Young Peoples Worker (The Hive)

Job description

Job responsibilities

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a highly innovative project delivering and providing an integrated holistic health and wellbeing support service for 16-24 year olds within the borough of Camden. You will be working as part of a team to make a real difference to young people. Using the benefit of your own experience as well as expert training you will provide health and wellbeing support to ensure young people can access all of the services they need as they transition to adulthood.

OVERVIEW OF THE POST

The Hive is part of The Minding the Gap programme, a cross-cutting support service aimed at 16-24 year olds in Camden needing support transitioning between childrens and adult mental health services. The Hive is delivered by a unique partnership between leading local providers in Camden and young people - set up to create an integrated, holistic provision for 16-24 year olds. The Hive is commissioned by Camden Council and the Camden NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) from Catch 22, working with the Brandon Centre, the Anna Freud Centre, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, The Winch and The Integrate Movement.

The Young Peoples Workers are managed by two professionals (Team Lead roles) with backgrounds in mental health and working with vulnerable young people. Four Young Peoples workers are employed directly by Catch 22 and three by the Brandon Centre. There are clear lines of accountability and responsibility. All matters to do with employment are the responsibility of the employing organisation. All matters to do with the front line worker's role are part of the management and supervision structure of the service. There is a virtual team around The Hive team comprising organisations that make up the delivery partnership. These organisations are experts in the areas of work addressed by the team and provide training and consultation to The Hive.

As a Young Peoples Worker, you will need to be able to gain and build trusting relationships with a diverse range of young people so that they feel able to talk to you about the different problems they face. You will be trained and supported to apply non-formalised therapeutic techniques from a range of therapeutic backgrounds to meet the needs of the young people you work with. You will be able to identify and refer young people with more complex mental health needs to appropriate agencies. You will support young people to access a broad range of in-house and local services. You will take personal responsibility to ensure different service providers are working together so that nothing falls through the gaps for the young people you are working with, and that they experience integrated support. This will involve creating strong partnerships with local services via community orientation and outreach work to support young people in services they are already accessing.

You will carry out assessments with young people in order to set goals and create holistic care plans to meet their needs. You will not be seeking to create a permanent mentor relationship and will work with young people to ensure that they can live their lives more independently of services or to ensure they are linked with other appropriate organisations to meet their needs. A significant proportion of the service operates an outreach model of delivery, in the community, as preferred by the young person. The outreach work particularly targets vulnerable young people who may not readily engage with services.

You will be responsible for supporting the Hub Manager to plan, advertise and carry out activities in The Hive our social hub. You will support and engage in the group work element of The Hive, engaging with young people on the social hub and carrying out health and wellbeing activities. The young people supported through this project will often be vulnerable and challenging, and workers need to be resilient, skilled, and flexible to ensure that we deliver a consistently high-quality service.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The role will require flexibility and skills in adaptability and the appointed person will be expected to carry out tasks over three different areas within the service.

This will include:

Regular working hours within the social hub supporting delivery and engaging in the youth work element.

One-to-one individual work with young people on your caseload;

Outreach and orientation work with young people and services out in the community.

Working locations include:

• The Hive premises;
• Outreach and community based across Camden;
• Other sites and businesses within the local community may be required;
• Meeting young people in their homes may be required.

One to one work

Engage on a one-to-one basis with hard to reach young people, who are either referred to the service, drop into The Hive or who engage via our outreach work;

Learn, as part of one-to-one conversations with young people, goals and outcomes desired by them. This can include issues around emotional health and wellbeing, substance misuse, sexual health, physical health, education and training, housing and other areas where the young person could need support to access services;

Support the young people to work towards their goals by building a relationship that establishes trust so that they feel able to have conversations about issues of a more personal nature;

Learn from and determine with the young person, ways in which they may be at risk and work collaboratively to develop measures that reduce the risk for the individuals supported;

Apply, as part of the ongoing relationship with the young person, techniques from a variety of therapeutic and youth work models which you will be upskilled in through in-house training. This will include utilising models such as Ambit as well as drawing on other models which are viewed as appropriate to the needs of the individuals you are working with;

Meet young people at times and locations that best suit them and that they feel comfortable enough to access support from;

Work with the young person on a plan to sustain outcomes achieved;

Contribute to the collective problem solving and solutions development for young people experiencing emotional health problems e.g. through participation in team and individual supervision;

Work with statutory and voluntary sector partners to ensure the work is part of a pathway of activities available and adds value to existing provision;

Write up and record to a high standard any outcomes of meetings with young people and other services and any identified risks and new actions using the in-house database system;

Undertake full case recording, data collection, analysis, the production of reports and summaries, using IT.

