Young People's Worker: Minding the Gap

Job description

Job responsibilities

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.

Why work for The Hive?

Opportunity to development your career

Supporting young people and making a difference

Receiving clinical supervision

Your working environment will be based at a youth hub

Training opportunities to enhance your skills and knowledge

Team approach of working and partnership working

We work in a Holistic way of supporting young people

Good benefits of toil and annual leave

Person Specification

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

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.

Desirable

• Ability to work alongside staff from a range of different agencies e.g. Youth Services, Social Care; Substance Misuse; NHS or Mental Health;
• An understanding of the risks entailed in service delivery to vulnerable young people and risk management processes.

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.

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

The Hive

18 Finchley Road

London

NW3 6JP

Employer's website

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