Achieving for Children
Substance Misuse Worker
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Substance Misuse Worker
Families First Substance Misuse Worker
The Families First Model (FFM) is an innovative approach to safeguarding children and young people experiencing or at risk of harm. Underpinned by a strengths-based ethos, it identifies and fosters positive changes for families. Multi-agency workers are co-located within the Safeguarding Service to deliver collaborative, personalised whole-family interventions, focusing on the Trio of Vulnerabilities: domestic abuse, substance misuse, and mental health.
Workers provide direct, specialist support while sharing expertise with social workers through group supervision and consultations.
About the Role
The Families First Substance Misuse Worker will collaborate within a multidisciplinary Families First Service. Key responsibilities include:
- Engaging and building trusting relationships with parents identified as having substance misuse issues.
- Direct experience of supporting individuals with alcohol and substance misuse (1:1 or group work).
- Collaborating with clients to reduce substance-related harm and increase parental capacity.
- Supporting clients in 1:1 settings to address substance-use behaviours, promoting recovery, resilience, and self-determination.
- Co-delivering structured content in parenting recovery group settings, tailored to different stages of recovery.
- Debriefing and evaluating group sessions/static pods with co-facilitators, assessing progress, and addressing concerns.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Dan Clark (dan.clark@achievingforchildren.org.uk) is available for an informal discussion about the role.
About You
Key Qualifications & Experience Required
- A level 4 or higher professional qualification relevant to the role (e.g., Children and Youth Work, Social Care, Education, or Substance Misuse Qualifications).
- Demonstrated experience positively engaging and forming trusting relationships with families, particularly those facing early childhood adversity, resulting in parenting challenges.
- Direct support experience with adults affected by problematic alcohol or drug misuse using home-visiting and outreach approaches.
- Targeted support delivery for substance-misusing adults, applying evidence-based interventions and harm reduction techniques to improve recovery outcomes for families.
- Experience in designing and delivering interventions individually (1:1) and when referred to external expert interventions.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
About Our Benefits
We prioritise a positive, supportive work environment while offering:
- 29 days’ annual leave (increasing to 33 days after 2 years and 35 days after 4 years), plus an extra paid day off in your birthday month. (For term-time workers: leave aligns with contract non-working periods.)
- Tailored induction on starting with AfC.
- Participation in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) or Teachers’ Pension.
- Flexible working to sustain a balanced work-life dynamic.
- A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme.
- Staff benefits and discounts.
- An excellent learning and development offer to progress your career.
(AfC proudly offers a competitive salary and hybrid working options.)
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location