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Home > Work with Us

Work with Us

We believe in the power of relationships to change and enhance the lives of the people we support.

Our mission: to enable autistic people to lead happy, healthy and fulfilling lives. At the core of our work is service development and delivery. Read the about us section to find out more. For over 50 years we have provided services and support for autistic people and their families in Scotland

How Scottish Autism develops and works as an organisation at all levels is shaped by our values, which are:

We are committed to enabling the voices of autistic people and their families to be heard.

Scottish Autism: where autistic people are valued.

As change makers, Scottish Autism make, recognise and celebrate progress and success.

We are happy, optimistic and on a great journey!

 

We offer opportunities to work in a variety of rewarding roles across a range of services and departments.

Because Scotland Cares
 




 

Relationships and Relational Working

We believe in relationships: investing in and building them, as a force for change. As relationship builders, we use those relationships and reflection (relational working) to support and enable people, and to create change. As a Scottish Autism practitioner you get to emotionally invest. You will be supported to reflect and grow. The skills you will get will enhance any career. Excellent training on autism and our approach to working with autistic people is provided.

If you believe in relationships, can work in line with our values and have an aptitude for learning about and working with people, investing in others and personal self-development, we need your qualities and talent. We are keen to start building a relationship with you and for you to consider joining us. Together we can achieve great things.

Learn more about us

This is the personal growth set we can support you to develop if you give us your time and energy working in Autism Services.

  • The ability to work in a team; to contribute your thinking, to collaborate, exchange ideas.
  • Experience in how to shape and follow precise plans.​
  • Excellent communication skills, based in part on heightened self-awareness.​
  • The ability to de-stress potentially fraught & challenging situations; situational awareness​
  • Learning about autism – sector leading autism training and research, along with a national qualification
  • To work in an environment where reflective practice is encouraged and shared.
  • The ability to understand and use relationships as a tool for change.

These are transferrable and benefit people in many work and personal settings. Although we want our Autism Practitioners to stay, we do understand that some colleagues are seeking experience and learning as a stepping stone to other pathways. Many colleagues that have joined us temporarily end up staying!

We welcome those who are keen to learn about autism and supporting autistic people as well as those who are experienced and qualified.  We very much value and welcome applications from autistic people and those with personal experience of autism within their family or community.

We are really interested in people who show aptitude in building relationships and have a genuine interest in supporting autistic people. Skills relating to supporting others are usually transferrable and we take on people from a range of backgrounds: from hairdressing to postal workers! Reliability and consistency are important to the people we support.

Here are two short videos for people who would like to learn a bit more about autism before applying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What makes us different?

We are a great size and with services across Scotland (including a school, care homes, outreach, advisory services and housing support), we have career and personal development opportunities. We aim to work with requests for casual, part-time, fixed term as well as full-time applications. We are not too big though- with around 1,000 colleagues we still have opportunities to connect and learn from one another.

We have a coaching culture and encourage autonomy within teams so this means that we recruit people who can collaborate and contribute. We care deeply about our colleagues, so wellbeing and recognition are at the heart of how we work together. We always do more than what’s required: that includes choir, art club and wellbeing plans.

We are moving to a learning pathway model for development and progression where after you are confirmed into post you dictate the pace and routes of learning. We’re all different and we understand that. Putting knowledge into action is key. Our salaries are benchmarked every three years so that we know they are competitive.

We are a highly professional organisation fully focused on autism. The expertise in the organisation is based on a 53-year foundation of learning. Because our work is not generalist, the quality of training and service delivery is outstanding. Our level of leading national expertise means we offer outstanding talent development opportunities in autism services, our centre for practice innovation and across other Scottish Autism departments. People who want to work in the field of autism or gain practical experience, including many graduates, choose to work with us. We expect continuous improvement and do not stand still constantly adapting to change and improve.

We have a whole centre dedicated to practice innovation! This includes research that is ‘live’ and driven by autistic people, practice advisors supporting teams and individuals to continually reflect on what great practice (methods of working) looks like. We are thought leaders constantly considering our approach and how autistic people are enabled to live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives. We also have a team of community advisors working with other businesses and the wider community to provide external training, consultancy and information to improve the lives of autistic people in other settings.

We have invested in a significant digital implementation programme, which was complete in 2020. Paperwork is no longer on paper! This saves time and reduces bureaucracy. Training and support is provided for colleagues who are less confident with technology.

Valuing diversity and promoting equal opportunities is at the heart of our vision, mission and values.

We particularly encourage and welcome applications from people with lived experience of autism. There is an active Autistic Employees forum to provide connections and mutual peer support between colleagues. We are committed to inclusive governance.

We would like to receive more applications from men and young people too because they are under-represented in our workforce.

How to Apply

Do you like what you read? Then find out how to apply for our vacancies.

Find out more