Family Services Volunteer - HMP Send

Working on the front line to improve continuity of care and support for family members and carers and, by extension, people in custody to:          

• Ensure families can gain greater access to support and early help within their local community and services.
• Support prisoners and their families to maintain strong, resilient, and effective relationships where there is mutual and lasting benefit in doing so.
• Ensure that children, families, and prisoners are treated with dignity and respect, and their voices are heard 

Purpose of this role   

Working as a member of the Family Services team, to work across all areas of the service, which may involve one or more of the following family support services: a welcoming visitor centre facility; play and children’s services and/or refreshment services. The role will mainly involve working with the families and carers of prisoners and their families in the Prison visitors centre and visits hall.

What you will be doing

Visitors Centre

• To offer a friendly and welcoming environment within the Family & Visitors’ Centre, where people visiting the prison can spend time before and after their visit. 
• To assist with booking/checking in of visitors in line with Pact and the prison’s procedures.
• To encourage families to access support or signposting them for their needs by interacting with visitors, offering information and advice as appropriate on a confidential basis and ensuring first time visitors are provided with enhanced support and reassurance.
• To help maintain an area in the visitors’ centre for children, which may include displays of children’s artwork, relevant posters and information, as well as toys and other materials to engage children before and after a visit. 
• To liaise with prison staff, including visits and security staff, to ensure close co-operation in the smooth and efficient reception of visitors at the prison. 

Play Area

• To promote opportunities for children to engage with their loved one who is in prison in an appropriate way during a visit and family days.
• To ensure the play equipment is safe, clean, and able to fulfil its requirements, storing and restocking as required.

Refreshment Services

• To provide an excellent, friendly, and welcoming refreshment service to prisoners and their families in the café of the visitors centre and visits hall.

Family Visits Days 

• To support the planning and delivery of an agreed number of family/teen days per year and to help Pact deliver high quality facilitated play/activities appropriate for the age ranges attending the family days.

General

• Adhering to policies and practises relevant to this role: Confidentiality; Health & Safety; Child Protection and Safeguarding; Equality and Diversity; and Prison security rules etc.
• Reporting any incidents and concerns related to Health and Safety or Safeguarding to a member of the Pact staff team.

What skills do I need?

Pact advertises volunteering opportunities widely and locally and seeks to attract volunteers that are representative of the communities and people we serve.  Pact actively encourage people with criminal convictions to apply for both paid and voluntary positions at Pact. We therefore welcome applications from former service users and people with convictions subject to risk assessment and the nature of the role. 

Experience/Knowledge: 

• Good understanding of safeguarding, professional boundaries and confidentiality.
• An awareness of the impact of of custody on prisoners, and on children and families.
• Experience of working with members of the public.

Skills/Abilities:

• The ability to offer a warm welcome to visitors, to smile and treat people with dignity and respect.
• Good interpersonal skills and the ability to relate sensitively to the needs of the prisoners'' families.
• Good communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to communicate effectively to range of people including prison staff, other agencies, colleagues and service users.

Abilities:

• Empathy with the children and families and/or carers of prisoners who are visiting loved ones.
• Non judgmental, empathetic attitude towards prisoners and their families.
• Committed to the vision, mission, values, and ethos of Pact.