Personal Development Mentor – Stranraer (Shine)

Apex Scotland is the leading employment and training organisation specialising in work with people with convictions.

We are recruiting a part-time, temporary Personal Development Mentor (PDM) to cover a maternity leave of approximately 12 months for our Shine service.

In partnership with Sacro, the Shine women’s mentoring service provides practical and emotional support to women involved in the criminal justice system to help them break the cycle of offending and overcome barriers.  The post holder will mentor women through difficult periods of transition, to promote stability and to integrate them into communities. Some work with women will be prison based as we start to work with them pre-release in order to make their return to the community as seamless as possible.

The right candidate will have an aptitude for managing a caseload of female service users and building a mentoring relationship which will enable you to assist them to recognise their strengths, develop their skills and move forward in a positive way.  An understanding of the criminal justice system would be beneficial, as would knowledge of the network of support agencies in the area.  You would need to demonstrate flexibility and the ability to deal with challenging situations.

The Shine service currently has confirmed funding to 31 March 2020.  We are hopeful of future funding and envisage this maternity cover post running to Summer 2020.  Some travel will be required throughout the area therefore a driving license and access to a vehicle or other means of transport will be essential.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and dynamic individual with effective communication skills and an understanding of the nature of issues that the client group may present with. You must possess the ability to empathise and build trusting relationships with the client group, be approachable and compassionate and have knowledge or experience of mentoring approaches.  Experience of working with vulnerable people who may be experiencing difficult times is desirable.

We are also recruiting for a part-time PDM for our Moving In service, also in the Stranraer area.  These posts are advertised separately however if you feel you have the skills and would like to be considered for both positions (total of 31.5 hours per week), please mark your application with the reference PDM/STRAN/BOTH.  The Moving In vacancy information can be found here.

In view of the nature of these posts and the requirement to work with vulnerable adults, the post holder will be required to join the relevant PVG scheme.

Shine job description April 19