Youth Violence Intervention Practitioner - University Hospital Lewisham

Youth Violence Intervention Practitioner - University Hospital Lewisham

• University Hospital, Albacore Cres, London SE13, UK
• Full-time
• Contract type: Full time - permanent
• Department: Redthread
• Service type: Youth Violence Intervention Programme

Company Description

Thank you for considering a Youth Violence Intervention Practitioner role with Redthread. We are a team of compassionate, collaborative and courageous professionals, committed to empowering young people to change their lives. This animation was created with our Youth Ambassadors and these clips, BBC News and ‘A day in the life’ will give you a taster of what we do every day.

We are looking to recruit a dynamic team member at our University Hospital Lewisham site. You will support young people who are experiencing trauma or tragedy, and their families. You’ll work with them in the Emergency Department, on the wards and once they are discharged into the community.

As a Youth Intervention Practitioner working on our Youth Violence Intervention Programme, you will primarily be based in the A&E department of University Hospital Lewisham. You’ll be part of a team that is fully embedded in the hospital and that is highly valued by clinicians and community partners alike.

To do this well you need to be a people person; passionate about supporting young people, and excited at the prospect of working in a fast-paced and exceptionally busy environment. You’ll need a proven ability to work with high risk, vulnerable young people and an understanding of the impact intense, short term work can have. You must be a strong communicator: as comfortable building a relationship with a young person as you are liaising with our clinical colleagues. You’ll be keen to keep learning, seizing training opportunities at Redthread and continuously reflecting upon and improving your practice.

In return, the successful candidate will receive a competitive salary, a supportive and flexible working environment, excellent staff training and development package and access to a range of employee benefits including access to enhanced employee assistance programme services, employer pension scheme contribution, enhanced annual leave and family leave entitlements and more. As this role requires an NHS honorary contract, as well as Redthread benefits, you’ll also have unique access to generous NHS discounts and blue light schemes too.

The offer of employment is conditional on satisfactory pre-employment checks which includes meeting any applicable legal vaccination requirements, unless medically exempt, as set by the CQC.

Redthread is not a Home Office-licensed visa sponsor, evidence of the right to work in the UK will need to be provided at Interview stage.

Job Description

What does a Youth Intervention Practitioner do?

Youth Intervention Practitioners use the principles and power of youth work in the setting of a busy emergency department. We meet young people who have experienced injury or trauma while they are in the hospital, and work alongside our clinical colleagues to offer them support at a time when they are feeling very vulnerable. Our first contact with the young person may be to offer them a drink, or to ring their parents, or to check if they understand what’s happening to them. When their immediate medical needs have been met, we will talk to them some more and explain how we can support them. We will do a safety plan with them before they leave the hospital.

If a young person chooses to engage with us, we will then work with them for eight to twelve weeks on a plan of action that’s tailored to their needs. We work closely with the hospital safeguarding team every day and frequently have to escalate concerns. We contact any other agencies who know the young person so we’re not duplicating their work, and often arrange to meet them with the young person. We regularly have to strongly advocate for young people, for example with housing agencies. We look for organisations who can work with them towards their longer-term goals and we do relational referrals, transferring the trust that young people have built with us.

Youth Intervention Practitioners hold a caseload of young people, supported by their team leader, and need to be good at recording their work, and discussing and reflecting on their practice. We provide an intensive induction at the start of the role, ongoing training and CPD throughout your time at Redthread and fortnightly clinical supervision. Our Youth Intervention Practitioners have to be courageous and tenacious, and because ours is a short intervention, we don’t always see first-hand the impact of our work. But we know from talking to the young people we work with that we make a huge difference.

Our Youth Intervention Practitioners are resilient, able to work calmly in a challenging environment with young people experiencing trauma, injury or exploitation. They have a good level of self-awareness, the ability to reflect on how the work is impacting them, and a willingness to engage in regular clinical supervision that helps them develop their practice and emotional literacy.

