Family Connections Worker; Probation Services

This role is full-time, permanent, 35 hours per week

Forward Trust delivers services within the Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) as part of the Ministry of Justice’s new probation system. Commissioned by Regional Probation Directors, our services are designed to be flexible and responsive, supporting individuals to break the cycle of reoffending and build more stable, positive futures.

We are seeking a Family Connections Practitioner to work remotely as part of a flexible and supportive team, delivering Family and Significant Others interventions within our wider Personal Wellbeing Service.

The role focuses on supporting adult men and young men within the Criminal Justice System, providing tailored, client-centred interventions that strengthen family relationships, improve wellbeing, and promote positive change.

You will manage a caseload and deliver structured 1:1 and group-based interventions, offering advice, guidance, assessments, care planning, and outcome-focused support aligned to individual needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver client-centred Family and Significant Others interventions
• Manage and prioritise a caseload effectively
• Complete risk assessments, comprehensive assessments, and SMART care plans
• Deliver structured 1:1 sessions and therapeutic group work
• Use psychosocial and motivational interviewing techniques to support behaviour change
• Work collaboratively with partner agencies to achieve positive outcomes
• Contribute to performance targets set by Forward Trust, Interventions Alliance, and local commissioners
• Accurately record outcomes and progress to support service evaluation

Flexibility

This role requires flexibility, including:

• Occasional evening and weekend working
• Travel (with reasonable notice) to other projects within your cluster to support continuity of care

Essential Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Knowledge of the issues facing clients within the criminal justice sector
• Strong experience working in Personal Wellbeing or related services (e.g. families, emotional wellbeing, lifestyles, social inclusion)
• Demonstrable experience completing risk assessments, comprehensive assessments, and implementing SMART care plans
• Significant experience delivering psychosocial interventions, including motivational interviewing, in both 1:1 and group settings
• Knowledge of the criminal justice sector
• Understanding of the Recovery Agenda

Desirable

• Lived experience of addiction or imprisonment
• Applicants in recovery must have a minimum of 3 years’ abstinence
• Applicants with lived experience of imprisonment must have been released at least 5 years ago

We are The Forward Trust, the social enterprise with charitable status that empowers people to break the often interlinked cycles of crime and addiction to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community.
We are committed to our cause and the work we carry out as a charity. Equally the wellbeing and the employees who work for us are also important. Joining us an employee, we will offer you the following benefits
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• Flexible working
• Training and development opportunities
• Simply Health Cashback Scheme (optional)
• Season Ticket Loan Scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Crisis Loan Scheme
• Electric Car Scheme
• 3 x Wellbeing Days (pro rata'd for part time employees)
• Access to Blue Light Card
• 25 days (rising to 30 with length of service) Annual Leave plus Bank Holidays
• Contributory Pension Scheme – Employer matched contributions of up to 6% in the first two years’ service and up to 9% thereafter
• Death in Service Payment (2x annual salary)
• Critical Illness Insurance (subject to qualifying criteria)

Diversity at Forward Trust

The Forward Trust commits to providing opportunities to everyone. We want to ensure we have a diverse team with a range of lived and professional experiences. This includes those with…