Women’s Services Practitioner – OOCR Intensive Support

Job applicant
information pack
Women’s Services Practitioner – OOCR Intensive
Support
(Female*)

*Due to the nature of our work this is a genuine occupational requirement - Equality Act 2010, Sch 9, Pt 1, Para 1

We believe that all women and girls have the right to reach their potential
and to live their lives free from poverty and violence. We are passionate
about what we do. We know it makes a difference.

Through  our work  we  know  that women  and  girls  affected  by  poverty, trauma  and  abuse  have the
potential to transform their lives. We support them by providing a safe environment and high-quality
gender-responsive and trauma-informed support.

New Dawn New Day has worked to promote women’s wellbeing for over 30 years and delivers a
range of services designed to meet the needs of women and girls, particularly those who have been
impacted by trauma.

We are committed to...

•

Improving women’s health and wellbeing, particularly those who face severe and multiple
disadvantage or who are victims and survivors of abuse and trauma.
Improving disadvantaged women’s social and economic circumstances.

•
•  Enabling greater social inclusion for women with who have multiple unmet needs.

We will do this by...

•  Ensuring that women have opportunities to enhance their health, wellbeing and personal

development as well as their economic and social circumstances.

•  Developing quality early intervention services that work with women who are at risk of

violence, abuse, exploitation and involvement in the criminal justice system.

•  Offering holistic, wraparound, gender-responsive support to meet the multiple needs of

women.

•  Ensuring our services are trauma-informed and responsive.
•
•  Being a collaborative, enterprising, sufficiently resourced and sustainable organisation.

Influencing policy and practice to create improvements in services for vulnerable women.

The following principles underpin our work...

•  All women have the right to live their lives free from poverty, violence and oppression.
•  Women affected by poverty, trauma and abuse have the potential to transform their lives
through the provision of a safe environment and high quality, gender-responsive, trauma-
informed support.

•  Women have the right to expect accessible, appropriate and timely support to address their

individual needs.

•  Women have many needs and no one service can meet the needs of any one woman. We

must therefore actively collaborate and work in partnership with other agencies to enable a
co-ordinated package of support to be provided.

•  Women using our services have the right to have their say in how these services are run and

become involved in the development and delivery of these services.

Women’s Services Practitioner – Intensive Support

We are seeking applications from experienced practitioners to deliver a range of support interventions
to women referred to New Dawn New Day through our Out of Court Resolution (OOCR) pathway. These
women may be diverted from formal criminal justice processes and can present with complex needs and
significant barriers to engagement.

This post will complement our existing OOCR pathway by working specifically with women who present
with a higher level of need and who face greater challenges in accessing support. The role offers an
opportunity to provide intensive, wraparound support that is responsive to the realities of women’s
lives and rooted in trauma-informed, relational practice.

The OOCR pathway is delivered in partnership with the OPCC, and forms part of NDND’s wider
commitment to trauma informed support within criminal justice interventions. Support is delivered
from our women’s centre in central Leicester and on an outreach basis across the county.

This will be an interesting and varied post with the postholder working as part of a small team offering
support on both a one-to-one and group basis. The approach is holistic, relational, gender responsive
and trauma informed.

On a day-to-day basis this will involve:

•  Dealing with referrals to the service; making contact with the women who are referred, liaising

with colleagues in probation and setting up initial appointments.

•  Managing referrals to the service: making initial contact with referred women, liaising with

police and partner agencies, and setting up appointments.

•  Carrying out holistic assessments of each woman’s needs, risks, and strengths, and co-producing

action plans that reflect their goals and priorities.

•  Delivering support in community settings when attending the centre is a barrier, including home

visits and accompaniment to appointments.

•  Providing practical and emotional support to help women take steps towards their goals. This

may include referrals to specialist services (e.g. recovery, mental health, education, employment,
debt and benefits advice), or advocacy to access housing, emergency support, or safeguarding.

•  Making regular check-in calls and following up on non-attendance to encourage continued

engagement.

•  Attending multi-agency meetings and Core Groups where appropriate, contributing to

coordinated support planning.

•  Encouraging women to access NDND’s wider services, including peer support and structured

group programmes.

•  Facilitating NDND’s Healthy Relationships and Emotional Management programmes, and

supporting women to engage meaningfully.

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•  Referring to NDND’s specialist criminal justice IDVA for additional support where domestic abuse

is a factor.

•  Liaising with police and other referring agencies to ensure appropriate information sharing and

continuity of care.

•  Reviewing progress, maintaining accurate case notes, and contributing to monitoring systems

and reporting requirements.

•  Participating in team meetings and reflective practice sessions to support learning and wellbeing.
•  Contributing to the development of new activities and programmes in response to women’s

needs and feedback.

We are inviting applicants who are passionate about supporting women to reach their potential and
have experience of working with women who present with multiple unmet needs. Our ideal candidate
will have:

•  At least 2 years’ experience of delivering support to vulnerable, excluded, and disadvantaged

women.

•  Knowledge of the causes and impact of women’s offending.
•  A good understanding of trauma informed practice (or a willingness to learn and develop their

practice using this approach).

