We are currently recruiting for First Contact Navigators to join our team. The roles will work in the Navigator team supporting individuals who have or are experiencing sexual violence and or sexual abuse. As a first contact worker, you will act as a gateway to both specialist counselling and advocacy services and additional specialist support services in Essex. You will use your considerable experience to provide a high-quality telephone information and support service. The support you deliver will help individuals on their pathway to wellbeing, recovery, and social inclusion through building trusting and collaborative relationships. You will guide users to make informed decisions about their own wellbeing, maximising their independence and engaging in appropriate community or clinical resources/interventions. You will be highly motivated and dedicated, have strong communication, interpersonal and negotiation skills with the ability to work under minimal supervision.
For job description and person specification, please click here.
Interview Dates: Thursday 16th and Friday 17th March.
This post is restricted to women applicants under the Equality Act 2010, Schedule 9, Part 1
Young Person’s Sessional Counsellor
We are looking for a Young Person’s Sessional Counsellor to join our team to support young people (aged 12 – 19) who have experienced any form of sexual violence. You will work with a minimum of eight clients a week.
This post will operate within the South Uttlesford Primary Care Network supporting five local GP practices. As part of the PCN’s plans for transforming and developing primary care locally, the post holder will be expected to operate flexibly and collaboratively with all stakeholders. The role will be part of a multi-disciplinary team and will be central to the delivery of key network objectives.
The post will be employed by Uttlesford Health Limited, which is working in partnership with South Uttlesford PCN and Uttlesford UCAN to deliver high quality patient care at all times. This role is critical to supporting the PCN’s ambition to optimise individual health and wellbeing, reduce health inequalities and address the wider determinants of health and wellbeing.
The aim of the role will be to help to strengthen both community and personal resilience and reduce health inequalities by addressing the wider determinants of health, such as debt, poor housing and physical inactivity, by increasing people’s active involvement with their local communities.
For full details of the role and responsibilities, please see the attached job specification.
We know there are some amazing and very successful schemes out there providing warm spaces for vulnerable older people through the cold and dark winter months.
Independent Age and North Essex Support team (NEST)are concerned about those older adults trapped in their own homes because of illness, vulnerability, or infirmity. We are concerned about how they will be able to keep warm indoors, afford to heat their homes all day or to cook hot, healthy, wholesome and nutritious meals.
We have therefore joined forces to offer a FREE support package .
There are three strands to our project:
1:1 outreach work providing 150 older adults in Tendring and Colchester with slow cookers, and ingredients for hot meals;
1: 1 outreach providing a “Hug in a Bag”™ (containing warm clothing and bedding) for the same cohort.
300 meals over the course of 3 months via a part-funded fortnightly lunch in a group setting such as a community café provided on a “pay what you can” basis.
As well as providing immediate, short-term relief from the pressures of the cost of living crisis, our project will also ensure older adults are better connected to networks of other services and support. Each referral includes a fire safety check and an assessment to determine what other support might be required.
This may include intensive 1:1 support over a period of 6-9 months to support the service user to achieve positive changes in their lives, find their feet, increase resilience and confidence and deliver overall improvement to their quality of life. The service is bespoke – entirely tailored to the requirements and wishes of the service user who works with our case worker to develop an action plan based on outcomes the service user has identified for themself.
Referrals
This is a pilot project. Support packages are offered on a first come first served basis. Referrals can be made by the older adult themselves, staff from both statutory and voluntary/community services, volunteers, as well as family members and members of the public.
Referrals can be made:
By telephone, or
By email.
You will find a referral form attached to this letter. We are relying on our colleagues and partners to help us identify and help those who are most in need.
If you want to find out more, please get in touch with Les Nicoll on 07779129888 or Kate Hardy on 07591386732
With increased domestic fuel costs and unprecedented volatility in the energy market, people on low incomes, including pensioners, people with disabilities and families, face profound challenges keeping their homes warm, dry and conducive to health.
As a frontline worker, you may feel powerless to respond. Still, the need to respond is greater than ever, especially because, as more people move into “fuel poverty”, the number of those who are most profoundly fuel-poor also increases. Government policy and individual action should, in the face of overwhelming need, respond to those worst affected.
Nudging the people you help, towards making changes in how they use energy, engaging in opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of their homes AND making sure they can access the high-quality, intensive energy advice the Citizens Advice service in Essex offers are all ways of responding to these needs.
Our services seek to tackle some of the underlying causes of fuel poverty – not just “hard to heat” homes but also low incomes, issues with benefits and debt.
