Katharine Jackson

Experience

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  Deaf Action

  Dec 1988 - Aug 1990

  Social Worker

  Working with large caseloads of clients, their families and carers who were D/deaf and/or who had additional mental and physical health concerns and/or disabilities. Providing advice, information, advocacy, support and practical help on both a statutory and voluntary basis. Partnership working with a variety of internal departments and external agencies to ensure effective service delivery which included Language Service Professionals, Child Protection and Mental Health Teams.

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  Westminster City Council

  Aug 1990 - Aug 1992

  Social Worker (Health and Disability, Sensory Impairment)

  Member of a Health and Disability, Sensory Impairment Team (HADSIT) providing an advice, information, advocacy, support and practical help service to 18-64 year old D/deaf, deafened and hard of hearing individuals, their families and carers from multi-cultural backgrounds who also had additional health concerns and disabilities. Involved with large and complex caseloads, ensuring partnership working with a variety of internal departments and external agencies including Language Service Professionals, Child Protection and Mental Health Teams to provide effective service delivery. Devising and delivering D/deaf awareness training courses. Show less

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  Deaf Action

  Aug 1992 - Apr 1995

  Social Worker

  Working with large caseloads of clients, their families and carers who were D/deaf and/or who had additional mental and physical health concerns and/or disabilities. Providing advice, information, advocacy, support and practical help on both a statutory and voluntary basis. Partnership working with a variety of internal departments and external agencies to ensure effective service delivery which included Language Service Professionals, Child Protection and Mental Health Teams.

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  Deaf Association of New Zealand

  Apr 1995 - Jan 1996

  Service Co-ordinator

  Managing a multi-disciplinary team of social workers, community outreach, language service professionals and volunteers to develop and maintain a proficient advice, advocacy, consultative and support service. Networking at local and national level with various funding initiatives, statutory bodies, health amenities, community groups and public sector agencies to ensure that individuals who were D/deaf had full access to the same facilities and information as all other New Zealanders, especially with regards to equality issues. Devising and delivering in-house and external D/deaf awareness training programmes. Show less

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  The City of Edinburgh Council

  Jan 1996 - Apr 1996

  Social Worker (Children and Families)

  Working as a locum Social Worker in the Duty and Assessment team, responding to new referrals from professionals and members of the public. Investigating allegations of neglect, physical, sexual and emotional abuse so that a child or young person was protected from harm. Signposting individuals to other agencies or completing an assessment of need.

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  Action on Hearing Loss Scotland

  Apr 1996 - Aug 1998

  Scottish Volunteer Project (SVP) Manager

  Setting up, developing and managing the first Scottish Volunteer Project (SVP) for the organisation. Providing work experience and on-going training for long-term unemployed/vulnerable adults to compliment the information, D/deaf awareness and communication support services. Recruiting, supervising and appraising paid staff and volunteers. Networking with various local charitable concerns, support services, colleges, community agencies, employment enterprises and volunteering resources to raise awareness about the SVP and to advertise for potential individuals to become involved. Show less

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  Freelance

  May 1998 - Dec 2018

  Lipspeaker/Language Service Professional

  Working on an ad hoc/freelance basis to deliver communication support across a variety of social, educational and organisational settings. Ensuring equal access to information is provided for deafened/hard of hearing people who are lipreaders and/or who also require sign language.

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  Action on Hearing Loss

  Aug 1998 - Jan 2010

  Building and managing relationships with a broad spectrum of Co-operative businesses (food retail, travel, pharmacy, funeralcare and banking) across 3 areas of the UK (Scotland, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man). Co-ordinating a wide variety of Charity of the Year deaf awareness activities and training with internal departmental personnel to develop a greater awareness about hearing loss. Promoting, developing and encouraging local and national, sponsored fundraising events and activities through PR, marketing and campaigning initiatives to accrue monies for deaf people’s needs. Show less Establishing, managing and developing an advice and information community outreach provision across 2 areas of the UK for D/deaf and hard of hearing people. Devising and delivering presentations and training on disability issues and specialist equipment to various companies, generating new business and raising a higher awareness of the service nationwide. Actively involved in customer care by carrying out visits to individuals at home, work or at educational establishments. Partnership building and representing the organisation at networking events, local exhibitions and national conferences. Show less

  • Regional Co-operative Charity of the Year Co-ordinator (Scotland, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man)

    Jan 2009 - Jan 2010

  • Regional Outreach Co-ordinator (Scotland and North East England)

    Aug 1998 - Jan 2010
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  Biggar Museum Trust

  Jan 2010 - Aug 2010

  Career Break

  At the beginning of 2010 when I experienced redundancy and had an unanticipated career break, I utilised this somewhat different period by participating in additional volunteering activities relating to history/tourism in local museums based in a rural setting, as well as community energy efficiency. Whilst still actively seeking a new job, this maintained my self-esteem and motivation levels and ensured that I had a routine. I also developed excellent links with Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and enrolled on their in-house CV, interview techniques and career enhancing development courses and workshops. Show less

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  Access to Industry

  Aug 2010 - Jan 2011

  Course Development Officer

  Organising, administering and delivering a portfolio of training courses across South East Scotland for excluded and vulnerable adults with particular needs e.g. recovery from substance misuse, offending history, homelessness, deterioration in mental health etc. Negotiating with further and higher educational institutions to encourage, enable and support students to gain self-confidence, skills and qualifications through sustaining and completing their studies and to progress onto more advanced learning modules, volunteering opportunities and/or paid employment. Show less

