Post(s) available: 

37 hours per week37 hours per week37 hours per week37 hours per week22.5 hours per week

Programmes Facilitator - Role Overview: 

Are you a confident communicator? Are you passionate about rehabilitation and the benefits of group work? Could you help people make meaningful and sustained changes in their lives? If so, then a career as a Programmes Facilitator in the Probation Service in the East Midlands Region could be for you.

Providing interventions to people who engage in harmful behaviour to help reduce their likelihood of reoffending is an important part of our work in HMPPS. Accredited Programmes aim to support people in our care to strengthen and develop skills and behaviour to enable greater choice and capacity to lead a more constructive, meaningful and crime free future.

As a Programmes Facilitator, you will be responsible for delivering these Accredited Programmes to individuals from a range of backgrounds and with different offending histories. You will plan, deliver and debrief a range of sessions to diverse groups of individuals on key areas of need, such as emotional management, problem solving, assertive communication, thinking skills, and social and relationship skills. You will use your keen understanding and awareness of group dynamics and the complex needs of people on probation to inform how you manage the sessions, and use your prosocial modelling skills to reinforce positive behaviour and challenge anti-social behaviour and attitudes.

Our team is made up of a strong and inclusive group of colleagues, from all walks of life, who are passionate about helping and motivating people on probation.  You will work alongside your fellow team members to ensure that people on probation receive the highest quality input and support, as well as sharing information and providing guidance to members of the wider Probation Service, such as Probation Practitioners and Domestic Abuse Safety Officers.   

The East Midlands Interventions Team is committed to learning and development, and full training for the role of Facilitator is provided. This is alongside regular support and reflective supervision provided throughout your journey by Programme Managers, as well as regular feedback and input from experienced Treatment Manager colleagues.

The work is varied, challenging and meaningful and comes with job security, great benefits and career progression opportunities – not to mention the chance to make a real difference to people’s lives and our communities.

Requirements of the Programme Facilitator Role Include:

Training in the delivery of groupwork programmes as outlined in the Accredited Programme and Structured Interventions Manuals and in keeping with the core concepts of group work delivery.Delivering programme sessions to groups or individualsMonitoring group participants’ progress, providing participants with feedback, and ensuring this is recorded on relevant systems.Working as a team to support performance targets and programme integrity requirements.Working alongside Treatment Managers to contribute to the assessment of risk, protective factors and treatment targets of those attending groups.Undertaking regular training, feedback and development sessions and workshops.Liaising with Probation Practitioners, Domestic Abuse Safety Officers and partner agencies to share information on progress, risk and needs.Identifying and taking the necessary action to protect children and vulnerable adults and promote their welfare in accordance with safeguarding policies and procedures.Working a minimum of two evenings per week to ensure the groups are accessible outside normal working hours.Delivering groups from various delivery venues across the East Midlands Region.

Recruitment Process

The recruitment process includes;

Application FormCivil Service Behaviours Success Profiles InterviewAssessment Centre Event

All posts are subject to vetting.

Overview of the job

The job holder will deliver a range of rehabilitation interventions aimed at changing the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour of people on probation with a full range of offence types and a full range of levels of risks (including those convicted of sexual and domestic abuse offences), as determined by sentences of the Courts and on the recommendation of Probation Practitioners.

The main objectives of this role are to reduce re-offending, protect the public, prevent future victims and rehabilitation to help people to build constructive and meaningful lives in the community, through the delivery of effective evidence based Accredited Programmes and Structured Interventions.

The post holder will be Regionally based and sit in the Interventions Team and report to the Programme Manager. They will deliver interventions across a large regional area where travel will be required. There will be no line management responsibility in this role.

There will be a requirement to regularly work unsocial hours (including evenings and weekends).

Summary

The job holder will be delivering interventions in groups, however dependent on the intervention can be delivered in 1:1 sessions or remotely (including working with individuals with learning disabilities and challenges) in line with operational manuals and organisational policies.

The post holder will liaise and feedback to Probation Practitioners and other agencies in regard to people on probation’s progress, work needed and/or concerns within a group. They will contribute to the overall assessment of risk and need related to offending to address this.

Responsibilities, Activities & Duties

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

• Responsible for the planning and delivery of Interventions in a group or on an individual basis to people on probation. The post holder will develop and build a therapeutic and safe working environment for the duration of the programme, in line with operational manuals taking into account different learning styles and abilities.
• Will adhere to PS statutory responsibility for safeguarding (Children and Adult) and multi-agency public protection policies to manage all risks of serious harm.
• Will manage group dynamics and a range of complexities and needs of people on probation, to ensure effective targeting of the intervention and that the learning outcomes are achieved. Responsible for addressing any problematic behaviour within groups.
• Responsible for continually monitoring and making informed, evidenced recommendations around suitability, risk, safety and wellbeing of people on probation throughout the intervention (pre, during and post), to inform future sentence management.
• Will be responsible for completing timely and accurate recording of all relevant data; attendance, feedback, risk issues, and relevant reports, that meet quality assurance requirements.
• Responsible for liaising and providing timely and appropriate communication and analysis of people on probation’s progress on the intervention or concerns within a group, with the relevant staff or stakeholders (Courts, Criminal Justice Agencies etc) responsible for enforcement and risk management plans.
• Deliver, workshops and briefings to Probation staff and external stakeholders on the range, purpose and content of interventions available.
• Demonstrate pro-social modelling skills by consistently reinforcing pro-social behaviour and attitudes and challenging anti-social behaviour and attitudes.
• Will take part in regular video monitoring feedback sessions to ensure audit standards are adhered to and to review and reflect on their own practice and implement advised professional development.

The post holder must adhere to all policies in respect of the sensitive/confidential nature of the information handled whilst working in this position and must always demonstrate a commitment to equality and inclusion and an understanding of their relevance to the work they do.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation Scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the job holder.

Civil Service Success Profile Criteria

Behaviours

• Communicating and Influencing
• Developing Self and Others
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions

Ability

• The ability to evidence high level literacy skills required to read, understand and interpret policies and the ability to write reports and correspondence for internal and external stakeholders.
• An ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence through the medium of English or (where specified in Wales) Welsh.

Experience

• Experience of dealing with challenging behaviour, including from individuals who have experienced a range of social/ personal difficulties, within a professional or personal setting.
• Experience of working collaboratively, maintaining effective team relationships.
• An awareness and some understanding of the criminal justice system, safeguarding principles and types of sentences given to People on Probation.
• Experience of assessing and analysing information from different sources and situations to make decisions.
• An understanding of and commitment to promoting equality and valuing diversity.
• Experience of using a range of IT software applications such as Microsoft.
• Experience of implementing new learning to improve performance.
• Experience of planning and prioritising tasks effectively in response to changing demands.

Technical

• Candidates will be required to undertake and pass an Assessment Centre prior to undertaking training.
• Candidates will be required to become an Accredited Programmes Facilitator by:
• Undertaking and successfully passing Core Skills (1 week) to evidence their competence in delivering group work interventions (within 6 months).
• Undertaking and successfully passing Programme specific training for each programme and intervention the service delivers (1 week per programme).