Senior Children and Young People\'s Link Worker in Sunderland

Sunderland Counselling Service (SCS) is seeking to appoint a senior link worker to work in our Children and Young People's service. The service is set within a unique independent mental health charity, which is acknowledged for its contribution to the community by mental health professionals, health practitioners and local and regional voluntary and statutory agencies.

This opportunity is for a 37.5 hour p/w position. The post holder will be employed on a fixed term contract of one year which will be subject to a probationary period of 6 months. Continuing employment is subject to obtaining ongoing project related funding.

The post holder will be supported by regular operational line management and caseload support provided by the SCS Chief Executive. The post holder will be responsible for managing the CYP link workers and adult Listening Ear workers, providing regular line management and caseload management support. They will be responsible for co-ordinating and promoting the service, in collaboration with other members of the SCS senior team. They will carry their own small client caseload and will carry out assessments of need, providing support and guidance to clients who are referred to the service. This may include direct emotional, social or practical support, signposting, providing self-help materials, a check in system, identifying a suitable package of support and making any necessary onward referrals.

Main duties of the job: The service responds to the unmet needs of children, young people and families in Sunderland and South Tyneside via the implementation of a social prescribing model for children, young people and their families. The service will connect children, young people and family members into a broad range of services and interventions in their local area in a timely and effective way, led by the wants and needs of the client themselves. This activity provides additional emotional, social and practical support to wrap around existing Primary Care and mental health services, to support young people while they are waiting for formal treatment, prevent deterioration, maximising treatment outcomes and support independence. It is NOT intended to operate as a crisis service or an alternative to crisis services, nor as a clinical intervention and would not take on care planning or case management functions which clearly must be provided by clinical staff. Additional Listening Ear support will be provided for parents and carers.

To allow flexibility and to respond to client need, services may be delivered confidentially from home as well as GP surgeries and other community venues in Sunderland and South Tyneside.

The post holder will be called upon to use a personal means of transport while engaged in the work of the service for which travel expenses will be available. Salary for this post is comparable to Band 6 Agenda for Change. The post holder will become part of a broader link working team within SCS, with each service handling similar work within their specific area of focus. The diverse team can offer support with a wealth of knowledge and awareness of local resources and need.

The successful post holder will be employed by SCS and entitled to our employee benefits such as access to our free 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, Bike2Work Scheme, access to training and be part of a supportive team which emphasises the importance of continuing personal and professional development.

Job responsibilities: For details regarding the job description and person specification, please download these from the document section. Should you be interested in applying for this post and have any questions regarding it or your suitability, please contact Toby Sweet, Chief Executive (Toby@sunderlandcounselling.org.uk) in the first instance. Please use your application to tell us how your skills and experience align to the role. Sunderland Counselling Service may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) detection tools to identify whether an application has been completed using AI. We expect that AI may be used to enhance your application such as refining and clarifying your ideas and thoughts and checking for grammar and spelling. However, applications where AI has been used to invent or inflate your skills and experiences or create generic responses will be rejected. To verify you have written your application please add the following to the bottom of your application 'I confirm that the content of this application is my own work and has not been generated by artificial intelligence tools beyond basic editing or proofreading.

Person Specification:

• Skills and Competencies:
• Ability to manage, lead and motivate a team of people working within a challenging environment.
• Ability to impart / convey information to staff which may be viewed as challenging, particularly in relation to poor performance.
• Ability to actively listen, empathise with people and provide non-judgemental support.
• Ability to create, sustain and disengage from productive interpersonal relationships.
• Ability to work in partnership with others to achieve a joint goal.
• Ability to handle others emotions without becoming personally involved in them.
• Ability to think creatively when identifying activities that could interest young people and to adopt a solution-focused approach to identifying and overcoming barriers.
• Ability to encourage and motivate young people to participate/continue to participate in activities identified in line with their needs and interests.
• Ability to advocate appropriately on behalf of a client's needs.
• Ability to identify risk to self and others, identifying and reporting safeguarding incidents.
• Understanding of and commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Ability to make good use of line management, supervisory and support processes.
• Ability to evaluate effectiveness of interventions at an individual and project level.
• Ability to work in an unsupervised area and share information where appropriate, with the relevant personnel.
• Ability to challenge poor practice and identify and work to best practice standards.
• Ability to take responsibility for identifying and meeting own learning and development needs.
• Ability to evaluate and put in place the effect of training.
• Willingness to contribute to and assist in the development of strategies that will make the service provision accessible to all clients.

• Experience:
• Experience of managing and supporting teams of people working in a relevant field.
• Experience of working face-to-face with children and young people.
• Experience of carrying out assessments of client support needs, including risk assessments.
• Experience of working independently as well as in a team.
• Experience of supporting people with mental health difficulties either in a paid or voluntary capacity.
• Experience of working in a relevant community setting.
• Experience of accurately collecting and recording information and data whilst maintaining confidentiality.
• Experience of working collaboratively with different organisations, building trust, confidence and partnerships.
• Experience of using outcomes measures.
• Experience of using electronic case management systems such as IAPTus.
• Experience and/or knowledge of working with local statutory and voluntary agencies.
• Experience of managing a busy workload, juggling priorities, meetings and reports.
• Experience of data handling.

• Knowledge:
• Knowledge and understanding of emotional distress, mental health, and mental ill health.
• Knowledge and understanding of relevant support services available in Sunderland and South Tyneside.
• Sound knowledge of the associated issues facing young people, including relevant legislative frameworks in relation to mental health, safeguarding and child protection.
• Knowledge of Child Protection & Vulnerable Adult Safeguarding procedures.
• Knowledge of Child Development.
• Understanding of CYP mental health services and which service may be relevant to a young person's presentation.
• Knowledge of medication used in treating mental health problems.
• Knowledge and understanding of the wider determinants of health and their impact on a young person's wellbeing.
• Knowledge and understanding of health and social care terminology and an ability to translate these to young people.

• Other Requirements:
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office applications.
• High level of enthusiasm and motivation.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including telephone skills.
• Flexible and creative interpersonal approach.
• Able to write clear reports and letters.
• Ability to work within a team and foster good working relationships.
• Ability to work within the boundaries of the role and within own competencies.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to organise workloads, manage caseloads and plan service delivery.
• Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy and confidentiality.
• Full clean driving license and use of car.
• Fluent in languages other than English.

• Qualifications:
• Educated to A level standard or equivalent.
• Demonstrable commitment to personal and professional development in relevant areas such as safeguarding and related issues which may impact on young people such as education, housing, relationships and justice.
• Training in risk assessment and assessments of client support needs.
• Mental health training / qualification.
• Safeguarding training.

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.

£38,682 a year Agenda for Change band 6 comparable.