Youth Justice Service Early Help practitioner

This is a fantastic opportunity for a qualified Social Worker or an alternatively qualified worker to join an award-winning emotional wellbeing and youth justice project making a real difference to children’s and families’ lives. The post holder will be based in West Essex with a case load working across West Essex and occasionally other localities across Essex.

The POWER project (Promoting Opportunities for Emotional Resilience) and the Turnaround programme are part of Essex Youth Justice Service’s Early Help team. It is an award-winning team of social work and alternatively qualified practitioners developing therapeutically-informed interventions to prevent the escalation of children’s mental health needs and to reduce the risk of entering the formal youth justice system or the need for more specialist and/or statutory services. This is achieved through assessment and collaborative planning to agree a targeted package of voluntary support which takes a whole-family approach, to build upon strengths, address unmet needs and improve positive outcomes and sustainable positive change. We work to enable the child to build pro-social skills and improve their future life prospects whilst aiding the resilience of parents to respond appropriately and provide care and support, with a particular emphasis on working in and with schools to support reasonable adjustments.

Accountabilities

• Responsible for managing a caseload and undertaking individual and/or family work with children or young people on the cusp of entering the criminal justice system.
• Accountable for undertaking high quality assessments of young people, and co-producing comprehensive intervention plans, evidencing input from children, and liaising with partner agencies to effectively address the underlying needs identified through assessment.
• Conduct evidence-based interventions (systemic practice, as well as Signs of Safety, Motivational Interviewing, and child development theory) to develop relationships that enable the family to build upon their strengths and support positive change, without the need to refer to other agencies unnecessarily.
• Responsible for establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with partner agencies, particularly with schools, to ensure effective knowledge about YJS Early Help as the source of expertise in the locality on YJS Early Help.
• Accountable for ensuring that the voices and views of children and young people are sought, heard, and represented appropriately, evidenced throughout the intervention, and used to inform and develop effective service delivery.
• Accountable for maintaining accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date information/case records and share information appropriately according to local and national practice guidance/policies.

What experience you will bring

• Educated to degree level or equivalent, with a recognised social work qualification i.e. diploma, degree or masters in social work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent, with current registration with Social Work England as a registered Social Worker or a minimum of 2.5 years working in the field of youth justice.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.
• Experience of working in a multi-agency environment with excellent engagement skills with a demonstrable ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with colleagues, partner agencies and service users.
• Knowledge and understanding of health and safety and safeguarding of children, and young people.
• A clear understanding of early help services and early interventions, values, and principles.
• Excellent understanding of both ‘strengths based’ and ‘outcomes focused’ work, with a demonstrable knowledge of appropriate and effective evidence-based problem-solving interventions with children, young people and families.
• Proven ability in the effective use of assessment frameworks and tools to produce appropriate, sound, evidence-based assessments of need, strengths and of risk, and use these to co-produce with families, individualised support plans that are reviewed and updated appropriately.
• Proven ability to work within an evidence-informed framework, with knowledge and understanding of criminogenic factors causing young people to offend.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.