Detached Youth Worker

Champions Mentor

March 2023

**Post Title**: Champions Mentor

**Responsible to**: Head of Community

**Hours; ** 37.5 hours per week

**Salary**: £23,945 pa

**Location**: Various sites across the Lancaster & Morecambe District

**Contract**: This post is fixed term until March 2025

**Job Purpose**:
Utilising the power of Morecambe FC and sport to provide an exceptional service to improve the lives of individuals & their family network. Our provision is centred around Social Inclusion, Education and Wellbeing. These services connect people from all walks of life, supporting them to achieve their goals and make positive changes, to create a safer, stronger and more resilient community.

Champions is an intervention style programme that aims to reduce reoffending, by establishing positive relationships with young people. The programme is delivered within police custody suites & in the community to divert people aged 10 to 25 away from crime.

Working as part of the Lancashire Violence Reduction Network (VRN), specialist Champions Mentors from community clubs will engage young children & adults during their detention in police custody. The Divert Coach creates and leads a development plan to assist the client in fulfilling their own goals relating to personal development, education, training and employment whilst also engaging in social & physical activities.

**Main Duties and responsibilities;**
- The Champions Mentors will be working daily engaging with detainees, various members of the police family & wide range of stakeholders.
- Adopt a trauma-informed approach to work with all individuals aged 10 - 25, the aim is to gain an understanding of their behaviour and support individuals to increase their confidence, resilience and wellbeing, whilst reducing their offending behaviours.
- The Champions Mentors responsibility is to successfully engage detainees to assess their motivation to make positive change & start an intervention plan to prevent them from reoffending.
- The Champions Mentor will have thorough knowledge of the provision & opportunities provided by the Community Trust.
- The Mentor will often be seen as a friendly face and as the non-judgmental side of the criminal justice system. The Mentor will be impartial and open minded in their decision-making processes.
- The Mentor will need to be assertive and at times deal with confrontational situations. The role has an element of exposure to managed risk; therefore, the Mentor will need to be risk aware and have the necessary skills to minimise risk. When working with young individuals under the age of 17 it is important for the Mentor to understand & gain the necessary consent to ensure any work done is agreed by parent/guardian/carer & school staff.
- The Mentor will need to integrate quickly into the environment of the police custody suite working to a common goal with all members of the police family.
- The Mentor will need to consider working with drug intervention and mental health specialists, education partners, employability stakeholders & probation staff to provide a ‘joined up’ working approach to the intervention plan
- Possessing excellent interpersonal skills will be key to the Mentor’s role. A clear communicator with the ability to connect with people from all backgrounds, walks of life, different cultures & ages.
- To ensure the youth programme, specifically, offers an holistic approach with a whole host of highly beneficial services such as: wraparound support, signposting, community activities via the trust and support into activities provided by other local organisations.

**Person Specification**

Knowledge / Training / Qualifications & Experience
- Experience of dealing with members of the public and working in partnership with other departments and agencies
- Experience of communicating at all levels with a wide range of audiences
- Experience of working effectively and efficiently as part of a team, and working with mínimal supervision
- Experience of working on their own, developing solutions and taking appropriate timely action to resolve them
- Experience of dealing with difficult situations or conflict
- Experience of maintaining strict confidentiality using tact and diplomacy where appropriate
- Experience of listening effectively and questioning where necessary in order to fully understand
- Experience of writing professional reports and data collection
- Experience of working in the criminal justice system is desirable but not essential. The Divert Coach will be provided with full training to equip the individual with the necessary knowledge and skills to fulfil the role.
- Time management skills to be able to plan and regulate workload including the ability to prioritise demands and thrive under pressure.

Additional Requirements
- Excellent understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures
- A commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion polices and principles
- A full Driving licence and access to