Job summary
Do you have an interest in and passion in
Deafblindness and working with people who have sensory impairments? If you are interested, then why not join our sensory team!
We are looking for a Communicator Guide to
join our highly reputable, countywide Sensory Team in adult social care in
North Yorkshire, predominantly working in the East of the county, in Scarborough,
Ryedale and Whitby areas. Deafblindness, or dual sensory loss, is a
combination of sight and hearing loss. It affects an individuals ability to
communicate, access information and get around. So, whether you are looking for
your first step on the career ladder or have a wealth of experience and are
looking for something new, we want to hear from you!
What one of our Communicator Guides thinks - I
love being a Communicator Guide because you get the opportunity to build up
good relationships with people and always leave them feeling you have made a
difference.
Main duties of the job
What you will do:
- Provide support to Deafblind people, promoting wellbeing, independence,
choice and control.
- Support people with social contact and access to services.
- Support people with communication and information in a way that is
accessible.
- Work in ways which maintain personal dignity as well as maximising
individual potential.
About you:
You will have some experience of sight loss,
of British Sign Language, and communication methods, and will have worked in a
supporting role with people previously.
You will need a commitment to undertake further training to develop
further skills in working with Deafblind people.
You will have excellent communication skills
and the ability to work in close partnership with other teams and agencies,
including other social care teams, voluntary agencies, the NHS and families/carers.
About us
In return, we can offer you:
- The opportunity to develop knowledge, experience and skills with a
leading care provider
- A programme of professional support, supervision and training
- The opportunity to work as part of a safe culture of support and
learning, where respect is treated as paramount.
- A variety of competitive employee benefits including generous leave
entitlement, market leading pension scheme, access to range of salary sacrifice
schemes and discounts
- Travel expenses will be reimbursed
- The opportunity to play a key part in the development of our services
Job description
Job responsibilities
Job Context
The Sensory Team is a countywide
service comprising a number of professional roles. As a Communicator Guide for Dual Sensory
Loss, you will work with adults with care and support needs with a combination
of sensory needs e.g. who are deaf, deafened, deafblind or who have sight loss.
An enhanced DBS is required for this
post. This role involves spoken communications, so a confident use of English
language is required.
Job Purpose
To promote the independence of
deafblind adults who are deaf, deafened, deafblind and who have vision loss
including key tasks of:
- Access to communication
- Access to information
- Mobility
Operational Management
- Ensure deafblind people are able to
make best use of community facilities, including banks.
- Support deafblind people in accessing
paid and/or voluntary employment opportunities, where appropriate.
- Enable deafblind people to access
appropriate health care.
- Assist deafblind people to manage
their correspondence and other written information, assist with letter writing,
filling out bills/cheques and making telephone calls.
- Act as professional support to
deafblind people, providing access to news, information and other services of
the persons choosing.
- Assist deafblind people in activities
of daily living to enable skills development to achieve independence.
- Ensure deafblind people have
opportunities to contribute to the community in which they live (e.g. participation
in user groups, exercising political rights etc).
- Support deafblind people in managing a
clean and safe home environment, liaising with other services where necessary
- Support deafblind people in accessing
universal and other services e.g. Reablement and other statutory processes e.g.
through safeguarding processes.
- Participate in assessments of need
with deafblind people as
allocated by your line the manager, alongside other suitably qualified staff
and where indicated, to undertake assessments of need with carers.
- Where adults or carers fall within
eligibility criteria, support the development of creative and innovative
packages of support with those people and
or carers to achieve the identified outcomes.
- Provide professional support and
advice to people and carers on how their needs
could be partly or wholly met by access to universal and other non-care
services.
- Providing access to reablement and
intermediate care services for the given client group, including joint working
where this is appropriate, in line with agreed pathways.
- Provide training and support to
personal assistants where this option is taken by an adult with care and
support needs.
- Undertake re-assessments and reviews
as required by your line manager.
- Assist in proactively working towards
the increased uptake of direct payments and other service development
initiatives including (but not limited to) reablement, personalisation,
individual budgets, self-assessment and self-directed care.
Communications
- Work with your line manager and other
colleagues in Sensory services to contribute to the development of communities
to enable the empowerment of deafblind people.
