Youth Worker

**PROFILE**

The role of a Youth Worker (Restorative Justice) involves a significant amount of contact with people affected by crime. The work will involve:

- Working with victims of youth crime and young people who have committed crime
- Communication via telephone, video calling and face to face meetings to engage victims and young people
- Supporting individuals to enable them to communicate effectively with each other and;
- Facilitating a process which helps reduce harm and enables individuals to move forward from what has happened - This is a process known as Restorative Justice
- Restorative justice can be facilitated through a face to face meeting or indirectly via the Youth Worker.

Please see our YouTube Channel ‘Restorative TV’ for real life examples of the kinds of work we do.

Skills we look for in our Youth Workers include:
**Communication-** Listening and responding to what is being said so that people feel supported, valued and prepared to engage in a restorative intervention is an essential part of this role. There will also be an expectation that your first contact with people will be via a telephone call, so being able to engage with people over the phone is vital.

**Flexibility
- **Working with people requires a flexible approach to ensure they are seen at times convenient to them; this can involve working on evenings and weekends. In return, we don’t expect you to work a rigid 9-5 Monday-Friday working week. You will be expected to manage your diary effectively and be prepared to travel across the county (and occasionally other parts of the country). There will be a significant level of working from home involved in the role.

**Motivation-** Well facilitated restorative interventions change lives for the better. We want you to do that. The nature of the role means generating work through phone calls, visiting victims at their home, seeing young offenders in the community or at the Wakefield Youth Justice Service and working in close partnership with other agencies. You are going to be out and about a lot. It is not the type of job where you are going to be sat at a desk all day. You will have to work using your own initiative and make judgements that consider the needs of the people you are working with, your own workload and the specific contract requirements.

There will be expectations on the amount of restorative work we want you to do. We want you to be the type of person that will see this as a challenge you want to meet because when it is achieved, lives are changed.

**IT Capable-** We want Youth Workers to spend the majority of their time working with people. Whilst this will include a significant amount of ‘face to face’ contact with our service users we also look to maximise the use of ‘remote’ methods of working. You will need to be comfortable using platforms such as ‘Teams’ and ‘Zoom’ in order to fulfil this aspect of the role.

It is vital that we record all of the work we do accurately and promptly. As a result, it is essential that you are proficient in using:

- Electronic calendar
- Word
- Excel

**Safety-** We want you to work safely in all aspects of your role. This will mean following our own internal policies and procedures and will require you to consider safety in relation to the following aspects:

- Safeguarding
- Lone Working
- Data Protection
- Confidentiality

**WHAT TO EXPECT**

The role is based in Wakefield, so expect to travel around that area. **You will need to be able to drive and have access to your own vehicle.**

You will be working
- in peoples’ homes, within the Wakefield Youth Justice Service, in local community venues and in Young Offender Institutes. Full training will be provided to build your awareness and confidence in each of these settings.

We strive to create balance between working from home and working collaboratively with colleagues.

You will have a line manager who you will meet individually at least once a month and they will also be available during the week to provide support and guidance.

**We will provide**:

- Full training
- A laptop and mobile phone
- Line management support and guidance
- The role requires an enhanced DBS check
- Starting salary £21,091 rising to £23,805 at the end of Year 2 in role
- 6% employer pension contribution
- 26 days leave per annum plus bank holidays

**Salary**: From £21,091.00 per year

**Benefits**:

- Company events
- Company pension
- Flexitime
- Life insurance
- Sick pay
- Wellness programme

Schedule:

- Flexitime
- Monday to Friday
- Weekend availability

Work Location: In person

Application deadline: 05/06/2023