Family Worker/Recovery Coordinator in North East

Location: HMP Frankland, Durham, DH1 5YA

Working Hours: 37 hours per week (08:00am-4:00pm Monday to Thursday and 08:00am-3:30pm Friday).

Contract Type: Permanent

Salary: £25,877.80-£34,240 (starting salary depends on experience and progression within the band).

About Waythrough

Waythrough was formed in 2024 following the merger of Humankind and Richmond Fellowship. Together, we’ve created one of the largest mental health and social support charities in England. Every year, we support around 125,000 people through nearly 200 services – and it’s all made possible by our 3,500 brilliant staff and volunteers.

Make a real difference in your community. Are you passionate about helping others live safer, healthier, more independent lives? Join our team at Waythrough and support people facing challenges around mental health, substance use, housing or domestic abuse. This is more than just a job – it’s a chance to build meaningful relationships and create lasting change.

About the Role

To work as part of a team to provide collaborative recovery planning and case management to substance misusers (drug and alcohol) and their families across all stages of individuals’ recovery journeys, from assessment and engagement through to sustained recovery. To support families and service users across all stages of custody including transition planning for transfer or release.

The vacancy for Family Worker & Recovery Coordinator is a dual role, supporting clients in our care with reconnection of family ties and understanding the impact of their offending and substance use on their relationships.

What You’ll Do

• Manage a service user caseload, devising, implementing and reviewing ongoing recovery plans and treatment, liaising closely with the full range of workers and skills within the service team, including family members and significant others as appropriate.
• Carry out triage/screening assessments and comprehensive assessments with service users.
• Work collaboratively with partner agencies to undertake shared assessments, key working and interventions to promote individual service user progression from engagement, through structured treatment to self-sustained recovery.
• Facilitate service user access to treatment and community resources to increase recovery and social capital, supporting service users and their families within their local community, including community outreach and collaborative working with community services.
• Lead effective case management for allocated service users, families and carers including ongoing processes such as risk assessments, risk management plans and safeguarding assessments and plans.
• Use an online case management system effectively.
• Work closely and collaboratively within the multi-disciplinary team across the service and externally, providing advice and reports/information to managers and other colleagues, through attendance at reviews, team meetings, supervision and via telephone conversations.
• Improve outcomes for children, parents/carers and families of service users by reducing the impact of drug and alcohol related harm on family life and promoting positive family involvement in recovery.
• Use evidence based interventions to address specific needs of families including parental skills, mental health and health and well-being.
• Develop and deliver quality programmes and packages of work/psychosocial interventions that meet local need across both group work and one-to-one formats, promoting the Think Family approach.
• Identify and prevent potential harm to service users and others by following local and organisational safeguarding guidelines, including referral to and engagement with relevant safeguarding authorities.
• Support delivery of key service functions through actively participating in drug screening, duty work, access to BBV testing and immunisation service provision, community needle exchange services and ongoing delivery of appropriate, tailored alcohol and drug harm reduction interventions.
• Possess knowledge of harm reduction approaches in relation to substance misuse (where relevant to post).
• Understand and implement interventions, including brief interventions (MI), PSIs, CBT and ITEP.
• Work with models of service delivery and issues relating to recovery planning.
• Work with best practice frameworks e.g. NICE, DOH, NTA, NMC, Care Quality Commission & Caldicott Standards.
• Deliver 1-2-1 and group therapeutic interventions.
• Maintain professional boundaries and resilience whilst supporting families intensively, sometimes in stressful situations.

What We Offer

• 27 days’ annual leave, rising to 32 after 1 year (plus bank holidays).
• Pension scheme with 4.5% employer contribution, matched up to 6.5%.
• Life assurance (3× annual salary).
• Enhanced sick pay and family-friendly pay.
• Birthday leave and the option to buy up to 5 extra days’ annual leave.
• Professional fee reimbursement for relevant qualifications.
• 24/7 online GP access and Employee Assistance Programme.
• Recognition and long service awards via our Way to Go and Aspirations portals.
• £500 Recommend a Friend bonus.
• Cycle to Work scheme and Credit Union membership.
• Discounts via Blue Light Card, Charity Discounts, Extras and Tickets for Good.
• Free will writing service and wellbeing initiatives throughout the year.

Equal Opportunities and Accessibility

Waythrough is proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and communities, especially those with lived experience of the issues we support. We have signed up to the Disability Confident Scheme – all applicants are welcome, and adjustments can be made to enable fair participation.