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  Hearing Link

  Jan 2011 - May 2012

  Intensive Programme (IP) Development Manager

  Managing and developing high quality UK-wide advice and information services for individuals, their families, carers and health care specialists affected by an Acquired Profound Hearing Loss (APHL), Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (Nf2) and/or who were experiencing other additional disabilities or well-being concerns. Devising, facilitating, delivering and evaluating week-long residential rehabilitation course programmes across Scotland and England (Eastbourne, Nottingham, Southport, Newcastle and Edinburgh). Engaging in partnership working with a broad spectrum of internal and external professionals and agencies to maximise programme uptake and service provision, as well as to devise and implement efficient and evolving marketing evaluation strategies. Show less

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  Time Recruitment Services Ltd

  Jul 2012 - Mar 2013

  Various Temping Roles

  Engaged in a wide variety of temporary employment opportunities within the Edinburgh area. Posts included: Operations Manager, Property Viewings and Lettings Co-ordinator, Recycling Market Researcher, Office Administrator and Receptionist. Assignments took place across various sectors including: charity, financial, health, property and Scottish Government.

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  RNIB Scotland

  Mar 2013 - Jan 2016

  Project Development Officer (Hidden Sensory Loss: Dementia, Stroke and Learning Disability)

  Devising and delivering customised and bespoke sensory loss awareness courses (Sensory Champions) in partnership with 1 health board and 4 local authorities across Edinburgh and the Lothians. Raising awareness of visual/hearing loss for people with dementia, stroke and learning disability. Training professionals working across each of these fields to support identification and assessment and subsequently establish more direct primary and acute health referral pathways with community optometrists, audiologists and other key personnel. Reporting functional and clinical sensory assessment findings with individual service users, carers and specialist workers via a sensory passport to influence personalised care and budget planning for an improved quality of daily living. Managing post-course graduates to implement their acquired learning into community settings. Show less

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  Deaf Action

  Jan 2016 - Aug 2019

  Sustaining and further developing the innovative and high-quality specialist Employability Service across 4 geographical areas. Managing and leading a team of Advisors and administrative support to meet service user need and demand within project targets and organisational frameworks. Identifying and developing strategic aims and objectives on both a short-term and long-term basis. Cultivating and forming effective strategic and partnership relationships with internal and external stakeholders within similar employability services, as well as with funding bodies and Scottish Government personnel. Engaging with public and private sector employers to explore ‘hidden talent’ within their organisation through their recruitment, retention and staff development policies. Monitoring, assessing and evaluating business activity and evidencing impact and outcomes. Managing and forecasting budgets and reporting to funders to demonstrate efficient expenditure. Representing the organisation at networking events, local exhibitions and national conferences to increase the profile of Deaf Action services. Instrummental in the team being awarded the “Joined Up for Integration Quality Standard for Effective Integrated Practice” via the Capital City Partnership Strategy in Edinburgh designed to continually improve customer experience and set a customer care quality standard for provider organisations. Show less Setting up and developing a new and innovative, high-quality specialist Employability Service across Edinburgh & the Lothians, Fife, Perth & Kinross and the City of Dundee. Working with Deaf BSL users, deafened, deafblind and hard of hearing people with additional disabilities and/or long-term health conditions to prepare them for finding and sustaining work. Providing support to individuals aged 18+ through one-to-one assessment meetings, training and workshops on a range of employability areas including: CV development, interview skills, confidence building, volunteering and work placements. In addition, producing a person-centred Employability Toolkit and subsequent Service Plan Booklet encompassing needs-led Action Plans to capture and monitor progression along the Employability Pipeline. Providing written and verbal reports including statistical and financial information and analysis, as necessary. Collating and writing materials and data for funding bodies. Representing the organisation at networking events, local exhibitions and national conferences to increase the profile of Deaf Action services. Show less

  • Strategic Development Officer

    Jan 2017 - Aug 2019

  • Employability Advisor

    Jan 2016 - Dec 2017
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  Capital City Partnership

  Aug 2019 - now

  To support the development of an Integrated Employer Engagement team plan, one of the seven themes under the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal to bring about significant regional change in collaboration with the six partner areas in Edinburgh, wider Lothians, Fife and Borders. To ensure existing employability and related services work better collectively and bring about genuine and sustainable integration to make better use of joining up local and regional opportunities to ensure economic growth. Duties will include: co-ordination and establishment of steering, employer and partner focus groups; producing timelines and implementation plans; conducting on-going evaluation; adapting and influencing current services with a regional set of standards having an initial focus on branding and aligned integrated employer offers; and to support where necessary, the wider team to understand and further develop the Recruitment Skill Centre model and the community benefit approach to help guide the overall strategic vision of the theme. Show less Responsible for developing corporate relationships with employers across the Fort Kinnaird (FK) Retail Park and surrounding area. Identifying and servicing current business activities for forecasting and planning to effectively support future recruitment, training and business growth needs. Engaging with the Joined Up for Business/Joined Up for Jobs Forums. Involved in: partnership working with other employability services; organising Bright Lights Customer Retail courses - securing a variety of work placements for students and assisting FK staff, as required; raising awareness about Centre activity through talks and presentations; and representing the organisation at networking events, local exhibitions and conferences. Show less

  • Integrated Employer and Partnerships Officer (ESES City Region Deal)

    Apr 2020 - now

  • Employer Engagement Executive

    Aug 2019 - Mar 2020