professionals trained in safeguarding, de-escalation, and therapeutic approaches

To date, we have never given up on a young person; this has only been possible due to the hard work, understanding, experience and dedication our teams show daily.

Requirements

What are we looking for in our Support Workers? We recently asked one of our young people what they want in a support worker, they said “someone that is kind, someone that will help them and someone who will get involved in their hobbies”. As we are person centred it’s only right we take their lead. Due to the level of care that we provide, we are looking for people that fit the following requirements:

• Resilient and able to manage challenging behaviour such as severe physical aggression, verbal aggression, sexualised behaviour, CSE and CCE vulnerabilities, self-harm and absconding. You will need to keep up with them emotionally, mentally and physically (behaviour may mean that running after a young person or being involved in a physical intervention is likely).
• Provide guidance, coaching and mentorship to all children in our care (and not take it personally if they do the opposite repeatedly).
• Confidently and calmly de-escalate situations and behaviours that are challenging for our young people.
• Be non-judgemental; our young people have potential despite the extremely challenging behaviour they exhibit, their complex needs and the adversities like trauma, abuse and criminalisation that they may have experienced so far in their lives.
• Have an open mind to working in a new way which may be different to what you are used to.
• Be adaptable and flexible to meet the needs of our young people and provide them with an exceptional level of care.

Because this role involves managing extremely challenging behaviours, we’re looking for people who are not only caring and passionate about supporting young people’s growth, but also resilient and able to stay calm under pressure. Although full training will be provided for all of our Support Workers, if you have experience in front-line roles such as the police, military, ambulance service, prison service, educational services or similar environments – we’d love to hear from you!

You must:

• Be flexible and able to work a varied shift pattern, such as 4 on 4 off (including day shifts, waking nights, and sleep-ins – this could be for the whole of your rotation, so be prepared to stay away from home if needed).
• You may be placed in any of our teams across the North East. We carefully match Support Workers to the young people and teams where they’ll be the best fit, which means your placement might not be the one closest to home.
• Be in possession of a full UK manual driving licence (we currently cannot accept provisional, automatic or international driving licences).

If you don’t currently hold a qualification, don’t worry! We’ll support you every step of the way and fully fund your Level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare. All we ask is that you’re committed to working towards this qualification as part of your role. It’s important that you understand all aspects of the role before applying, like the working hours, possible working locations and the types of challenges you may encounter.

Benefits

• £32,000 base salary + a £40 shift uplift for every shift that you work and an additional £100 for every sleep-in.
• Fully funded industry recognised qualifications.
• Clear pathways for internal career growth.
• Paid annual leave that grows with service.
• Sick pay, company pension & employee wellbeing support (including free counselling).