Liaison & Diversion Children and Young Persons Practitioner

A Vacancy at Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust.

An opportunity has arisen within the Liaison and Diversion Team for the role of Liaison & Diversion Childrens & Young Peoples Practitioner based in Barrow in Furness, South Cumbria. This key position within the established Liaison and Diversion Service for Police Custody Suites and Magistrates Courts will be offered as a permanent post.

Essential Criteria:

A minimum of NVQ Level 3 in relevant subject OR Diploma in Health and Social Care coupled with significant Experience of working with people with complex needs (minimum of 2 years).

Desirable:

Professional recognised qualification such as RMN, Learning Disability Nurse, Social Worker, and Occupational Therapist. Psychology Degree, CBT Diploma, Substance Misuse Diploma.

Important: This post requires successful candidates to undergo NPPV Level 2 (full) Police Vetting of which successful clearance is essential in order to fulfil the role and as part of this vetting process the candidate is required to have been resident in the UK for at least three years.

Liaison and Diversion (L&D) services identify people who have substance misuse, mental health, learning disability or other vulnerabilities when they first come into contact with the criminal justice system as suspects, defendants or offenders.

The service can then support people through the early stages of criminal system pathway, refer them for appropriate health or social care or enable them to be diverted away from the criminal justice system into a more appropriate setting, if required.

This is an all age service and so you will be required to work with people from the age of 10 years upwards but with a focus on Children and Young People if they are detained within custody or referred via the Voluntary Attendance pathway however all practitioners are expected to see both Children and Young People and adults.

The main things that L&D services do for the people we see are identification, screening, assessment and referral to other services.

We work in Police Custody Suites and Courts throughout Lancashire & Cumbria and offer assessments to individuals within the Criminal Justice system including Voluntary Attendees.

We look to identify unmet need and vulnerabilities that often lead to or exacerbate offending behaviour, offer onward referral and signposting as appropriate.

We liaise across agencies to support onward planning and intervention to address needs.

We offer some brief community based intervention to maximise service user access and engagement with those appropriate services.

We help to inform decision makers with relevant and timely information to support sentencing and disposal outcomes.

The Bradley Report (2009) provides the background within the development of services working within the criminal justice system.

There is an expectation to travel between sites and where needed to other Liaison & Diversion teams within the LSCFT footprint.

Informal visits are encouraged.

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care.

The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area.

Lancashire & South Cumbria Foundation Trust encourages flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, flexi-time and career breaks. We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview.

For more information please visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT.

For more details on this vacancy please review the attached job description and person specification.

This advert closes on Monday 28 Apr 2025.