GROW Trainee - Bournemouth £24,102.00 per annum + £1,500 budget for personal and professional development GROW Trainee Bournemouth

A home is a fundamental human need, as essential as education or healthcare. Yet millions of people across Britain struggle on a daily basis with homelessness, bad housing conditions, soaring rents, discrimination and the threat of eviction.
This is your chance to play a part.

Come and Join Us

The GROW Traineeship gives people with experience of homelessness and other disadvantages (including but not limited to; experience of the criminal justice system, mental ill-health or substance misuse) access to paid employment, training and personal development opportunities. The traineeship lasts for up to 15 months, and each Trainee receives personalised training and enhanced support to give them the skills and confidence they need to secure meaningful employment at the end. We are looking for someone who is passionate about using their own experiences to help make change for people in Dorset experiencing bad housing and homelessness.

About the team

The team in Dorset is well-established and has been providing housing advice and support services within Dorset for over 20 years. With office bases in Bournemouth and Weymouth, we have contracts to deliver Housing First support in Dorset Council area and offer Legal Aid Advice, including a court desk service at Bournemouth and Weymouth County Courts.
We are active in our communities and strive to understand what housing issues people are experiencing; providing advice and advocacy to individuals and groups to empower them to resolve their situation.

About the role

This role will enable the successful candidate to have a broad understanding of local responses to the housing emergency and give a taster of what role different organisations play in this and would be ideal for someone who is looking to work in housing or homelessness services.
This role will work alongside, and be supported by the Dorset Hub team, based in Bournemouth, to improve the number of people taking part in lived experience activities within Bournemouth, (Dorset) Hub and the BCP Homelessness Partnership. You'll attend and/or facilitate lived experience groups, people with experience of homelessness to speak up, be an ambassador to encourage partner organisations to involve people with lived experience and offer peer support and encouragement, using your own experience, to help other people participate. You will also contribute to communications from Dorset Hub and BCP Partnership, which highlight the local impact of the housing emergency and effective solutions.
You will be given extensive on the job training, support, and supervision, and will have access to a flexible personal budget to help in your own personal and professional development. Previous trainees have used the personal budget for things like mental health support, qualifications and training courses. The successful candidate will also have access to Shelter's Employee Assistance Programme and will have dedicated wellbeing support.

• You will have experience of homelessness and / or other disadvantages (e.g. experience of the criminal justice system, mental ill-health or substance misuse) and an understanding of how these experiences have affected you


• You want to make things better for people experiencing bad housing and homelessness in Dorset and you have a commitment to equality and a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination.


• You will be a good communicator and a non-judgmental listener, with empathy for people from different backgrounds.


• You will have an ability to work as part of a team, be flexible and open to learning, supported by your line manager and wider team.


• Experience of using IT (including phones) for emails, internet research and other basic skills


• The enthusiasm and determination to develop and learn new skills.


• A proactive attitude and the confidence to voice your opinions


• You must have support in place to enable you to deal with situations that may reflect your own experiences
  
  We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave, enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.

When applying, we appreciate it may feel unusual to be talking about your lived experience to a prospective employer. Please be assured that we ask for this only to assess your suitability for a role that's designed to help people to use their experiences to develop a career. If you feel you have the necessary lived experience, please apply and share as much as you feel comfortable with in the application to increase your chances of being invited to interview.
Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free of harm, abuse and neglect.
All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.