The Hive Social Hub and Outreach

Use principles of co-production with young people and the Hub Manager to plan, create and evaluate activities and interventions to engage young people who access The Hive;

When necessary work alongside the Hub Manager to support the delivery of the youth board;

Work alongside colleagues and other partners to promote The Hive to a wide audience via social media, giving presentations, attending meetings and other such promotional work;

Engage and build positive relationships with young people who access The Hive to provide effective support on a one to one or group basis to meet the presenting needs of the young people who drop in;

Work within a rota system to ensure The Hive is well staffed and young people can access both structured and drop-in support and activities;

Carry out duty tasks of The Hive including planning and coordinating activities, supporting external services to access the building to meet young people, and providing practical and emotional one-to-one support to young people who drop into The Hive;

Engage and work alongside local businesses and support services to promote The Hive and engender community cohesion;

Carry out outreach and detached work to engage young people in schools, colleges and local communities to encourage participation in the project seeking to develop relationships with young people at risk;

To collaborate with young people to ensure that they are involved in co-creating the service so that it addresses their priorities and needs.

Other

Be flexible in your approach and understand that work routines will be subject to change, interruptions, workload fluctuation and external and internal deadlines;

Carry out such other relevant duties as may be required and as are commensurate with the nature and level of the post;

Contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external training and development programmes, in consultation with the posts supervisor;

Act as an ambassador for Catch22 and the Anna Freud Centre upholding and promoting the values of both agencies;

Comply with Health & Safety, Safeguarding and Governance policies and procedures (and those of your direct employer as required);

The role will require some evening work and a significant degree of flexibility in working hours;

The welfare of the children, young people, and vulnerable adults who come into contact with our services either directly or indirectly is paramount and all staff have a responsibility to ensure that best practice is followed, including compliance with statutory requirements.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Have an NVQ level 2 in an area related to working with young people from underprivileged backgrounds or a BA or BSc degree preferably, but not necessarily, in a social studies subject e.g. sociology, social administration, psychology, or a teaching, youth work, nursing, substance misuse worker qualification, social work or other training relevant for working with vulnerable young people, including training by experience;
• Experience of working with young people in youth-based support settings;
• Experience of providing one to one support to young people;
• Experience of working in partnership, in multi-disciplinary teams;
• Experience of delivering activities within a youth base/support setting using creative ways to consistently engage young people.

Desirable

• A relevant qualification in youth, social or community work or a related field;
• Experience of outreach or detached work;
• Experience of co-production of services with young people;
• Experience of community mental health delivery.

Experience

Essential

• Knowledge and awareness of the types of issues that affect young people;
• Knowledge of good practice in emotional wellbeing and mental health delivery for 16-25 year olds and an understanding of the key issues concerning service delivery for this group.

Desirable

• Knowledge and understanding of the issues facing socially excluded young people or those at risk of disengaging from mainstream activities and services;
• Knowledge of relevant legislation, policy and good practice relating to young people.

Skills

Essential

• High end interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to build and sustain relationships with service users who may present complex and sometimes challenging behaviours;
• Ability to engage a variety of stakeholders including young people, parents, professionals and other members of the community effectively;
• Ability to identify and assess potential risks that may arise for young people and an ability to work creatively and as part of a team to reduce these risks;
• Good verbal and written communication skills;
• Ability to set goals collaboratively with young people and support them in working towards achieving these goals;
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential issues with tact and diplomacy, whilst maintaining boundaries;
• Good IT skills;
• Ability to organise own work routines effectively and to work on own initiative to an agreed action plan;
• A commitment to valuing diversity and implementing equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice;
• Ability to work flexibly and collaboratively within a team setting.
• Ability to work alongside staff from a range of different agencies e.g. Youth Services, Social Care; Substance Misuse; NHS or Mental Health;

Desirable

• An understanding of the risks entailed in service delivery to vulnerable young people and risk management processes.

Other Requirements

Essential

• Open to flexible delivery - able to adapt to change with a positive approach to work;
• To be prepared to work flexible working hours including some evening and weekend work;
• A commitment to valuing diversity and implementing equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice;
• A passion for achieving positive outcomes for young people.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details

Employer name

Brandon Centre

Address

18 Finchley Road

London

NW3 6JP

Employer's website

https://brandon-centre.org.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)