Complex Needs Worker
Make a Real Difference Every Day
At YMCA Chiltern Group, we believe everyone deserves a safe place to live and the opportunity to thrive. We're looking for a compassionate, skilled, and motivated Substance \& Complex Needs Worker to join our expanding housing team in Watford, supporting people experiencing homelessness and complex support needs.
This is an exciting opportunity to work directly with individuals facing challenges such as substance misuse, mental health difficulties, trauma, and homelessness, helping them build the skills, confidence, and resilience needed to move towards independent living.
About the Role
As part of a specialist support team, you will:
Manage a caseload of residents with complex and co\-existing needs.
Deliver strengths\-based, person\-centred support and key working sessions.
Develop and review support plans and risk assessments.
Support residents to improve their health, wellbeing, housing stability, and independence.
Work closely with specialist substance misuse, mental health, and safeguarding services.
Provide advocacy, guidance, harm reduction support, and practical assistance.
Undertake housing management duties, including assessments, tenancy\-related paperwork, and rent monitoring.
Build strong partnerships with internal and external agencies to achieve positive outcomes for residents.
About You
We're looking for someone who has:
Experience working within housing, homelessness, social care, or a similar support setting.
Knowledge of complex needs, trauma\-informed practice, and therapeutic approaches.
Experience supporting people affected by mental health challenges, substance misuse, and social exclusion.
Excellent communication, assessment, and relationship\-building skills.
Knowledge of safeguarding and multi\-agency working.
A relevant qualification in housing, social care, or a related field.
Strong organisational and IT skills, including Microsoft Office.
Why Join YMCA Chiltern Group?
You'll be joining a growing organisation with ambitious plans to tackle homelessness across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire \& Oxfordshire. Our housing teams provide life\-changing accommodation and support services, helping hundreds of vulnerable people each year to move on to safe, long\-term housing and brighter futures.
If you're passionate about empowering people, delivering high\-quality support, and being part of a forward\-thinking organisation committed to ending homelessness, we'd love to hear from you.
We do not provide visa sponsorship; you must be eligible to work in the UK. You must reside in the UK for the duration of your employment and provide Right to Work evidence.
As some of our roles involve working with vulnerable members of society, this position may require a Basic or Enhanced Criminal Disclosure, which will be conducted once a conditional offer is made
Previous Applications: We welcome applications from all qualified candidates. However, if you have applied for a similar role within the last 6 months and were not successful, please consider whether your experience has developed further before reapplying
Accessibility \& Adjustments: We are committed to making reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process and will strive to be as accommodating as possible. Please inform us in advance of any arrangements you may need to fully participate in the process.
We are an inclusive organisation and actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We do not discriminate on the basis of Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage/Civil Partnership, Pregnancy/Maternity, Race, Religion/Belief, Sex and/or Sexual Orientation. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities, and industries, and are committed to having a team that is made up of diverse skills, experiences, and abilities.
One YMCA and its subsidiaries, the Early Childhood Partnership (ECP) and Signpost are on an exciting journey to double our impact by 2025\. We are over half way through an exciting new strategy launched in the first hour of the new decade, via email where all staff and volunteers were invited to put themselves forward to apply and attend an intensive, three\-day Kickstarter Event.
By the end of these three days, there was a brilliantly multi\-faceted set of themes and ideas, which formed the starting point for the rest of the Mission 25 process to build on. The aim of Mission 25 is to give every staff member and volunteer the opportunity to play their part in shaping the strategy to do “more and better, together” so that we double our impact by 2025\. We deliver a vast array of services across Herts, Beds and Bucks that reach over 135,000 individuals annually.
These include:
- Provision of over 700 units of accommodation for homeless people
- Move on accommodation for individuals moving onto independent living
- Housing and practical/emotional support for young asylum seekers
- Community HUBs hosting a range of activities and meeting space hire
- Childcare provision in Hertfordshire
- Family support through a network of children’s and family centres covering Hertfordshire and Bedford
- Therapeutic and non\-therapeutic support for male and female victims of domestic abuse and their children
- Independent sexual violence services across Bedfordshire, Luton and Hertfordshire
- Domestic abuse perpetrator reform programmes across Bedfordshire
- Youth services offering emotional wellbeing support and youth club opportunities for 11\-19 year olds alongside our National Airplay programme funded by the RAF Benevolent Fund
- A community gym where everyone can enjoy the benefits of physical exercise Our values remain at the forefront of how we operate as a charity, and it is important to us that all staff and volunteers can fully buy in to our ethos.
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