In this FREE, 90 minute course, delivered by Citizens Advice energy experts, you’ll learn:
What is fuel poverty
What are the causes and effects
Who is most vulnerable
Practical steps your service user can take
Grants and schemes available to improve energy efficiency
The vital role income maximisation plays and how we help including a run down of government support measures
Other ways Citizens Advice can help and how to refer
The role of emerging voluntary and public sector responses such as “Warm Spaces.”
As Essex organisations, we have a shared ambition; to help Essex residents live safe lives.
We’re really pleased to be launching our free partnership tree and networking event which is a chance for us all to connect and grow together. Our aim is for this to become an annual event where we’ll all share information and insights, educate one another and explore how partnership working can benefit our residents.
It’s a simple idea really – a space to inform and be informed for all. So, let’s start a conversation through networking; nurturing existing and sowing new partnerships.
Who’s it for?
We are extending our branches to new and existing partners.
What now?
Book your free place and join us in person at our Headquarters in Kelvedon Park, London Road, Rivenhall, Essex, CM8 3HB on Thursday 23 February from 9am – 4pm.
Sound good but you can’t make it in person? You can also join us online for the opening and first two sessions. Just head over to our online event ticket page to book your place.
As part of our event, we’re also giving people time to browse our marketplace; a dedicated area where we’ll set up tables for people to showcase their organisation. It’ll make it easier for people to find and talk to you as well as give you space to present any materials you’d like to share. Book your table now by emailing [email protected]
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. I really look forward to seeing you there.
The Housing Strategy sets out how the council, along with its partners, will respond to the housing challenges faced by the borough, to provide good quality housing related options and services.
We are currently developing our Housing Strategy for the next five years and the council welcomes your views. We will use the information you provide to further understand:
· Which priorities you feel are most important
· The housing issues that matter most to you
· Any other comments you may have regarding the draft Housing Strategy.
To support the delivery of the Corporate Plan and the Housing Strategy vision we have identified three key priorities that we are seeking your thoughts on. Under each of these priorities there will be an action plan as to how we will meet each priority. The Draft Housing Strategy 2023 – 2028 priorities can be found here: Housing Strategy 2023 – 2028 Priorities(PDF)[99KB]
We are grateful for your input, and in recognition we are offering a prize draw for a £50 gift voucher for all fully completed survey. Only one application per e-mail address.
The consultation will open on 30 January 2023 and close on 26 February 2023.
If you are unable to complete the survey online or require assistance, please contact the customer contact centre on (01268) 533 333 and someone will help you complete the survey over the phone.
Your responses to this survey will inform the development and review of our Housing Strategy and Action Plan. By completing this questionnaire, you are consenting to your responses being used to inform this work. Your data will be processed in line with our privacy policy. Personal data will be maintained confidentially and will not be shared without permission.
The B&Q Foundation supports hundreds of registered charities across the UK every year.
Providing grants for a wide range of charities who are looking for funding to improve or develop spaces that benefit their local communities.
We know that charities are pushed for time and that is why we work with the team at Neighbourly to make the application process as easy as possible. Follow the three-step process below to apply for a B&Q Foundation grant.
Would you like to increase your knowledge and understanding around mental health?
Would you like to feel more confident to have conversations about mental health, look after your own wellbeing and know how to signpost others for support?
Join us for a free mental health awareness training session in Essex, between 10am – 1.30pm, on a date that suits you.
Join the Basildon, Billericay & Wickford Community Exchange and be part of a growing community of people sharing their skills and time with others. Whatever your passion or expertise, everyone has something to offer.
Through the exchange you can:
• Choose when and how often you would like to volunteer
• Offer your skills and spare time to help others
• Support family, friends, neighbours and meet new people
• Bank the hours you volunteer and ask for help in return
How does it work?
1 hour = 1 Credit
For every hour you volunteer, you earn one ‘Credit’. You can then use this to ask for help in return, or donate it to our ‘Community Pot’ where it will be used to help others in the community.
Everyone’s time is valued equally
You can decide what skills you can offer and everyone’s time is equal. So one hour of your time is equal to one hour of someone else’s time.
The Community Exchange is for everyone
It’s free to become a member of the Community Exchange and it’s open to anyone aged 18 or over, regardless of ability, skills or situation and all help is free!
Join us and discover just how rewarding being part of the exchange can be!
If you are you are interested in joining our Community Exchange and would like to speak to one of the team for further details please contact us on 01268 294420 or send us a message, we would love to hear from you.
Before you leave this page why not check out some of our volunteering opportunities with some of our amazing community organisations in our 2020 virtual volunteer fair on our YouTube page.