Overview
Join to apply for the Supported Housing Support Worker, YMCA DOWNSLINK GROUP role at Guardian Jobs.
Hours: 30 hours per week / permanent / working onsite on a seven-day rolling rota, including evenings, weekends and bank holidays.
Our mission is to help children and young people have a fair chance to be who they want to be. We do this by providing a safe home, increasing life skills and self-confidence, and improving emotional wellbeing and mental health. Our 16+ Older Looked After Young People (OLYP), Care Leavers and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) services deliver specialist 24-hour supported accommodation where young people are supported to acquire the necessary skills in preparation for living independently, safely explore their increased freedom of choice and develop responsibilities associated with adulthood, with the appropriate level of support from an experienced team. We adopt a trauma-informed and psychologically informed approach to supporting our residents to help them build essential life skills, identify their goals and support residents into independent accommodation. We have a dedicated team of Support Workers, Night Workers and additional Bank Workers who provide support, guidance, and signposting around housing, budgeting, living skills, jobs and relationship building.
We are looking for a Supported Housing Support Worker to join our Cook Road, Horsham team, who will hold a caseload of residents and meet with them weekly to build a support plan.
Responsibilities
- Housing: Coach young people to manage their occupancy agreement and adhere to house rules, in preparation for independent living.
- Promote a credit culture, encouraging young people to keep up to date with all payments for rent.
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of housing and welfare benefits for young people and be well-informed on significant changes to housing law.
- Deal effectively with non-compliance issues, such as non-payment of rent or damage to room, using restorative practices and working collaboratively with the rest of the team.
Coaching and Engagement
- Coach young people so they can articulate their aspirations and ambitions and take the lead in acquiring the skills they need to live independently and fulfilling lives.
- Ensure young people are encouraged to take responsibility for their own personal development, engage with the services on offer and build strong networks within the local community.
- Ensure consistent standards of safeguarding and Trauma Informed Practice when supporting young people, observing safeguarding procedures, and keeping yourself and residents safe by respecting professional boundaries.
- Maintain client records on In-Form (client database) detailing the young person’s journey in relation to their strengths and needs, risks, and outcomes (to monitor service performance).
General
- Work as part of a team on a rota shift pattern, ensuring young people have non-judgemental, objective, and supportive staff during the day/evening, while taking responsibility for personal safety during lone working.
- Contribute to a great working environment with a calm yet assertive manner, able to handle potentially difficult situations.
- Participate in relevant continuing professional development and utilise Reflective Practice Supervision as part of leading psychologically informed practice.
- There will be times when lone working is required for this role; you will receive an induction and training prior to starting on a rota. Please download the job profile for full role details.
Experience And Knowledge
- Experience relating to housing, support work, and/or working with young people at risk.
- Experience of working proactively with a caseload of young people with multiple and complex needs to enable them to achieve independent living.
- Knowledge of statutory and voluntary resources available to young people with multiple and complex needs.
- Knowledge of good safeguarding procedures in relation to young people and the ability to maintain effective professional boundaries.
- Demonstrated confidence and competence in recording notes/actions in service log, incident forms and health and safety check lists.
Skills And Abilities
- Ability to communicate clearly both verbally and in writing for appropriate recording of a resident’s progression, and to evidence outcomes achieved.
- Ability to build and maintain strong relationships with all stakeholders, including signposting and advocating for clients as necessary.
- Ability to work autonomously, and use own initiative, as well as being part of a team.
- Clear verbal and written communication skills, good IT and keyboard skills.
- Ability to de-escalate volatile situations and manage challenging behaviour appropriately.
For more information or an informal discussion about this post, please contact For application process assistance, email
Closing date: Sunday 5 October 2025 at midnight.
Rights to work: Successful candidates will already have the right to live and work in the UK without restrictions. We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.
Inclusivity and Accessibility: YMCA DLG is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion and to supporting our people to ensure a culture consistent with this commitment. If you require assistance or have questions regarding the application process, please contact us.
Safeguarding: YMCA DLG requires all staff and volunteers to be committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and to respond proactively to safeguarding concerns. Successful applicants are required to undertake an Enhanced DBS check (including the Children’s and Adults’ barred lists), along with a reference and background check carried out by a third-party service provider.
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