Jon

Full CV / Resume

I grew up on a riding school and livery stables.   We also kept a small farmstead; I have a great deal of experience in managing livestock, operating farm machinery and understanding and tending to the needs of the beasts in my care.  This was my earliest experience of work.   My adult life has been a combination of work and study; I am a qualified psychoanalyst, social worker and ecologist.   My specialisms are systems; interpersonal systems, geological systems and ecological systems.

Employment History

November 2019 – November 2020: Aberdeen City Council, senior social worker criminal justice social work.  Taking up a seconded post under higher graded duties, I took on management responsibility for a team of 8 social workers in the justice social work service.  Initially a 6-month post to cover the period of the service’s first inspection in 14 years, the post was extended during the midst of the 1st COVID-19 lockdown. This was a busy and challenging post which allowed me the opportunity to develop a range of new skills around the support and supervision of staff members, of setting and meeting strategic priorities, of statutory responsibilities to public protection (MAPPA, MARAC, MATAC etc.) and of a more advanced level of multiagency working with partners from across the health and social care partnership, housing, education, police and Court services. I was obliged to hone my organisation and time management skills, while also developing interpersonal skills necessary to the task of supporting social workers undertaking statutory duties assessment, report writing and interventions with offenders, victims, family members and professionals. My ability to coordinate and manage competing and conflicting demands was tested positively and, upon reflection, I have come to the conclusion that I am a competent worker under pressure.

December 2015 - Present: Aberdeen City Council - social worker, criminal justice social work. Primary duties: Interviewing and assessing those individuals convicted of offending and preparing statutory reports and assessments for Courts to enable effective community-based sentencing.   Supervising offenders on statutory orders and facilitating structured, responsive and evidence-based interventions to meet needs, attend to risks and improve the outcomes - identified by and with the individual - for those to whom I offer a service.  Professional and timely record keeping, in like with data protection and GDPR, the sharing of proportionate and occasionally sensitive information were integral to the role.  I am trained both Caledonian (domestic abuse) and MF:MC (sexual offending) perpetrator programmes and have delivered the Caledonian group work programme for over three year.  Group work requires a different, though closely related, set of skills around communication, engagement and therapeutic alliance and I continue to develop these through practice and reflection.  I have also supervised and supported several students, link working for a SWIT last in 2018-19.

August 2013 – December 2015: Aberdeen City Council - support worker, criminal justice social work. Primary duties: Providing a statutory, supportive service to offenders and prison leavers. Working collaboratively and empathetically to assess needs, identify strengths & resilience and capitalise on these assets to welfare needs: housing, health, income, physical & emotional health and family circumstances - all with a view to supporting the process of desistance from offending and promoting public safety. Improving outcomes for those involved in the criminal justice system by modelling & promoting pro-social therapeutic alliances, developing social capital and enhancing resilience and wellbeing.

August 2014 – August 2015: Aberdeen City Council - youth worker (Gypsy Traveller community). Primary duties:  Delivering curricular and extra-curricular learning and support to the children of the local Traveller community, based at the centre on-site at Clinterty.  In addition to the work of engaging a marginalised and stigmatised community with a historical experience of adversity, there were challenges in delivering education to a group with a culturally divergent set of expectations around learning, institutional education, and employment.  I found this experience to be deeply rewarding, educational and challenging at both the personal and professional levels.  Intergenerational work was an integral part of service delivery; it was common to have the centre full of children from birth to 18 and adults of all ages.  Engaging positively, purposively and professionally with such a diverse group was a challenging but  very rewarding experience and showed me a verry different way of effectively engaging service-users; certainly different form the one-to-one case work I am most familiar with.

January 2014 - June 2014: Aberdeen City Council - social worker in training - Intensive Community Support and Learning Service. Primary duties: Proving a statutory social work service to young people aged 14-17 who are at risk of being accommodated by the local authority. Working in an integrated community support and learning service with teaching colleagues to support the social and educational development of young people and to provide counselling, support and structured work with young people and their families as required. Delivering direct interventions to support families to stay together - where safe and practicable - and to reduce offending or harms resulting from alcohol or substance misuse. Promoting and modelling pro-social values, specifically relating to respect for self and others and the balance between individual rights and responsibilities.  Effective communication with colleagues, families and relevant others. Working positively, responsively and respectfully to ensure that young people have access to the resources and environment necessary for them to be healthy, safe, active and included citizens. Conducting assessments and preparing reports for Children’s Hearings, attending hearings, core groups and Child Protection Case Conferences.

June 2012 - July 2014: Scottish Association for Mental Health - support worker (level 2).  Primary duties: Engaging meaningfully with service users to identify support needs and design creative and ambitious plans working towards identified goals. Promoting independence & self-management with domestic tasks, financial responsibilities, health and wellbeing. Working co-operatively with individuals and their families, friends and other systems of support. Effective record keeping, communication and multi-disciplinary team-working with colleagues from psychiatry, social work, occupational therapy and housing.

June 2011 - June 2012: Victim Support Scotland - service co-ordinator Primary duties: Co-ordinating the victim support service across Aberdeenshire; needs-assessing cases brought by the police, social work and by self-referral. Recording & managing sensitive data on a secure database and CJSM in accordance with relevant legislation. Recruiting, developing and supporting a team of volunteers. Delivering training to volunteers. Coordinating volunteer support across a large and diverse geographic area & providing practical and emotional support to victims of crime. Representing criminal injury compensation claims.

August 2000 - June 2011: Richmond Fellowship Scotland - support worker Primary duties: Working cooperatively with individuals to identify independent living goals and develop meaningful, person-centred plans to achieve them. Supporting service users to develop practical life skills and manage tenancies as independently as possible. Key skills included active listening, empathy and non-judgemental approaches - particularly at times of crisis or acute distress. The last four years also included supervision and appraisal duties for newer staff and students on placement (SW & HNC).   The client group was primarily adults with living with major mental disorder, often those who had been institutionalised for many years and who, as a result of both institutionalisation and psychosis, struggle across multiple life domains.