RECONNECT Worker- Bedfordshire & Milton Keynes - Bedfordshire

We are Forward, a social enterprise that empowers people to break the cycle of crime and addiction so they can move forward and live fulfilling lives. Our services focus on supporting individuals to make positive and lasting change through compassionate, person-centred support.

The RECONNECT service is a care after custody programme that improves the continuity of care for people leaving prison or an Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) who have identified health needs. We work with individuals up to 12 weeks before their release and for up to six months post-release, ensuring they can successfully transition into community-based health and wellbeing services while maintaining the progress made while in custody.

Our East of England RECONNECT service supports adults aged 18 and over who are due to be released from custody within 12 weeks, or within 28 days post-release, and who require ongoing healthcare or wellbeing support.

About the Role

As a RECONNECT Practitioner, you will be responsible for delivering a comprehensive, inclusive and bespoke RECONNECT service to individuals preparing for release from HMP Bedford, HMP Woodhill and Yarl’s Wood IRC. Working closely with service users prior to release and throughout their transition back into the community, you will identify individual needs through robust assessments and develop personalised care plans. These plans will ensure individuals are connected to appropriate health, wellbeing and community services to support long-term recovery and stability.

You will work collaboratively with prison staff, healthcare professionals, community organisations and other partner agencies to ensure that individuals receive seamless support. The role requires strong relationship-building skills and a proactive approach to coordinating services that safeguard and sustain health and wellbeing outcomes.

Key responsibilities include:

• Processing referrals and providing updates to referrers on assessment outcomes
• Conducting in-depth needs assessments for all appropriate referrals
• Developing and implementing personalised, SMART care plans centred on the needs of the service user
• Maintaining regular contact and support with service users in preparation for release and for up to six months post-release
• Ensuring service users are effectively connected to GP services, healthcare support, mentoring, aftercare and wider community services
• Building and maintaining strong partnerships with prisons, healthcare providers and external agencies
• Implementing clear referral pathways including Offender Management in Custody, Prison Healthcare, and Family or Self-referrals
• Delivering structured interventions and using motivational interviewing techniques in both one-to-one and group settings
• Supporting the safe delivery of services by actively engaging with risk assessment and safeguarding processes
• Maintaining accurate records and using databases to collect and report data for audit, research and service monitoring
• Working collaboratively with colleagues to share best practice and continuously improve service delivery

This role requires travel across the service area. A full UK driving licence and access to your own vehicle is essential.

About You

We are looking for a compassionate and motivated professional who is committed to supporting individuals as they rebuild their lives after custody. You will have experience working with people facing complex challenges and be confident in delivering person-centred support within multi-agency environments.

You will bring strong assessment, communication and organisational skills, along with the ability to build trust and maintain professional relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.

To be successful in this role you will have:

• Experience working within mental health, emotional wellbeing or substance misuse services
• Experience conducting comprehensive assessments and developing tailored SMART care plans
• Experience delivering structured interventions with service users
• Experience using motivational interviewing techniques in both one-to-one and group settings
• Strong IT and database skills to support case management and reporting
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage effectively with service users and partner agencies
• Experience working collaboratively with partner organisations to achieve positive outcomes
• Good organisational and planning skills, with the ability to manage a varied caseload
• Flexibility to respond to the evolving needs of the service

Desirable experience includes:

• Experience working within the criminal justice sector
• Experience facilitating group interventions
• Experience implementing new projects within required timeframes
• Experience using clinical supervision to support practice
• Experience collecting and analysing service data for audit, research and reporting purposes

You will be passionate about empowering people to move forward, representing The Forward Trust in a positive and professional manner, and contributing to a supportive team that works together to create meaningful change.

A full UK driving licence and access to your own vehicle is essential for this role.

About Us

We are The Forward Trust, the social enterprise with charitable status that empowers people to break the often interlinked cycles of crime and addiction to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community. We are committed to our cause and the work we carry out as a charity. Equally the wellbeing and the employees who work for us are also important.

Joining us as an employee, we will offer you the following benefits:

• Flexible working
• Training and development opportunities
• Simply Health Cashback Scheme (optional)
• Season Ticket Loan Scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Crisis Loan Scheme
• Electric Car Scheme
• 3 x Wellbeing Days (pro rata'd for part time employees)
• Access to Blue Light Card
• 25 days (rising to 30 with length of service) Annual Leave plus Bank Holidays
• Contributory Pension Scheme – Employer matched contributions of up to 6% in the first two years’ service and up to 9% thereafter
• Death in Service Payment (2x annual salary)
• Critical Illness Insurance (subject to qualifying criteria)

Please note that we may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.

Diversity at Forward Trust

The Forward Trust commits to providing opportunities to everyone. We want to ensure we have a diverse team with a range of lived and professional experiences. This includes those with ‘Lived Experience’ of addiction, offending, or homelessness. When we recruit, we welcome applications from everyone. This is inclusive of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion and/or belief, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity and socio-economic background. Where operationally possible, we will consider flexible working requests and make reasonable adjustments for all roles.

To find out more about Forward’s commitment to being an inclusive employer and our current EDI strategy click here.

We want our recruitment process to be accessible to everyone. If you require any reasonable adjustments at any stage, please let us know.

Employee Screening and Eligibility to Work

Dependent on role you may be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service Check, details of which will be shared with you at interview. If successful in your application, you will be required to provide eligibility to work evidence in line with the ‘Eligibility to Work in the UK’ requirements.

Our Commitment to Safeguarding

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and adults at risk. Forward Trust follow safer recruitment practices and support a culture of openness and accountability.