Nurse Manager/Clinical Lead - Southend on Sea in Southend-on-Sea

We are seeking an experienced and motivated Clinical Nurse Manager to lead the delivery of high-quality substance misuse services, ensuring safe, effective, and evidence-based care for individuals accessing treatment and recovery support. This is a pivotal leadership role responsible for the effective management of clinical and non-clinical resources, ensuring the highest standards of nursing care are delivered to service users with substance misuse needs.

Working within established clinical protocols and evidence-based practice, including Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT) services, you will oversee the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of treatment programmes while promoting positive recovery outcomes. You will manage a specialist prescribing service and provide expert clinical guidance to nursing colleagues on all aspects of substance misuse treatment. This includes advice on substitute prescribing, alcohol detoxification, withdrawal management, medication titration, controlled drug administration, overdose prevention, and other clinical safety considerations within a high-risk environment.

A key aspect of the role is ensuring comprehensive assessments are completed, waiting times are minimised, and access to treatment and psychosocial interventions is improved. You will work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams and partner agencies to ensure continuity of care and compliance with local and national guidelines.

As a senior leader within the service, you will provide clinical and managerial supervision, support staff development, facilitate decision-making processes, and contribute to service improvement initiatives. You will also play an important role in achieving organisational and commissioner targets, monitoring outcomes, and ensuring accurate reporting and governance standards are maintained. There will be occasions when you will deputise for the Substance Misuse Services Manager in their absence, supporting operational leadership and ensuring continuity of service delivery. You will also be responsible for fostering a culture of continuous learning, professional development, and innovation across the team. Some flexibility may be required, including travel between sites to support service delivery and maintain continuity of care for service users.

You are a compassionate and experienced nursing leader with a strong commitment to recovery-focused care and improving outcomes for individuals affected by substance misuse. You will be a registered nurse with substantial post-registration experience and a proven track record of delivering and leading high-quality substance misuse services. You will possess excellent clinical knowledge, strong leadership skills, and the ability to inspire and develop multidisciplinary teams.

You will bring:

• A minimum of five years' post-registration nursing experience.
• At least two years' experience working within substance misuse services at Band 6 level or above.
• Extensive knowledge of substance misuse treatment, recovery approaches, and harm reduction principles.
• Experience of specialist prescribing services and the management of medication-assisted treatment programmes.
• Strong assessment, risk management, care planning, and clinical decision-making skills.
• Experience of key working and coordinating complex care pathways.
• Proven ability to lead, supervise, and develop multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience providing clinical and management supervision.
• Experience working collaboratively with partner agencies and external stakeholders.
• Knowledge of health issues associated with substance misuse, including alcohol and drug dependency.
• Experience of health service management, governance, and performance monitoring.
• Strong organisational, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• The ability to work independently while maintaining effective multidisciplinary relationships.

You will also demonstrate:

• A commitment to delivering person-centred care with dignity, respect, and cultural sensitivity.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to build trusting and constructive relationships with service users, colleagues, and partners.
• A sound understanding of recovery-focused practice and relapse prevention models.
• The ability to lead service development and contribute to continuous quality improvement.
• Flexibility to travel between sites and adapt to the needs of the service.

This role would suit a confident and forward-thinking clinical leader who is passionate about delivering outstanding care, supporting staff development, and driving positive outcomes for individuals affected by substance misuse. If you are looking for an opportunity to combine clinical expertise, leadership, and service innovation within a dynamic and rewarding environment, we would love to hear from you.

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
• BHSF 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.

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. Some of our roles may require a minimum period of sustained recovery (normally around 3 years). This is assessed on a case-by-case basis, and exceptions may be considered depending on the role and individual circumstances. 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.

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.

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.