Team Leader – RSI Lead

Location: Southend on Sea

Salary: £27,281 per annum

Vacancy Type: Permanent, Full Time

Closing Date: 22^nd September 2025

Make a real difference. Lead a team. Change lives.

The Forward Trust is seeking a Team Leader (RSI Lead) to join our dedicated substance misuse team in Southend-on-Sea. If you are passionate about supporting vulnerable adults, have strong leadership qualities, and want to be part of a dynamic, community-focused team, this could be your next role.

Working within a community-based drug and alcohol treatment service, you will lead a frontline team supporting service users aged 18 and over. The service uses an integrated approach, offering clinical, psychosocial, and wellbeing interventions tailored to individual needs.

As the Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) Lead, you will:

• Manage a team of frontline practitioners, primarily within the RSI service.
• Deliver high-quality interventions – both harm reduction and abstinence-based – to those experiencing substance misuse.
• Coordinate with external partners including GPs, hospitals, housing, probation, police, and mental health services to support service users’ long-term recovery.
• Occasionally perform urine and oral swab testing to support clinical treatment.
• You’ll also play a vital leadership role by:
• Supporting the Service Manager to meet key performance indicators (KPIs) and CQC standards.
• Supervising, guiding, and developing staff, including apprentices, volunteers, and peer mentors.
• Delivering and overseeing structured 1:1 and group interventions.
• Managing a small caseload, completing assessments, and developing SMART care plans.

What We’re Looking For

• Proven experience managing within community substance misuse services.
• Skilled in assessments, care planning, and delivering structured psychosocial interventions.
• Ability to train and supervise staff, sharing best practices in treatment delivery.
• Experienced in motivational interviewing in both individual and group settings.
• Strong IT and case management skills.
• Excellent knowledge of harm reduction and abstinence-based approaches

About Us

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:

• 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 ‘Lived Experience’ of addiction, offending, or homelessness.

When we recruit, we welcome applications from everyone. This is inclusive of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion and/or belief, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity and socio-economic background. Where operationally possible, we will consider flexible working requests and make reasonable adjustments for all roles.

Employee Screening and Eligibility to Work

We recognise the importance of safeguarding, dependent on role you may be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service Check, details of which will be shared with you at interview.

If successful in your application, you will be required to provide eligibility to work evidence in line with the ‘Eligibility to Work in the UK’ requirements.

To Apply

If you feel you are a suitable candidate and would like to work for the Forward Trust, please proceed through the following link to be redirected to their website to complete your application.

https://careers.forwardtrust.org.uk/vacancies/313/team-leader--rsi-lead.html

Contact information

A Member of the Ad Warrior Team