Youth Violence Intervention Practitioner Job Description

Post Title: Youth Violence Intervention Practitioner

Work area: Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programme

Responsible to: University Hospital Lewisham Team Leader

Location: The post will be based in an A&E department within University Hospital Lewisham with occasional travel to Redthread’s central offices in East London and other projects in the UK as required.

Hours: 37.5 hours per week. The nature of Redthread’s work means that regular evening and weekend working is required. You will be required to work shifts to ensure that the team covers from 7:30am to 9pm each day between them.

Salary: £29,767.50 per annum (includes London weighting) + benefits.

Contract type: Permanent

Purpose of the Post:

• To be part of the youth work team at Redthread, with a primary focus on the Youth Violence Intervention Programme.
• To assist with Redthread’s other activities as required.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Hold a caseload and work with young people in a range of settings, including in A&E and on the wards, in the community, in face-to-face and group contexts, and promote their personal, educational, health and social development through all interactions.
• Assist with the ongoing development of the service model to ensure that clients gain the maximum benefit from Redthread’s interventions.
• Ensure information resources such as client forms, databases and contact files are kept fully up-to-date and secure, in line with GDPR, the Data Protection Act and our Confidentiality Policy and Consent Policy. Maintain high quality recording of interventions with young people on our database, Lamplight, in line with Redthread’s best-practice requirements. (Training for Lamplight will be provided.)
• Collect and record evidence of project outcomes and young people’s achievements, to ensure the completion of monitoring forms and project progress reports as required.
• Maintain a good level of knowledge of the issues around youth violence and Child Sexual Exploitation.
• With guidance and support from the Team Leader, and with attendance on appropriate training courses, develop skills to further your work with the young people.
• Under the direction of the Team Leader, develop an imaginative programme of events, activities and other interventions which support Redthread’s mission.
• Actively research and network with other organisations working with young people in the area served by the hospital to ensure that the organisation as a whole has a good knowledge of other services and projects that may be of interest to the young people we work with or appropriate for us to refer to.
• Help organise and take part in supervised trips and other activities.
• Contribute to the training programme that Redthread provides for hospital staff, including informal micro-teachings and more formal presentations.

General responsibilities of all Redthread staff:

• Actively participate in staff meetings, session evaluations, supervision/reviews and planning sessions and in Redthread’s overall development, including input on the needs of young people, ideas for new projects, and the ongoing development of existing projects.
• Assist where possible with fundraising events and fundraising, including the maintenance and growth of the regular supporter network, and to assist in promoting the organisation’s work with young people to the wider community.
• Assist in maintaining good working relations with Redthread’s stakeholders, project partners and with other agencies and represent Redthread at external meetings as required.
• Encourage and enable young people to participate in all forms of decision-making and management of Redthread’s projects, with the ultimate aim of empowering them to shape the services and activities provided for them. To ensure that all young people have equality of access and that the programme promotes opportunities for all young people.
• Assist the team in ensuring that all Redthread policies and procedures are followed, including Health and Safety, Safeguarding, Data Protection and Equal Opportunities. Report any concerns to an appropriate member of the SMT.
• Work as a member of the Redthread team and assist as required across all the organisation’s projects, including carrying out any other duties that may be required to meet the needs of the organisation.

This job description is not exhaustive and is subject to review in consultation with the post holder and according to future changes/developments within the organization.

Please see job description and person specification.

Qualifications

Experience:

Essential:

• Significant professional experience of working with vulnerable young people in a range of activities and settings
• Experience of working as an effective team member
• Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team
• Experience of working autonomously

Desirable:

• Working with people impacted by violence, trauma or tragedy
• Experience of working with projects that seek to address the issue of gang membership, youth offending, knife crime, etc
• Experience of working in a London borough
• Experience working in a health-based environment

Knowledge:

Essential:

• A thorough knowledge and understanding of the physical, social and emotional developmental needs of young people
• Understanding of the issues faced by young people living in inner city areas
• An awareness of child protection and safeguarding issues and knowledge of current best practice within the youth work sector
• A knowledge of best practice in case recording

Desirable:

• The Ambit model, solution-focused brief therapy or a similar counselling methodology

Skills:

Essential:

• Resilient and reflective
• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills and an ability to interact with both young people and adults on a one to one basis and in small groups, within a range of contexts
• Ability to plan and manage own workload
• Accurate data entry and record keeping and monitoring processes
• Ability to use up to date IT systems

Qualifications:

Desirable:

• A degree-level qualification in social work, youth work, a social science, education or another relevant field.

