Health Promotion Specialist - Adult Focused (South Essex)

Essex Sexual Health Service (ESHS) is led by Provide Community and commissioned by Essex County Council.
The successful applicant will work as part of the ESHS Outreach and Education Team, and will have a focus on working with seldom heard from communities in Essex to support in the reduction of adverse sexual health outcomes, and reducing health inequalities., The post holder will support in the design and delivery of effective health promotion (HP) and behavior change communication (BCC) interventions appropriate to the needs of Seldom Heard from Communities namely; People of African/Caribbean Heritage, Commercial Sex Workers (CSW), Men who have sex with men (MSM) and other groups at increased risk of poor sexual health outcomes. Delivery will be through community engagement approaches that tackle HIV related stigma and discrimination. Delivering targeted interventions that increase knowledge and awareness of HIV, increase HIV testing and highlight the benefits of early diagnosis, access to care treatment and increase the uptake of broader sexual health services across Essex.
The post holder will be expected to undertake comprehensive training in order to achieve Assistant Practitioner (AP) competencies, to enable them to be able to offer HIV point of care testing (POCT) for HIV, syphilis and other sexually transmitted infections.
Although this post will be predominately focusing on delivering services in South Essex the post holder will also be expected to support the wider service with delivery across the wider Essex county therefore the post holder must have their own car and a full drivers license to be able to fulfil the requirements of this role., 1. To deliver targeted HP/BCC outreach interventions to relevant communities. These include, for example, HIV & STI testing, health promotion including HIV awareness, inter-faith/faith-based work, GP engagement, campaign delivery/ social marketing in line with the delivery of regional and national HIV prevention programmes. All interventions will have reduction of HIV stigma embedded into them.
2. To work closely with people from seldom heard from communities, tailoring the approach to meet the needs of the groups and individuals you are supporting.
3. Increasing professional and public awareness and knowledge of key sexual health topics by delivering professionals training days and community education sessions (both virtually and face to face) with a sex-positive approach.
4. To achieve competencies to become an Assistant Practitioner (AP) enabling the post holder to offer HIV/Syphilis point of care testing (POCT), alongside other testing in a community setting adhering to local safeguarding procedures, information governance and other relevant policy's.
5. To support educational establishments, parent and carers, and other professionals that work with young people in the delivery of RSHE. This includes both direct delivery to young people, and upskilling professionals and parents/carers to be equipped to carry out these interventions. This can be carried out through face to face sessions, webinars, and live web broadcasting facility.
6. To work directly with young people who may be at risk of harm or sexual ill health through ESHS 1-2-1 education and early intervention programme, supporting them to increase their knowledge and skills to make informed decisions.
7. To maintain and use systems to monitor and record HP/BCC interventions, ensuring high quality of data entry on clinical and client service databases and to accurately contribute data for reporting as requested for service monitoring reports.
8. To establish and maintain relationships of trust with partner agencies, and to professionally represent ESHS with target populations and partner agencies both at meetings with key providers and during HP/BCC interventions adhering to ESHS values and policies.
9. Use a wide range of methods to engage diverse communities including social media, radio, TV, attending community events and groups, and visiting commercial and community venues, and public sex environments.
10. Increase awareness of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), distributing self-testing kits for STIs where possible and pregnancy options & support.
11. To manage resource availability and suitability to ensure HP/BCC interventions can be delivered throughout the team.
12. To support in the recruitment and delivery of the volunteer 'Champions for Change' health champions model, supporting community members to become sexual health ambassadors.
13. To work in partnership with the co-production and user involvement team to ensure gaining insight from local people, and to use this insight to support in shaping the service delivery.
14. To manage own workload, maintaining and updating calendars, annual leave records, and to notify line manager of any change in personal circumstances or personal information relevant to the role.
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15. Taking an active and continued responsibility for self-led education relevant to the role. This includes maintaining awareness of local and national campaigns and statistics related to sexual health and HIV.
16. To assist with campaigns and events such as World AIDS Day, National HIV Testing Week, Sexual Health Week, LGBT+ History Month, Pride, Black History Month and other promotions and events.
17. To deliver a condom distribution service aimed at increasing access to condoms and lubricant to Seldom heard from communities and those at increased risk of poor sexual health outcomes.
18. Working flexibly to meet the ever developing needs of the service and its service users across a wide geographical location. This includes flexibility to work evenings and weekends as required., + If you wish to contact the Recruiting Manager about the vacancy/role or for feedback after interview, their details are provided within the advert.
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Closing Date
Provide reserves the right to close this vacancy at any time or bring forward the closing date should it have an overwhelming response. We therefore encourage an early application to ensure consideration for this post.
Professional UK clinical registration required for the role?
If we require you to hold UK professional clinical registration to undertake a role we appoint you to, Provide will pay for your registration during the first year of your employment.
COVID-19 Vaccination
Provide CIC continues to encourage all colleagues to ensure they have been double vaccinated and received a booster vaccination.
We recognise taking the vaccine provides the best defence against COVID 19 for our patients, service users, customers, fellow colleagues, and their families.
Anti Fraud
Our staff have been trained in 'Anti-Fraud' and will use technology to examine identity/immigration documents.
Disability
If you have a disability and need assistance or more time to complete your application or attending interview, please contact a member of the HR Services Team on 0300 3030 2661 or [email protected].
Work Trials
Please check with your local Job Centre Plus to see if you are eligible for a Work Trial. If you are interested in trying this job first, please contact the HR Services team and we can help you make the arrangements with the Job Centre and the Recruiting Manager.
We are committed to equal opportunities, flexible working practices and the National Living Wage.
Successful Applicant:
You will be required to bring all your documentation to your interview to show the recruiting manager and again at your pre-employment appointment with the Recruitment Co-Ordinators.
The information that you provide will be treated confidentially. If you fail to provide all of the information, Provide may not be able to fulfil our contractual obligations to you or may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations.

Provide is a Community Interest Company (social enterprise). We deliver a broad range of health and social care services in the community, and are committed to making sure that they are safe, responsive and of high quality. Provide is owned by its employees and has primarily social objectives. Any profits we make are reinvested into the local community or back into delivering services.
We work from a variety of community settings, such as community hospitals, community clinics, schools, nursing homes and primary care settings, as well as within people's homes to provide more than 40 services to children, families and adults across Essex, Dorset, East Anglia and the North of England.
A highly respected, award winning health and social care provider. We expect our staff to demonstrate and uphold our values at all times:
Vision: Transforming Lives
Values: Care, Innovation and Compassion
Mission: An ambitious, employee owned social enterprise, growing in size and influence. We transform lives by treating, caring and educating people.
Provide is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills, proud to have LGBT+, Ethnic Minority and Men's Networks.