Z House Overnight Volunteer

Overnight Volunteer

The Z House provides overnight accommodation for young people (18-25) at risk of or experiencing homelessness with low or no support needs. The project aims to provide stable overnight accommodation for young people as they work towards a move-on goal. The project will work with the young people staying there to help them build the skills, knowledge and resources necessary to move on to stable and secure accommodation.

Specifics of the role:

• Hours: 20.00 - 08.00
• Responsible to: Z House Project Coordinator
• Location: 3 Pritchard St, St Paul's, Bristol BS2 8RH
• Conditions: Happy interacting with young people in an accommodation setting and confident maintaining boundaries and low level challenging behaviour
• Please note: This is a voluntary role

Role description: This role is key in maintaining a safe and welcoming environment overnight at the Z House. Overnight duties involve interacting with the young people in the communal space if they want to, doing any necessary house duties, and responding to any emergencies should they occur (guidance will be given and you will never be left alone to deal with incidents!). It also includes helping to write up notes during and at the end of the shift. You will form part of a pair of volunteers, and there will always be a Caring in Bristol staff member on-call.

A typical shift runs:

• Arrive at the house at 8pm
• Let in any guests who arrive between 8pm and 10.30pm curfew (guidance is provided on what to do if young people arrive later than this) and help with sign up and/or orientation and induction (if needed)
• Checking in with the guests
• Completing any house duties and safety checks
• The shift is a sleep-in shift – The assumpti0n is that the overnight team are active until 11pm and then are able to sleep in the designated areas (beds and bedding are provided) whilst remaining available to respond to incidents and emergencies should they occur.
• Between 7am and 8am - support young people to get up and out of the bedroom area - bedrooms must be empty, clean and tidy by 8am
• Update relevant records and logs during the shift, including recording any incidents or safeguarding concerns – you will be trained in the procedure of what to do if this occurs
• Help to ensure or create a comprehensive handover for next for the day team and help to provide a short handover to the breakfast team as needed.

Person Specification:

• Be a good communicator. in person and written
• Have an interest in and be motivated to support young people
• Confident to manage incidents and conflict should they arise
• Willing to undertake basic housing related duties (e.g. health and safety checks) and uphold health and safety requirements
• Be friendly and have an open demeanour
• Be reliable and good at timekeeping
• Be expected to undertake one volunteer shift every month
• Have a willingness to learn about safeguarding, record keeping etc.
• Have a willingness to uphold CiB values and work towards its overall mission
• Be committed to ongoing/in house training which will be organised by CiB

What is required prior to your first shift:

• Complete an application form
• Attend an interview
• You will be DBS checked (organised by CiB)
• Complete all mandatory Z House training (organised by CiB)
• Complete a Z House induction