Salary and Benefits

£28,329 per annum (pro-rata: £15,312 for 20 hours per week)
20 hours per week

Salary
Hours
Annual leave   25 days, plus 4 extra days Christmas plus Bank Holidays pro-rata.
Pension
Contract
Reporting to   Senior Women’s Services Practitioner – OOCR Project

Workplace pension scheme offering 6% employer contribution.
Permanent (subject to continued funding for this post from October 2027)

Other benefits
We offer a highly supportive workplace culture, committed to supporting you with your personal and
professional development which offers regular support through training and trauma-informed
reflective practice with senior colleagues.

Job Description

Major Tasks

•  Case Management & Outreach
•  Group Facilitation
•  Safeguarding
•  Administration, Monitoring, and Evaluation

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1

Case Management and Outreach

1.1

1.2
1.3
1.4

1.5

1.6

1.7

To work with women identified as having multiple unmet needs, to identify their personal,
social and emotional needs and devise co-produced plans to address these needs.
To hold a small case load of women with high levels of unmet needs.
To be self-assured and competent with lone-working and community outreach support work.
To undertake a risk assessment of each woman and to adhere to New Dawn New Day’s risk
management policies and procedures.
To provide one-to-one emotional and practical wraparound support to women as determined
by the needs presented. This may also include dynamic risk assessment, safety planning,
advocacy, and assistance in accessing other services in the community.
To make referrals to other agencies as appropriate including health and social care services,
housing and homelessness agencies, domestic abuse and sexual violence projects, GP services,
drug and alcohol treatment, supported housing, legal advice, mental health services, sexual
health services, and other local specialist support voluntary sector agencies.
To advocate on behalf of the women to ensure that they have access to services and can
exercise their legal rights.

1.8  Where appropriate, to carry out or community-based visits and accompany the women to

1.9

appointments etc.
To carry out regular case work reviews to assess progress and to monitor and report on
individual client outcomes.

1.10  To assess women’s suitability for the programme and any learning or access needs..

2

Group Facilitation

2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7

To facilitate NDND’s structured group programmes.
To facilitate informal group activities.
To contribute to the ongoing development of existing NDND group programmes.
To contribute to the creation of new group programmes.
To evaluate the effectiveness of group programmes.
To provide individualised feedback relating to women’s participation as required.
To train and support women to co-deliver activities where appropriate.

3

Safeguarding

3.1

3.2

3.3

To ensure that any issues relating to the safeguarding of children or vulnerable adults are
responded to in line with New Dawn New Day’s policies and procedures.
To act in accordance with the principles of Trauma Informed and Responsive Practice, creating
a safe environment which recognises and responds to the impact of trauma in women’s lives.
To promote a climate of equality and diversity within the project so that women from all

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3.4

backgrounds and circumstances feel able to participate and voice their needs and concerns.
To work within New Dawn New Day’s Health and Safety policies and practices and to ensure
that all women accessing our services comply with these requirements.

4

Administration, Monitoring and Evaluation

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

To carry out any administrative tasks associated with the role, including the maintenance of
confidential records in line with agreed systems, New Dawn New Day’s policies and the
requirements of the General Data Protection Act.
To complete all ongoing monitoring procedures and to produce monthly and quarterly
monitoring information.
To contribute to the organisation’s overall monitoring and evaluation systems, including
contributing to the annual report.
To collect evidence of the achievement of positive progression outcomes to evaluate the
effectiveness of the service.
To ensure that records are kept of all contacts and agreements between NDND, the client and
appropriate agencies.

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Other (Core Criteria for all Staff)

5.1

5.2
5.3
5.4

5.5

5.6
5.7

5.8
5.9

To actively promote the new Dawn New Day’s aims and objectives and to ensure that all
contacts with external agencies and individuals accessing the project fully reflect the
professional approach of the organisation.
To attend events and activities to promote NDND’s services for women.
To strive towards achieving personal and organisational performance target.
To work flexibly and as member of the team and to contribute to the smooth running of the
organisation, including the sharing of relevant information and expertise.
To make full use of regular supervision sessions, to attend and contribute to staff meetings
and to participate in relevant training.
To contribute to overall quality assurance procedures and improvement plans
To contribute to the development of services and support the development of the
organisation’s overall business plan.
To work occasional additional hours as required.
To complete any other duties and responsibilities as requested which are commensurate with
this post.

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Person Specification

Essential Skills, Knowledge, Abilities and Experience
We consider the following to be the minimum level of skills and experience required for this role:

•  Significant experience of delivering support to vulnerable, excluded, and disadvantaged women

(minimum 2 years).

•  Effective helping skills, sufficient to support women to explore options and make positive choices.
•  Ability to build positive and supportive working relationships with vulnerable service users whilst

maintaining appropriate professional boundaries.

•  Excellent understanding of the impact of trauma and the ability to ensure that services are

informed by and respond to this.

•  Ability to listen to and respond effectively to distressing client material, always maintaining the

safety of the woman.

•  Ability to respond calmly, quickly, and effectively in stressful situations and to effectively manage

and de-escalate challenging behaviour.

