Foothold

Service description

Foothold is a floating support service providing housing related support throughout Nottingham city to families and pregnant women with housing related support needs. Including people living in temporary accommodation, local authority or housing association accommodation, private rented and owner occupied housing.

The aims of the service are to prevent homeliness and avoid the damaging effects on families’ children and communities. Service users have a named worker to support them with the tasks needed to maintaining and sustaining their tenancies for an average of three months.

Foothold specialist service developed to meet local needs, bringing together the expertise of three of Nottingham leading voluntary sector support agencies, NCHA, framework and Nacro.

Learning opportunities

• Experience of providing support to people in their own homes to enhance their independence with an emphasis on reducing dependency and focus on promoting life skills recovery and greater social inclusion
• Housing related support to assist service users to maintain their tenancies
• Knowledge of the needs of homeless people
• Increase awareness of mental health needs
• Working with individuals with a range of mental health needs, challenging behaviour and alcohol and substance misuse
• Understand safeguarding vulnerable adults, supporting people, valuing people and care standards
• Issues around child protection and duty of care implication of the children act and safeguarding procedures
• Initial assessments, risk assessments, management strategies and reviewing risk, assessing clients, planning support , implementing support plans
• Experience if advocating on behalf of service users with other service providers and organisations
• Income maximisation and budgeting
• Working within the principles of anti-discrimination and anti-oppressive practice and equal opportunities
• Crisis intervention
• Supporting employment and educational opportunities
• Motivational techniques, communication and behaviour management skills
• Resettlement work
• Promoting social inclusion by encouraging service users to create and maintain links with the local community
• Systematic record keeping
• Child development
• Broad scope for strategies of intervention and being able to explore putting theory into practice
• Facilitating parenting skills
• Working with challenging behaviour
• Working within the education sector
• Outreach work with families
• Counselling and analytical skills