Children and Young Persons Social Prescribing Link Worker

Job description

Job responsibilities

The purpose of this role is to support children and young adults to improve their level of wellbeing by engaging then in support from local service. They will provide a seamless referral system for several GPs and other Healthcare professionals in the Rugby Primary Care Network (PCN) and ease access and engagement. The role will require supporting young people to access a range of health, social care, welfare advice and other support services. It will require proactive engagement with healthcare professionals to stimulate referrals into the programme. Whilst the role is based at Rugby PCN, there is also a co-location aspect to the role, as the postholder will need to work at schools and community centres where childrens and young people activities are provided. This will enable the link worker to arrange additional activities for the children and young people.

Fundamentally the Link worker will support young people to improve their broader health and wellbeing through self-management, understanding healthy relationships, coping with stress, accessing appropriate services, and making positive change. The referrals will come from general practice staff but will also come from education, the police, children services, and other community based groups. Indeed, integral to this role is building up the directory of services for and coordinating the support options available to children and young people patients within this area. Developing relationships within local voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations will be key to this success of Social Prescribing. The postholder must have experience of working with children and young people.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Invest time in young patients to discover individuals interests and support them in unlocking their potential.

Work with adult social prescribers to provide a package of support to families, guardians and carers when necessary.

Provide information, advice and guidance to referred client, including signposting where appropriate

Undertake initial assessments; identify goals, concerns and develop plans with children and young people to improve their heath.

Ensuring that the work complies with contractual monitoring and evaluation requirements.

Working with health professionals to build relationships and increase access children and young peoples services across the region.

Develop comprehensive knowledge of wider support services for people with high support needs including; social isolation, wellbeing, housing, unemployment, welfare and benefits.

Maintain effective relationships with Health and Social Care professionals, Information, Advice and Guidance Services, support services, stakeholders and partners.

Build and maintain effective relationships with schools, youth groups, youth justice teams, children services, and carers.

Recognise children and young peoples needs for different methods of communication and adapt accordingly

Work with children and young people service partners including the Social Prescribing Youth Network, Street Games, NASP, and the BENN Centre.

Working to Health Exchanges policies and procedures at all times including Equality and Diversity, Health and Safety, Confidentiality, Lone Working and Safeguarding.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

The behaviours that must be demonstrated in the job:

Ability to work flexibly and travel if required, to multiple sites

A strong empathy with the values of compassion and care

Enthusiasm and a friendly demeanour

Superb communication skills, written and verbal

Passion to support behaviour changes

Thoroughness and with a good attention to detail

Confidence

Self-reflection

Commitment to diversity

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with children and young people
• Experience of maintaining relationships with children services
• Experiencing of developing and maintaining relationships with clients
• Working with a range of health, social care professionals and voluntary and community sector organisations.
• Experience of working with a range of communities
• Experience of organisational development and capacity building with individuals and groups
• Experience of giving advice or 1:1 support, assessment and triaging.
• Commitment to clinical supervision and reflective practices with colleagues and management
• Effective approaches to community engagement and development.
• Knowledge of community development techniques used to improve mental health and wellbeing, healthy eating and physical activity.
• Up to date knowledge of issues affecting the work of voluntary/community groups.
• Ability to meet deadlines and work in an efficient manner
• A commitment to the principles of equal opportunities.
• An understanding of the importance of confidentiality and data protection.

Qualifications

Essential

• Excellent level of written and spoken English.
• GCSE Maths & English Language or equivalent
• Qualification or relevant experience in the field - eg community development, health promotion, community work, Physical Activity/Sports Development
• Excellent ability to use Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, Outlook, and use of the Internet.
• Excellent relational and interpersonal skills
• Team building skills and highly motivated.

Desirable

• Excellent knowledge of data input, extraction and analysis.
• Degree in health/sport related field
• Experience of working with General Practice
• Experience of supervisory and leadership skills
• Knowledge of behaviour change techniques

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

Health Exchange

Address

Brownsover Medical Centre

Bow Fell

Rugby

Warwickshire

CV21 1JF

Employer's website

https://www.healthexchange.org.uk (Opens in a new tab)