- Liaise with local, universal and other
services to promote vulnerable peoples access to them.
- Have effective use of good
communication skills which may include BSL, deafblind finger spelling, the block
alphabet, clear speech and other means of receptive and expressive
communication as required to meet the persons needs.
- Provide day-to-day advice and support
to colleagues as agreed with your line manager.
Partnership / Corporate Working
- Participate in training, developmental
and project activity including multi-disciplinary and multi-agency activity as
agreed with your line manager.
- Act as a Champion for deafblindness within
Health and Adult Services and in the wider Council, acting as a resource for
awareness training for colleagues where required.
Systems and Information
- Maintain clear, concise and timely records
of cases, care pathways and actions in line with the Directorates policies on
file maintenance.
- Assist in the timely and accurate
collection of client data and performance data using the appropriate IT systems
and processes. You will ensure that you utilise the current systems in relation
to case recording, financial monitoring, ICT.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Job Context
The Sensory Team is a countywide
service comprising a number of professional roles. As a Communicator Guide for Dual Sensory
Loss, you will work with adults with care and support needs with a combination
of sensory needs e.g. who are deaf, deafened, deafblind or who have sight loss.
An enhanced DBS is required for this
post. This role involves spoken communications, so a confident use of English
language is required.
Job Purpose
To promote the independence of
deafblind adults who are deaf, deafened, deafblind and who have vision loss
including key tasks of:
- Access to communication
- Access to information
- Mobility
Operational Management
- Ensure deafblind people are able to
make best use of community facilities, including banks.
- Support deafblind people in accessing
paid and/or voluntary employment opportunities, where appropriate.
- Enable deafblind people to access
appropriate health care.
- Assist deafblind people to manage
their correspondence and other written information, assist with letter writing,
filling out bills/cheques and making telephone calls.
- Act as professional support to
deafblind people, providing access to news, information and other services of
the persons choosing.
- Assist deafblind people in activities
of daily living to enable skills development to achieve independence.
- Ensure deafblind people have
opportunities to contribute to the community in which they live (e.g. participation
in user groups, exercising political rights etc).
- Support deafblind people in managing a
clean and safe home environment, liaising with other services where necessary
- Support deafblind people in accessing
universal and other services e.g. Reablement and other statutory processes e.g.
through safeguarding processes.
- Participate in assessments of need
with deafblind people as
allocated by your line the manager, alongside other suitably qualified staff
and where indicated, to undertake assessments of need with carers.
- Where adults or carers fall within
eligibility criteria, support the development of creative and innovative
packages of support with those people and
or carers to achieve the identified outcomes.
- Provide professional support and
advice to people and carers on how their needs
could be partly or wholly met by access to universal and other non-care
services.
- Providing access to reablement and
intermediate care services for the given client group, including joint working
where this is appropriate, in line with agreed pathways.
- Provide training and support to
personal assistants where this option is taken by an adult with care and
support needs.
- Undertake re-assessments and reviews
as required by your line manager.
- Assist in proactively working towards
the increased uptake of direct payments and other service development
initiatives including (but not limited to) reablement, personalisation,
individual budgets, self-assessment and self-directed care.
Communications
- Work with your line manager and other
colleagues in Sensory services to contribute to the development of communities
to enable the empowerment of deafblind people.
- Liaise with local, universal and other
services to promote vulnerable peoples access to them.
- Have effective use of good
communication skills which may include BSL, deafblind finger spelling, the block
alphabet, clear speech and other means of receptive and expressive
communication as required to meet the persons needs.
- Provide day-to-day advice and support
to colleagues as agreed with your line manager.
Partnership / Corporate Working
- Participate in training, developmental
and project activity including multi-disciplinary and multi-agency activity as
agreed with your line manager.
- Act as a Champion for deafblindness within
Health and Adult Services and in the wider Council, acting as a resource for
awareness training for colleagues where required.
Systems and Information
- Maintain clear, concise and timely records
of cases, care pathways and actions in line with the Directorates policies on
file maintenance.
- Assist in the timely and accurate
collection of client data and performance data using the appropriate IT systems
and processes. You will ensure that you utilise the current systems in relation
to case recording, financial monitoring, ICT.
