Job Title: Female Support Worker/Personal Care Assistant

Location: Shermanbury, Horsham and local area (Horsham and Brighton)

Hourly rate: £12.00

Reference: BRR7894

Hours/shifts: 4 hours per week school term time, 6 hours per week in school

Holidays. Day of the week will be regular to be agreed. Optional

additional/ad hoc hours to be discussed and agreed also.

Summary

Female Support Worker/PA required to work with our wonderful 11 year old daughter who has Autism and a learning disability.

She is a lovely girl with a cheerful disposition. She enjoys spending time with trusted adults and especially likes to chat and walk around towns.

Her main hobbies are flamenco dancing, musical theatre, cooking, riding her trike, drama and swimming.

You will be required to provide companionship and plan/deliver a range of play activities and encourage her engagement with these.

Support and prompting with personal care and preparing healthy meal/snacks required to enable her to develop independence and confidence.

She finds social interactions with her peers challenging so this would include taking her to and providing support at groups, clubs and activities. Ensuring her safety and wellbeing at all times.

Helping her manage her emotions and anxieties using simple strategies and techniques. Full training and instruction will be provided with this.

Support and prompting also required with personal care tasks and preparing healthy meals/snacks.

You should have experience of working with children with disabilities, ideally Autism.

You must also be friendly, reliable, patient and have a sense of humour.

Driver with own car required. Travel expenses will be paid.

You will report to the child’s mother, who is the employer.

This would be a great opportunity to make a real difference to a young girl’s life.

Other Requirements

• "Exemption is claimed under the Equality Act 2010 Part 1 Schedule 9."

• Must be comfortable with pets

• Must have a UK driving licence

• Must have access to own vehicle

• Other :

All applicants must be willing to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service check if required.

Successful applicants will be entitled to Holiday pay and will be issued employment contracts.

Description

Typical duties

Domestic:

Preparing a healthy snack/dinner if needed. All ingredients will be provided. Our daughter loves cooking so she will be happy to get involved with this.

Personal Care:

Supervising bath time to ensure safety. She is able to wash herself independently, some assistance in rinsing shampoo out may be required.

Supervising teeth brushing and helping to keep her on task with her bedtime routine.

Some assistance with fastenings will be required when getting dressed.

Verbal prompting to ensure hygiene and all steps have been followed for personal care and hygiene.

Social:

Taking her to any social clubs and activities e.g. rebound therapy, karaoke, adaptive cycling, swimming, the park, trampolining, countryside walks, shops, museums, cinema etc.

Encouraging her to have positive interactions with other children and support her to form friendships.

Helping her to communicate in a range of situations and explaining social rules to help her understanding.

Providing a range of activities to engage in at home and in the community that are enjoyable and appropriate to her interests and stage of development. Supporting her to make choices. Activities may include educational, creative, restful, imaginative, physical, sensory, baking, cooking etc. using visual supports to assist this. Playing in the garden on the swings, trampoline, pool, trike etc.

Keeping her safe and supervised at all times.

Recording and reporting any accidents or incidents that occur during the session.

Working with us to help our daughter to overcome her anxieties.

Person specification

The successful applicant will be:

Female due to the requirement for personal care

Experienced in working with children with disabilities, ideally Autism

Friendly and approachable

Patient and understanding

Respectful of the employer’s privacy and confidentiality

Reliable with good time keeping

Able to follow instructions and work on own initiative

Hygienic and well organised

Fit and healthy to undertake duties

Honest and trustworthy

Creative

Able to speak English to a reasonable standard

Strong communication and interpersonal skills

Legally permitted to work in the United Kingdom

Able to work at all times to high standards of Health and Safety

A driver with own car

Able to keep her safe and supervised at all times

Sense of humour

Be comfortable with cats in the home

Desirable:

First Aid trained

Knowledge and experience of the zones of regulation

Makaton or similar trained

Understanding of sensory processing integration

Please note, if you are successful in your application for this position you will be employed directly by the individual employer and not Independent Lives