"Survive has been absolutely fantastic in supporting me and I do
not feel so isolated and alone in my situation any longer. Survive has been a
great strength." - Outreach service user
Mission
To work against domestic violence experienced by women and children.
Objectives:
- To
support and enable women who have or are experiencing domestic violence to
make positive changes.
- To support
and enable children who have or are experiencing domestic violence to work
towards and achieve their potential.
- To
act as advocates for those who are or have experienced domestic violence.
- To
promote awareness about domestic violence and the effects and impacts it
has on women, children, communities and wider society
- To
work in partnership with other agencies to reduce domestic violence.
- To be
an example of excellence amongst organisations involved with domestic
violence
Structure
The agency is a company limited by guarantee and is governed by a Board
of trustees who are also the Directors of the company. Trustees are recruited
from a range of professions including social work, management, business
community, law, housing management, and the legal services. This provides a
broad range of skills, qualifications and experience in a number of areas
ensuring probity and effective governance.
The board employs a Chief Executive to whom responsibility for key areas
is delegated on a day to day level including progressing the strategic vision
of the agency, ensuring the provision of high quality services to all service
users and other stakeholders, managing the staff team and developing and
overseeing the agency's finances. In addition to the Chief Executive there are
also 2 service managers; one for women's services and one for children and
young people's services. These three roles provide support and oversee day to
day front line staff and the provision of services.
The agency works alongside other core agencies across sectors to develop
and deliver services, initiatives and projects.
Job Vacancies
Survive is a dynamic, innovative
agency that provides high quality services to women and children affected by
domestic violence in South Gloucestershire and
Trustees - Treasurer
Play
Leader (22 hours) / Family Support Worker (7.5
hours) (female
only*)
Starting salary:
£14,000-£15,000 for 29.5 hrs / week (Hay 10: PL hours, Hay 8: FSW hours.)
Closing date: 12 noon 4th August 2010 Interviews:
12th August 2010
Survive is
committed to equality of opportunity in all aspects of our work.
..\docs\PL
FSW PT cover letter post Jul10.pdf
..\docs\Description of role PL FSW
PT July 2010.pdf
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application form.pdf
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opps monitoring.pdf
..\docs\Job description p-t PL and
FSW post.pdf
Volunteer training
The next training programme will
be running in October 2010. Please contact us for an application form.
History
"Over the last 30 years
domestic violence in the UK has gone from a largely unspoken subject to one
which is being tackled and confronted by Government and Statutory Bodies and
the voluntary sector" (A national report, March 2005, Home office)
Survive has been part of that
journey since it's inception as Kingswood Womens Aid in 1974 and it's
registration as a charity in 1976.
Reflecting the climate that
existed at the time, our first 'refuge' was a derelict house in Kingswood,
which operated at times with concerted opposition and / or indifference from
the local authority, community & police, staffed entirely by volunteers.
Over time, through lobbying and sheer hard work, things began to change including
the development of some funding streams. This led to our first 'formal' refuge
opening in 1982 and in the early 80s the advent of paid staff including support
workers and a play worker.
Throughout this period, like most
agencies in this field, we struggled to secure ongoing funding, hopping from
one grant to the next. The voluntary input in the agency remained high and
committed. The 90s however began to see the beginnings of some of the dramatic
changes this sector has undergone as statutory agencies and funders began to
take more notice of and action in relation to domestic violence.
1991 saw a more focused emphasis
on outreach work by the agency and through the mid-90s the development of
support and information groups. In 1992 we became managing agents for Knightstone
Housing Association (KHA) leading to the development of a 2nd refuge in 1994.
1998 saw the addition of an administrator and 2nd play worker. Volunteers
continued however to play an integral role in the agency. Circa 1995 saw the
development of the
Funding developments often lead
the way for milestones in the voluntary sector and 2001 and the advent of
Supporting People funding set up our next one. With the securing of relatively
stable ongoing funding, the agency was able to open our community offices in
August 2002 and open our third refuge in December 2002. This also saw the
development of additional support work positions in the agency.
Perhaps more significantly these
changes combined necessitated reflection on our overall structure. The
collective structure adopted in the late 70s was struggling to continue to manage
the well-being of the agency and staff. In addition the requirements of funders
and developments in the voluntary sector as a whole saw an increasing emphasis
on reporting and accountability that placed considerable strain on our
structure. In response to this, 2004 - 2006 saw the change from a collective to
a trust structure and the move to a company limited by guarantee. Building on
this in 2005 we restructured the organisation to include the new position of
Chief Executive. This was followed by the re-development of our staffing
structure across our Refuge, Resettlement and Outreach services increasing our
staff team. We also consolidated our funding base and our working practices
including our policy framework and financial systems and laid the foundations
for our new volunteer programme. 2006 saw the review and consequential
restructure of our children and young people's services.
Over this period Survive also
played key roles in multi-agency initiatives in
Changes and developments to
reflect challenges and opportunities internally and externally means Survive
remains in a strong position to continue to realise our wider objectives in the
coming years and we look back with a sense of satisfaction and pride at what we
have been able to achieve. Whilst we initially provided accommodation and
support for women fleeing domestic violence, over the years, our services have
developed to provide specialised services for children and young people,
community based support, support & information groups and specialist
support through the criminal justice system. We look forward to continuing to
build on our strengths and respond to the needs of women and children in our
community.
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