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- An understanding of the issues affecting people with a dual sensory loss, including the barriers experienced by people in accessing everyday life chances
- Good working knowledge, understanding and application of community care legislation and regulations.
- Knowledge and understanding of social care policy developments and good practice at a local and national level, and specifically how these apply to deafblind people.
- Experience of working with people with a sensory impairment including facilitating access to information, communication and/or community facilities
- Experience of undertaking social care assessments
- Experience of working in a supporting role
- Experience of inter-agency collaboration in practice.
- Experience of working positively in a changing environment.
Desirable
- Knowledge of statutory requirements, including requirements in respect of carers, equality and anti-discrimination legislation, maintaining a safe working environment, data protection and confidentiality.
- Knowledge and understanding of how Equality and Diversity, Dignity and Respect and Human Rights will apply to this role.
- Experience of working with people with a Dual Sensory Loss
- Experience of undertaking assessments with people with a sensory loss
- Experience of contributing to the safeguarding of vulnerable adults and/or children
Qualifications
Essential
- British Sign Language skills at minimum Level 1 on appointment with a requirement to undertake and achieve BSL Signature Level 2 within 2 years of appointment and level 3 within 4 years of appointment
- Signature CDC2 Level 2 Certificate Communication with Deafblind People (Manual), or a commitment to undertake the training within 6 months of appointment.
Occupational Skills
Essential
- Excellent communication and presentation skills written, verbal, sign language etc.
- The ability to converse at ease with customers and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post.
- Resilience skills. Works productively in a pressurised environment and supports others to do so. Ability to act calmly during difficult circumstances and recovers quickly from setbacks.
- Effective time management and planning skills, meets deadlines
- Effective written communication skills communicates effectively in writing to produce documents in a range of formats and styles to suit a range of audiences. Excellent case recording and report writing skills.
- Decision making skills can make decisions within own area of responsibility which may involve considering risks.
- Ability to monitor quality and service standards.
- Good IT skills including use of email, intranet, internet, word, excel and inputting data.
- Flexibility and adaptability.
- Problem solving skills uses creativity and innovation to generate solutions to problems.
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- An understanding of the issues affecting people with a dual sensory loss, including the barriers experienced by people in accessing everyday life chances
- Good working knowledge, understanding and application of community care legislation and regulations.
- Knowledge and understanding of social care policy developments and good practice at a local and national level, and specifically how these apply to deafblind people.
- Experience of working with people with a sensory impairment including facilitating access to information, communication and/or community facilities
- Experience of undertaking social care assessments
- Experience of working in a supporting role
- Experience of inter-agency collaboration in practice.
- Experience of working positively in a changing environment.
Desirable
- Knowledge of statutory requirements, including requirements in respect of carers, equality and anti-discrimination legislation, maintaining a safe working environment, data protection and confidentiality.
- Knowledge and understanding of how Equality and Diversity, Dignity and Respect and Human Rights will apply to this role.
- Experience of working with people with a Dual Sensory Loss
- Experience of undertaking assessments with people with a sensory loss
- Experience of contributing to the safeguarding of vulnerable adults and/or children
Qualifications
Essential
- British Sign Language skills at minimum Level 1 on appointment with a requirement to undertake and achieve BSL Signature Level 2 within 2 years of appointment and level 3 within 4 years of appointment
- Signature CDC2 Level 2 Certificate Communication with Deafblind People (Manual), or a commitment to undertake the training within 6 months of appointment.
Occupational Skills
Essential
- Excellent communication and presentation skills written, verbal, sign language etc.
- The ability to converse at ease with customers and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post.
- Resilience skills. Works productively in a pressurised environment and supports others to do so. Ability to act calmly during difficult circumstances and recovers quickly from setbacks.
- Effective time management and planning skills, meets deadlines
- Effective written communication skills communicates effectively in writing to produce documents in a range of formats and styles to suit a range of audiences. Excellent case recording and report writing skills.
- Decision making skills can make decisions within own area of responsibility which may involve considering risks.
- Ability to monitor quality and service standards.
- Good IT skills including use of email, intranet, internet, word, excel and inputting data.
- Flexibility and adaptability.
- Problem solving skills uses creativity and innovation to generate solutions to problems.
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.
