Vacancy – Community Outreach Officer

Community Outreach Officer

Spinal Injuries Ireland’s mission is to engage with people with a spinal cord injury and their family members, to address barriers to full participation in society and to empower members to work towards achieving personal, social and vocational goals.

Post Outline

This role is case management based in Cork and delivers goal-oriented support for all allocated service users in order to provide a depth of service and national coverage.  The role also provides practical and ongoing support for family members of service users with a spinal cord injury in the community. A key element of the role is to collaborate and build relationship with key stakeholders including CUH Trauma Centre for southeast region and associated trauma centers.

Reports to:         Head of Services

Base:                     Cork:  Crann Centre Ballincollig

Hours:                  Full time37.5 hours per week

Qualification/Experience

  • A degree or professional qualification in social work, community development, social care, or related field
  • Experience in needs assessment, project planning and project delivery, evaluation and report writing
  • An understanding of approaches/strategies required to address social and health inequalities at service design level.
  • An understanding of approaches/strategies required to address the practical impacts of living with a spinal cord injury and chronic disease management, and health equity at both regional and national level.

Required Skills/Competencies

Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills.

Facilitation and training skills.

Excellent organisational, administration and co-ordination skills.

Excellent ICT skills, including MS Office suite, MS Teams and a good working knowledge of database management.

Ability to work effectively with co-workers and collaborate with health and social care professionals,  community organisations and others to maintain and build partnerships, to maximise the impact of joint resources.

Proactive and flexible in approach.

Desirable, but not essential:

Experience of working in the healthcare or community development sector.

Experience of working with different population groups including disadvantaged groups

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

Engage with all service users and family members from time of injury for as long as required.

Clearly define further short, medium- and long-term goals with the service users and provide support as required in this regard.

Ensure focus on tangible outcomes for service users that are both measurable and meaningful and facilitate return to employment, community activity and / or economic improvement.

Contribute and deliver to the education and psychosocial programmes

Promote and refer to SII volunteer Peer Support  Programme

Coordinate and ensure successful delivery of SII services developed for people impacted by SCI Deliver and report on the KPI’s identified by the Strategic Operational Plan.

Ensure the quality assurance of programmes and work for the continuous improvement of each service.

Ensure effective monitoring and evaluation of Service Users needs and progress

Report on key indicators agreed for each area of work, and document and report on programme learnings.

Deliver and report on the KPI’s identified by the Strategic Operational Plan.

Stakeholder engagement and relationship building

Actively support the NRH / SII Vocational Programme as advised by Head of Services.

Engage with Major Trauma Center in CUH and key stakeholders by providing support to those who have sustained a SCI and their families

Collaborate with the key stakeholders such as Crann Centre, promoting SII services

Work to develop new relationships with other relevant agencies to support the ongoing development of evidence informed programmes to respond to the specific needs of people impacted by SCI

Build effective relationships with SII colleagues and work in collaboration to contribute to the successful delivery of the organisational strategy.

General

Assist with special projects as required or self-determined to enhance the capacity and/or programmatic objectives.

Other duties as required by manager. This job description is not exhaustive; it merely acts as a guide and may be amended to meet the changing requirements of the Society at any time after discussion with the post holder.

Represent SII at relevant meetings and conferences.

Travel throughout designated region of responsibility, other SII regions and head office as required.  Regular overnight stays may be required in respect of travel.

This list of duties is not intended to be exhaustive, but to reflect the main duties of the position and is subject to change. Any other duties may be allocated from time to time consistent with the position, business plan and strategic plan.

Offer subject to reference check and Garda Vetting. Please send CV and cover letter to Mary Dunne – [email protected]

Closing Date: 22nd October 2021

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