•  Knowledge and experience of safeguarding procedures.
•  Ability to assess client risks when presented with a range of multiple unmet needs and provide

assessments when required.

•  Excellent case management and recording skills.
•  Confident and experienced in the use of IT applications, including MS Office and case

management systems.

•  Ability to care for self, ask for support when needed and offer support to others in the team.
•  Ability to reflect and learn from experience.
•  Excellent communication skills including the ability the write accurate, concise reports, case

studies.

Essential Personal Qualities
The following personal qualities and attributes are considered essential for this role:

•  Committed to New Dawn New Day’s vision, mission, aims and objectives.
•  Compassionate and non-judgemental.
•  Tenacious and resilient.
•  Self-aware and able to recognise and manage the impact of working with people who have

experienced trauma.

•  Collaborative and able to support others.
•  Creative, solution focussed and committed to learning through continuing professional

development and supervision.

•  Committed to promoting equality and diversity.
•  Willingness to be flexible and make changes in response to evaluation, learning and feedback.
•  Confidence in communicating with people from a wide range of backgrounds.
•  Empathy, compassion, and humour.
•  Ability to deal with feedback and constructive criticism.

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Desirable Criteria
The following skills, experience and knowledge are considered desirable for this role:

•  Knowledge and experience of delivering support based on the principles of Trauma Informed and

Responsive practice.

•  Specific in-depth knowledge of relevant areas of need: accommodation and homelessness,

substance misuse, mental health

•  Experience of delivering psychoeducational programmes
•  Ability to speak other languages and communicate effectively with women whose first language

is not English.

•  Knowledge of rights afforded through health and social care provision, housing and homeless law,

family law etc.

•  Degree and/or qualification in a relevant field.
•  Experience of delivering group activities.

How to Apply

Please send us a CV setting out your employment history and qualifications and alongside a
personalised covering letter in support of your application demonstrating how you meet the skills,
competencies and personal qualities as set out in the person specification.

Please also ensure that you provide the details of 2 referees, one of which must be your previous or
current employer. At least one referee must able to comment on your suitability to work in this role at
New Dawn New Day.

Please send your completed application to hayley.taylor@ndnd.org.uk with “Women’s Services
Practitioner – Intensive Support” in the subject line.

Important Information for Candidates / FAQs

You’re a women’s organisation – can only women apply for this post ?
Applications are welcome from all sections of the community from suitably qualified and experienced
candidates. We will always be clear when a post is available to women only and this will be specified in
the advertisements and application packs. We are only able to advertise a post exclusively to women
when there are grounds for exemption under the Equality Act. All candidates will need to demonstrate
that they are committed to women’s empowerment and the aims and values of New Dawn New Day
Ltd.

How do you decide on essential and desirable criteria for the post ?
Once a job role is agreed we set about determining what qualifications, experience, skills, knowledge
and personal attributes are required to undertake the role. These criteria are then selected as
“essential” or “desirable”. Essential criteria are those skills, qualities, qualifications etc which we deem

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to be the minimum required to effectively perform the role. Desirable criteria are those attributes we
would ideally like the candidate to possess.

How will you shortlist my application ?
We will select your application for shortlisting based on your ability to meet the criteria outlined in the
person specification. The shortlisting process will be carried out by the recruitment panel and
applications are shortlisted through a scoring process.

I don’t meet all of the essential criteria – will you still shortlist me ?
Unfortunately, only candidates meeting the minimum essential criteria will be considered for the post.
It is worth going through the person specification in detail to ensure that you meet these requirements
before applying as this will save you considerable time and energy. We are very keen for candidates to
think about their transferable skills and knowledge (ie skills and experience they have utilised in other
roles) however these need to be appropriate and relevant.

If I meet all the essential criteria does this mean that I am guaranteed an interview ?
The ability to meet the essential criteria will not guarantee your application will be shortlisted. In cases
where we have many candidates meeting the minimum criteria, candidates will be selected on their
ability to exceed the minimum requirement.

Should I fill out the application electronically or on paper ?
All forms should be submitted electronically. We expect all staff to be able to use a computer, Microsoft
Word and be able to send email. If you have access needs that require you to apply by an alternative
method then please contact us to discuss this.

Who should I put down as a referee on my application?
All posts are offered subject to us receiving 2 satisfactory references, one of which must be your
current or most recent employer. Your previous employer will be asked to provide confirmation of your
previous role. They will also be asked information about your performance in that role and to comment
on your ability to fulfil the role you have applied for. They will also be asked about other issues such as
attendance, punctuality etc. If you are unable to provide us with suitable and appropriate references the
offer of employment will be withdrawn. If you are unable to provide a reference from a previous
employer you will need to explain your reasons for at the earliest opportunity.

I do not want my current employer to know that I am applying for this post – how will you go about
getting a reference ?
References are usually only requested when an offer of employment is made. We will not contact either
of your referees without your express permission.

We hope the above answers any questions you may have about the post. If you feel you would be a
suitable candidate then please fill out the application. Good luck with your application - we very much
look forward to hearing from you !

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