We are recruiting for a RECONNECT Referral Co-ordinator
We are Forward, the social enterprise that empowers people to break the cycle of crime and addiction to move forward and live fulfilling lives .
RECONNECT is a care after custody service that seeks to improve the continuity of care of people leaving prison or an immigration removal centre (IRC) with an identified health need. We operate a hybrid model of support where we work with individuals up to 12-weeks before their release and up to six months post-release in order to support the transition to community-based services, thereby safeguarding health gains made whilst in prison or an IRC.
Our East of England RECONNECT service is available for adults over the age of 18 with a designated healthcare need and who are due to be released from prison or an IRC in the next 12 weeks. We also accept referrals up to 28 days post release.
Role Responsibilities
You will be responsible for providing a comprehensive, inclusive and bespoke RECONNECT service, including advice and guidance to Forward Trust clients across the whole of East England.
RECONNECT enables service users to access and sustain supportive interventions upon release from prison, whether that be physical or mental health in addition to general well-being support. The service will offer mentor link in, sign-posting, GP referrals, aftercare support and a connection to the wider Forward community. Following a referral 12-weeks prior to release, the service is to identify the service User’s needs via a robust assessment and then working in partnership with many agencies a bespoke care plan is created with the client at the centre.
Some of the Key responsibilities of the role are as follows:
- Receive, process, and triage referrals from prison healthcare teams, probation, and other partners.
- Manage and answer Single Point of Contact
- Liaise with clinical and non-clinical staff to ensure referrals are appropriately prioritised and actioned.
- Facilitate smooth transitions from custody to community health services, including GP registration, mental health services, substance misuse, housing, and social care.
- Communicate with service users in a trauma-informed, non-judgemental manner.
- Partnership Working:
- Work collaboratively with prison healthcare, probation services, community providers, and voluntary sector partners.
- Where possible attend multi-agency meetings and contribute to release planning and ongoing care coordination.
- Data Management & Reporting:
- Maintain up-to-date, accurate records using secure databases.
- Contribute to service monitoring, audits, and evaluation by collecting relevant outcomes and feedback.
- Implement a clear referral pathway including Offender Management in Custody, Family / Self, Prison Healthcare
- Ensure that a holistic service is delivered safely to our clients in line with individual and team targets outlined by the Team Leader.
- Working closely with your colleagues you will discuss and share best practice and fully engage with risk assessment processes to deliver a high quality service safely.
- Ensuring that service users are fully connected in with local services in preparation for release into the community.
- Supporting the recruitment, training and retention of RECONNECT workers and trainees.
- Support the Team Leader to collect and compile year to date data, to be submitted monthly via a data collection template.
- Please note this role is remote working with travel to various prisons and community bases around the East of England
All probation-based roles will require enhanced DBS and HMPPS security vetting. Please note this process can take up to 3-6 weeks. All offers are subject to receiving both HMPPS vetting and DBS clearances.
Checks will require you to provide information on the below:
- Yourself (personal information, financial information, police information, criminal history)
- Your family (parents, parents’ partners, siblings, partner(s), children)
- Co-residents
- Associations that may cause a conflict of interest with your role or the prison service.
- Background checks across police information systems on you, your family and other associates
- Credit reference checks
- Social media and Open-Source checks (these are checks on content about you that's publicly available on the internet to ensure there's nothing linked to you that could undermine public trust and confidence in the prison service)
- Other government and overseas agency or police checks
The Ideal Candidate
Please see below a list of skills and experience needed for this role.
- Flexibility to meet the needs of the service as it develops
- Ability to represent The Forward Trust in a positive and professional manner
- Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders and in a variety of formats
- Ability to represent The Forward Trust in a positive and professional manner
- Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders and in a variety of formats
- The role is remote but beneficial if you are able to drive