Youth and Family Support Worker

**About Meraki Foundation**_

Meraki Foundation is a not-for-profit charity organisation based in South West Sydney.

We provide person centred and strengths-based support for all people in the communities across NSW. Meraki Foundation provides social support (for children and young people in crisis), support for people with a disability and support for vulnerable families through specialised programmes. Meraki support workers provide culturally appropriate and gender specific support, focused on improving the wellbeing of all people.
- **About the role**_

Meraki provides a rewarding experience to support children, young people and NDIS participants. Meraki prides itself on putting a focus on relationships so when workers come on board, we want to get to know your interests and skills so that we can match up your personality with appropriate children, young people and participants that you will enjoy supporting.

As a support worker you will engage with children, young people and participants through the following support services:

- _**Family Time Visits**_**: supervising visitation between children/young people and their relatives
- _**Supervised Transport**:_transporting children, young people and participants to complete daily activities, attend appointments, go to and from school/work and participate in community activities.
- _**Mentoring**_**: promoting purposeful relationships and developing a positive sense of self and connection within the participants local community.
- _**In-Home Support/Respite**:_ assisting children/young people and their families to develop and maintain routines in a home-setting.
- _**Access to Social & Community Participation**:_Supporting NDIS participants to engage within their communities or facilitating social participation and engagement with the participant in the home setting.
- _**Development of Daily Living and Life Skills**:_Helping participants become more independent with daily skills, including: public transport awareness, financial skills, budgeting, pursuing studies and/or work, drivers license achievements, and other tasks.

**Benefits and perks**

Becoming a support worker is an extremely enriching and rewarding experience for individuals who are empathetic toward young people in need and want to give back to their community. In addition to a rewarding sense of emotional wellbeing, the following perks are involved while working with Meraki:

- Flexible working conditions
- An on-call management team for you to contact whenever you need support
- Career opportunities for advancement
- Comprehensive training and induction programs, as well as regular in-house training to build new skills
- A safe work environment and diverse team demographic made up of various cultures and languages.
- An opportunity to make a significant difference enriching peoples' lives, and building relationships.

**Skills and experience**
- **Applicants**_**must**_ **possess**:_
- A current employee Working With Children Check (WWCC),
- A current National Police Check (NPC) - No less than 2 years old
- A current drivers license, (P2 accepted) and access to a clean, road worthy vehicle for transporting participants/young people.
- Comprehensive car insurance on your intended work vehicle.
- A relevant industry qualification (minimum Cert IV), or currently studying. This can include but is not limited to; disability, community services, youth work, early childhood education, psychology, criminology, teaching, and other welfare studies.
- A current First Aid & CPR Certificate.
- A Certificate of Completion for the ‘Quality, Safety and You’ NDIS Worker Orientation Module
- A Certifiicate of Completion for Infection Control module
- Access to a laptop/mobile phone to complete required reports.
- Ability to be flexible in your schedule and willing to support with last-minute shift requests.

**There is a high demand for male support workers within the industry.** **If you are bi-lingual, or have an Indigenous background or experience supporting Indigenous communities, we highly encourage you to apply. Please include this in your cover letter.**

**This casual role is highly suitable for students and individuals looking for flexible hours.**

For further information regarding the role, please contact (02) 4606 2420 within business hours.

**Job Type**: Casual

Pay: $32.88 - $82.83 per hour

Expected hours: 15 - 38 per week

Application Question(s):

- How far are you willing to travel to a shift in minutes/hours?
- Do you have access to any child car seats (forward/rear facing harness and/or booster seat)? If no, are you willing to obtain?

Licence/Certification:

- Working with Children Check (required)
- Police Check (within last 3 years - NO disclosable outcomes) (required)
- First Aid Certification (required)
- CPR Certification (required)
- NSW Full or P2 Driver Licence (required)

Work Location: In person