Ally Ferguson

Customer service at a busy mobile coffee trailer

Barista work making coffees, teas, and hot chocolate.

Service of cakes, pastries, and other produce.

Responsible for all aspects of running a successful mobile coffee trailer eg setting up displays for the day; stock management; cleaning; upholding the highest standards of food hygiene

Operational and Strategic Leadership of Support Services

Senior Manager in the Student & Academic Services Executive team, with lead responsibility for the professional student support services at UWE – Wellbeing; Disability; Safeguarding; 24/7 Student Support; Faith; & Money Advice services
Ensuring the effective delivery of support to students affected by difficult life events and crises, and students with additional needs; promoting best practice in risk management
Building connectedness and collaboration with non-academic and academic departments across the university, with other Professional Services and with the Students’ Union.
Leading with promoting innovation, continuous improvement and best practice across professional services
Managing critical incidents in line with Shared Operating Practices
Acting as a key liaison point for the service, with other professional services, faculty senior management and external partners, facilitating collaborative working and developing, implementing and monitoring service delivery.
Leading and contributing to University wide projects, working with an early intervention and prevention approach to enhance opportunity for all students.
Producing reports and briefings, developing business cases to support future investment and appropriate allocation of resource across the teams.
Chairing Complex Case, Fitness to Study and Conduct panels
Managing critical incidents in line with Shared Operating Practices

Service delivery and development

Responsible for a range of local authority commissioned teams - a floating support service supporting people around housing and living skills, and in relation to Eduction, Training & Employment goals; a hospital discharge team focussing on successfully resettling people moving from a hospital setting into community living; and a team focussed on supporting rough sleepers housed during the Covid 19 pandemic to sustain tenancies and move forward with their lives.

Accountable for the quality of work of 35 staff in support teams in a variety of support and management roles.

Leading the team and team working

Offering structured 1:1 supervision support sessions to line reports; providing induction training; supporting people around their CPD goals. Putting wellbeing at the heart of the team, as evidenced through accreditation with the London Healthy Workplace Charter.

Coaching

As a fully trained Business & Personal Coach, offering 1:1 coaching sessions to frontline managers across SHP, to team members and clients supported by the organisation. Sessions focussed on professional development goals, work/life balance, ETE goals, managing life admin and mental wellbeing.

Partnership working

Establishing positive working relationships with commissioners, partner agencies and other key stakeholders to improve the support offer for clients accessing the services.

Other Key Accountabilities of the role:-

Service utilisation

Data quality and monitoring

Safeguarding adults

Promoting inclusion and participation

Financial management

Risk Management and Health & Safety

Responsible for the delivery of a Mental Health Floating Support Service, working with 350 people per year referred by community mental health teams who needed support. Primary support areas focussed on housing, income maximisation, support around physical and mental health needs, ETE and social integration.

[From 2016-17, this role also included the delivery of a Transition Recovery Service, supporting people attending closed day centres to access other community services and support.]

Key Accountabilities of the role:-

Service delivery and development

Service utilisation

Data quality and monitoring

Promoting inclusion and participation

Partnership working

Leading the team and team working

Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults

Financial management

Risk Management and Health & Safety

Key responsibilities of the role:-

Line management of support team of 14.

Supporting staff to have the tools, knowledge and skills to effectively support 350 clients

Service delivery and development

Service utilisation

Data quality and monitoring

Promoting inclusion and participation

Partnership working

Leading the team and team working

Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults

Financial management

Risk Management and Health & Safety

Key responsibilities of the role:-

Leading with the delivery of three support services -

a high (24 hour) support mental health supported accommodation; low (day) support mental health supported accommodation; & a community out-reach service

Supervision of full staff team of nine support workers.

Completion of quarterly mental health commissioning returns, and organisational monthly & quarterly monitoring reports.

Health & Safety management

Safeguarding

Rota planning/arranging locum cover.

Budget monitoring, weekly and monthly financial returns and requisitions.

Key working with accommodation-based clients and out-reach clients.

Day-to-day front-line support work.

Working within high support (ie 24/7) mental health supported accommodation services in Edinburgh and London

Key responsibilities of the roles:-

Supporting clients with severe and enduring mental health issues to live independent, fulfilling lives in the community.

Key work responsibility for clients, compiling high quality risk assessments, needs assessments and support plans. Support plans client-led, with clear goals established that were specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART)

Responsible for identifying and reporting safeguarding concerns, and attending MDT meetings as required.

Supporting clients to maximise benefit entitlements, and manage supported accommodation environment.

Through intensive and robust support, enabling clients to develop a more structured and meaningful weekly routine.

Facilitating support reviews with care co-ordinators, psychiatrists, and other agency professionals connecting to the care and support of the individual.