Professional skills:

Essential:

• Self-motivated and committed to personal development
• Flexible and committed
• Effective time management skills and an ability to prioritise tasks and work flexibly to deadlines
• A commitment to and understanding of equal opportunities issues as they apply to all aspects of Redthread’s work

Close date: 15/01/2025.

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS AND TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Salary

Circa £29,767.50 per annum + benefits. We offer competitive salaries which are regularly reviewed, and we’re proud to be a living wage employer.

Contract: Permanent

Place of work

This post will be based within an A&E department at University Hospital Lewisham, with occasional travel to Redthread’s central offices and other projects in the UK as required.

Hours of work

37.5 hours per week. The nature of Redthread’s work means that regular evening and weekend working is required. You will be required to work shifts to ensure that the team covers from 7:30am to 9pm each day between them.

Probationary period

The post is subject to a six-month probationary period.

Annual leave

The holiday entitlement is 26 days leave each year, plus the bank holidays. An extra one day’s holiday per year is given for each full year worked, up to a maximum of five additional days. Employees can also carry over three days leave entitlement (pro-rata for part-time employees) into the next holiday entitlement year.

Enhanced family leave entitlements

We offer employees enhanced maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption leave and pay after one year of completed service.

Workplace Pension Scheme

We offer membership of a workplace pension set up with The People's Pension, and employees are eligible to be auto enrolled after three months’ service. The employee’s minimum pension contribution rate is currently 3%. Redthread’s contribution rate is 5% higher than the employee up to a maximum of 8%.

Enhanced Sick Pay

The entitlement to enhanced sick pay is service-related, starting with one-week full pay and one-week half pay.

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

We offer an enhanced Employee Assistance Programme, which provides free, 24/7 confidential helpline services (accessed either by phone and/or online) including structured counselling services and practical resources aimed to support your work-life balance. In addition, some aspects of the EAP service are also available to share with an employees’ dependants including their partner.

Tax-free Childcare scheme

You are entitled to sign up to the Government's Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme at https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

Cycle to Work Scheme

We offer a Cycle to Work scheme which enables savings on the cost of a new bike and accessories for employees wishing to cycle to work for all or part of their journey. Employees can sign up after one month’s service.

Safeguarding

Redthread puts safeguarding at the forefront of all its activities. The successful applicant will demonstrate their firm commitment to effective safeguarding practices and high professional standards around all safeguarding issues.

Work-based learning and Professional Development

We aim to build a culture and environment for staff to learn, develop and achieve their full potential, whilst delivering services through a skilled and competent workforce. To achieve this, Redthread have a comprehensive staff training programme which provides individuals with resources, training and support to learn and develop their skills. We also encourage our staff to undertake work-based learning and provide support for continuous professional development, whilst helping staff achieve a work-life balance.

Equal Opportunities

Redthread is committed to the fair treatment of its staff, potential staff or users of its services, regardless of age, disability, neurodiversity, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation or criminal record status. We actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills and potential and welcome applications from a wide range of candidates, including those with criminal records.

At Redthread, we’re currently exploring new ways in which we can improve our overall approach to equality, diversity and inclusion, whilst continuing to build an organisational culture where all colleagues feel valued, respected and empowered to be who they are at work.

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) networking group provides opportunities for staff to contribute to the future development of Redthread’s new organisational EDI strategy and initiatives. The forum also supports the organisation to coordinate and deliver actions around equity, diversity and inclusion such as bias training, inclusive leadership, virtual workshops, events, accreditations and more.

Please note:

Any offer of employment will be subject to continuous eligibility to work in the UK and satisfactory pre-employment screening which for frontline staff includes an Enhanced DBS Check.

To apply, please visit our website via the button below.