Women's Court Diversion Keyworker

Do you have a commitment to making a difference to women’s lives?

Are you passionate about supporting women in a holistic, trauma-informed way to divert women away from the Criminal Justice System and to achieve long-term lasting change? 

The Nelson Trust's award-winning Women's Centres offer safe, women-only spaces where women can get support to address a wide range of needs.

Our centres are located in Gloucestershire, Swindon, Bristol, Somerset, Cardiff, Swansea, and HMP Eastwood Park.

We provide holistic, gender-specialist support to women facing multiple disadvantages, including those involved (or at risk of being involved) in the criminal justice system.

As a Court Diversion Keyworker, you will work within our Bristol Women's Centre and Avon courts to divert women away from custody, providing a direct pathway to a wide range of well-established gender-responsive community support services, including the Nelson Trust Women Centres. You will develop and deliver the court service, ensuring that probation and whose who pass sentence are informed of each woman's circumstances leading to her offending, and offer alternative community solutions which address her needs.

Salary: £25,000 per annum pro rata
Location: Avon
Hours: 21 hours per week (flexibility required)
Holiday: 25 days pro rata (plus public holidays)
Pension: Auto Enrolment Pension (6% employer contribution)

Key Responsibilities

• Early engagement with women prior to court appearance, ensuring comprehensive assessment of need and a plan of support.
• Support women at court appearances, providing advocacy and information to criminal justice professionals.
• Engage with those who pass sentence and probation services to demonstrate the benefits of Women's Centres.
• Accompany women to immediate appointments following assessment or court appearance, providing 1:1 support.

What We're Looking For

• Strong IT skills (PC literate and competent in using MS Office).
• Experience of working with women within a support role/frontline capacity.
• Ability to assess needs and risks and translate these into a person-centred support and safety plan.
• Experience of case management and recording.
• Knowledge and understanding of the challenges faced by women, the pathways into offending, and the impact this can have on their life chances and outcomes.

Desirable

• Experience & competence in report writing.
• Advocacy experience or skills.
• Experience of delivering interventions or programmes which help women recover from complex trauma.

Qualities We Value

• Commitment and enthusiasm for working with our beneficiary group.
• Empathy and understanding of gender, trauma, and personalised approaches.
• Ability to build effective relationships with women and stakeholders.

Join us and be part of a team that makes a real difference!

This role will involve project development, partnership building and one to one advocacy and support for women who are referred to the service by the Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion Team.

The post involves providing initial assessment, advocacy, advice, and signposting support to women to break down barriers to achieve change. 

You will need to demonstrate good communication skills working with clients and professionals and will have a track record of developing effective partnerships with specialist organisations in the local area as well as a commitment to making a difference to women’s’ lives.

Due to the nature of the work carried out in our Women’s Centres this role is restricted to female applicants only in accordance with the provisions of the occupational requirement (Equality Act 2010, pursuant to Schedule 9, Part 1).

We have become known for the quality of our work and ability to provide bespoke care and support services.  While we are proud of our achievements so far, we are ambitious and want to continue to grow and diversify our workforce.

We recognise that employees from different backgrounds bring unique knowledge, perspectives and experiences and we are committed to increasing the diversity of our workforce and welcome applications from individuals across all sectors of society.

This is an opportunity for new, challenging and highly rewarding experiences. Our staff make a real difference to people’s lives and in return for your commitment and enthusiasm, we offer a comprehensive training and development programme a generous pension scheme and a positive working environment.