Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join a brand new service for a motivated, skilled and passionate individual to ensure fair representation within the Hub of the needs of parents and carers of autistic people in Lincolnshire.
The Virtual Autism Hub is developing and is aiming to provide an innovative source of all age autism community support to empower autistic people and their parents/carers. Initially the organisation will be under the auspices of LPFT with the intention of becoming a separate community organisation. The organisation goes beyond statutory support and will work closely with the voluntary sector, in particular local, volunteer-led support groups.
The Virtual Autism Hub has a clear ethos of co-design and co-production to enhance local community support offers for the wider Lincolnshire autistic community. The Parent and Carer Lead will be instrumental in supporting the development of autism parent and carer support groups across Lincolnshire and advocating on behalf of parents, carers and support groups.
Main duties of the job
You will be responsible for ensuring fair representation within the steering group of the needs of Parent/Carers of autistic people in Lincolnshire. This includes organising meetings with stakeholders and co-ordinating links with relevant local organisations.
This will ensure parity of esteem for each group within the Autism community, when considering local needs. You will also be responsible for raising local awareness of developing policy and good practice from regional and national developments.
About us
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health services and a number of learning disability, autism and social care services in the county of Lincolnshire. Employing around 2,800 staff, and serving a population of over 766,000, our people lie at the heart of everything we do.
You could be part of a Trust rated by staff as one of the best mental health and learning disability trusts in England, in an area heralded as a fantastic place to live and work. We firmly believe the key to high quality care is a contented workforce. This is reflected in our Care Quality Commission rating of 'outstanding' for well-led and 'good' overall. In the most recent National NHS Staff Survey, our staff rated us as the number one trust nationally for staff morale and one of the top scoring NHS Trusts in the Midlands for being compassionate and inclusive. We're really proud of this!
We are also leading the way in transforming care, with multi-million-pound transformation of patient environments and radical redesign of community services.
This is the time to join and help redesign our services of the future. We offer options for flexible working and provide a wide range of training and promotion opportunities in all professions. We support and celebrate diversity, have active staff networks groups and are always looking at what more we can do to support our staff.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- Understand the changing evidence and policy environment both locally and nationally in relation to Parents/Carers of Autistic people and promote and share this within the local community.
- Engage formally and informally with local support groups and other autism services, sharing information and strengthening links between them.
- Support the organisational development of support groups for Parents/Carers of Autistic people in Lincolnshire, including their activities, good governance, sound financial management, safeguarding etc.
- Advocate in writing (and verbally, if agreed) on behalf of Parents/Carers of Autistic people and their support groups to senior managers, in an appropriate and professional manner.
- Ensure the service users voice is heard in meetings with professionals.
- Engage with individual autistic adults and encourage them to access support groups and services.
- Promote autonomy and empowerment of Parents/Carers of Autistic people.
- Ensure there is provision in the county to collectively gather the views of Parents/Carers of Autistic people and develop a forum for this if one does not currently exist.
- Organise and facilitate stakeholder/engagement meetings.
- Meet agreed objectives and delivery targets e.g. no. engagements attended.
- Produce written reports of meetings, evidence etc as required by Managers.
- Promote the neurodiversity model of Autism to professionals and other stakeholders.
- Support the development of the Lincolnshire Virtual Autism Hub.
- Promote the service and provide information to the wider community and other relevant agencies.
- Effective multi-agency and partnership working with a variety of services, some of which might have different perspectives.
- Support the Team Manager and Project Manager in establishing and implementing policies and procedures, that meets the requirements of the organisation.
- Ensure accurate and up-to-date records are maintained for the service, including the collection of usage data.
- Identify and participate in training and development opportunities.
- Participate in performance management system of 1-1s, team meetings and appraisals.
- To ensure you and the team are familiar with and comply with LPFT Policies, in particular Health and Safety, Equality and Diversity and Customer Service.
- To undertake such other duties as may be required to fulfil the job purpose.
- Receive regular supervision e.g. from the Team Manager.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- Understand the changing evidence and policy environment both locally and nationally in relation to Parents/Carers of Autistic people and promote and share this within the local community.
- Engage formally and informally with local support groups and other autism services, sharing information and strengthening links between them.
- Support the organisational development of support groups for Parents/Carers of Autistic people in Lincolnshire, including their activities, good governance, sound financial management, safeguarding etc.
- Advocate in writing (and verbally, if agreed) on behalf of Parents/Carers of Autistic people and their support groups to senior managers, in an appropriate and professional manner.
- Ensure the service users voice is heard in meetings with professionals.
- Engage with individual autistic adults and encourage them to access support groups and services.
- Promote autonomy and empowerment of Parents/Carers of Autistic people.
- Ensure there is provision in the county to collectively gather the views of Parents/Carers of Autistic people and develop a forum for this if one does not currently exist.
- Organise and facilitate stakeholder/engagement meetings.
- Meet agreed objectives and delivery targets e.g. no. engagements attended.
- Produce written reports of meetings, evidence etc as required by Managers.
- Promote the neurodiversity model of Autism to professionals and other stakeholders.
- Support the development of the Lincolnshire Virtual Autism Hub.
- Promote the service and provide information to the wider community and other relevant agencies.
- Effective multi-agency and partnership working with a variety of services, some of which might have different perspectives.
- Support the Team Manager and Project Manager in establishing and implementing policies and procedures, that meets the requirements of the organisation.
- Ensure accurate and up-to-date records are maintained for the service, including the collection of usage data.
- Identify and participate in training and development opportunities.
- Participate in performance management system of 1-1s, team meetings and appraisals.
- To ensure you and the team are familiar with and comply with LPFT Policies, in particular Health and Safety, Equality and Diversity and Customer Service.
- To undertake such other duties as may be required to fulfil the job purpose.
- Receive regular supervision e.g. from the Team Manager.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Vocational Qualifications at level 4 or 5/ Foundation Degree in relevant field, or equivalent experience, within a previous work or volunteering setting
Desirable
- Level 3 Peer Support (training will be provided to successful candidates) Level 3+ Autism qualification or equivalent understanding
Experience
Essential
- Experience of leading autistic people in a service or voluntary sector setting
- Experience of organising and running meetings
- Working knowledge of national autism policies and local autism initiatives
- Experience of working in partnership with statutory organisations
- Experience of managing challenging situations
Desirable
- Experience of supporting volunteer leaders
- Evidence of being involved and making a difference in projects that benefit autistic people
Skills and competences
Essential
- IT literate
- Competent to use Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook, and quick to learn the use of other software programmes as relevant
- Ability to work on own initiative and organise own workload, including email inbox
- Able to organise and conduct 1:1 and group meetings in a variety of contexts
- Commitment to and a working knowledge of equality and diversity
- Detailed understanding of the needs of autistic adults and the issues they may need support with from services e.g. mental health
- Be able to command the respect from peers, including autistic support group leaders and those employed as autistic Experts by Experience
Desirable
- Experience of working in an office environment
- Experience of working in a healthcare organisation
- Understanding and experience of running different co-production and engagement methodologies
- Competence in communicating and working with Parents/Carers of Autistic people who may be in distress
Special Requirements
Essential
- Must have experience of being a parent/carer of an autistic person and have experience of accessing services
- Ability to travel independently
Desirable
- Driving licence
- Flexible to adjust hours to accommodate the needs of the job
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Vocational Qualifications at level 4 or 5/ Foundation Degree in relevant field, or equivalent experience, within a previous work or volunteering setting
Desirable
- Level 3 Peer Support (training will be provided to successful candidates) Level 3+ Autism qualification or equivalent understanding
Experience
Essential
- Experience of leading autistic people in a service or voluntary sector setting
- Experience of organising and running meetings
- Working knowledge of national autism policies and local autism initiatives
- Experience of working in partnership with statutory organisations
- Experience of managing challenging situations
Desirable
- Experience of supporting volunteer leaders
- Evidence of being involved and making a difference in projects that benefit autistic people
Skills and competences
Essential
- IT literate
- Competent to use Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook, and quick to learn the use of other software programmes as relevant
- Ability to work on own initiative and organise own workload, including email inbox
- Able to organise and conduct 1:1 and group meetings in a variety of contexts
- Commitment to and a working knowledge of equality and diversity
- Detailed understanding of the needs of autistic adults and the issues they may need support with from services e.g. mental health
- Be able to command the respect from peers, including autistic support group leaders and those employed as autistic Experts by Experience
Desirable
- Experience of working in an office environment
- Experience of working in a healthcare organisation
- Understanding and experience of running different co-production and engagement methodologies
- Competence in communicating and working with Parents/Carers of Autistic people who may be in distress
Special Requirements
Essential
- Must have experience of being a parent/carer of an autistic person and have experience of accessing services
- Ability to travel independently
Desirable
- Driving licence
- Flexible to adjust hours to accommodate the needs of the job
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
