Young People’s Substance and Misuse Worker

At Swindon Borough Council, we want our town to be the best it can be. Our ambitious vision is supported by realistic transformation programmes, with the people of Swindon at their heart. Because that’s who we’re doing it for – the communities and businesses that make our town great. As part of the Council, you’ll support a friendly local authority making decisions with real impact. It’s all for better public services. Better processes. And a better quality of life, for everyone. Join us, and Swindon will be better with you.

Your next role

We have an exciting and unique opportunity to join our dynamic and ambitious Young Person’s Substance Misuse Service as a Substance Misuse Worker.  

We have both a permanent and fixed term contract opportunity until April 2025 available.

UTurn provides specialist support to children, young people and their families to reduce harm, improve resilience and live independent productive lives’ away from substance misuse. The service is for children up to the age of 18, and care experienced young people up to the age of 21, with substance misuse problems. The service seeks to provide additional support to those aged 18 as part of their transition to adult treatment services.

The overall aim of the service is to enable young people with substance misuse problems, including alcohol, to overcome them and to promote healthy lives through the provision of a range of motivational, psychological; and culturally accessible informed services and interventions. The service works in close partnership with the other treatment providers, YJS, children’s services teams, Education, CAMHS and SBC public health team. This is an exciting time to join substance misuse services as the public health team aims to implement a number of key factors locally to meet the outcomes of the government’s new drug strategy, “from harm to hope” and deliver an outstanding treatment system.

You will be required to provide substance misuse assessments and interventions, particularly for young people with complex needs, and assist them towards healthier lifestyle choices.  You will also provide advice, information and harm reduction interventions on a one-to-one basis, relapse prevention support and referrals to other relevant interventions to address substance misuse and related problems for young people. You will have a caseload that includes multi-agency working alongside a Social Worker, Youth Engagement Worker YJS workers, CAMHS workers and will be expected to attend all relevant support and planning meetings for these young people. You will also be expected to lead large group intervention such as a whole school assembly or groups in the community. The working day requires the ability to work flexibly as some of the work may need to be complete outside of office hours, for example outreach in the community or delivery of intervention to particular groups such as Scouts.

To succeed in this role, you will hold a specialist qualification (at least level 4) in a related field e.g. Diploma in Substance Misuse, Youth Justice, Youth Work, Mental Health etc. You will need demonstrable working knowledge of relevant legislation, guidance and policy context relating to the work of substance misuse, and the delivery of community substance misuse services. You will also need resilience, skills in risk management, the ability to manage your own time well, the ability to prioritise your work and have excellent written and communication skills.

We are looking for the right person who is:

• Able to deliver drug awareness and harm reduction training to other services both within the local authority and the wider partnership
• Confident to present in school assemblies and deliver small group work in various settings
• Able to work early evening hours (meet young people and deliver training/outreach after 5pm)
• Able to work in a confidential manner but also follow Swindon Safeguarding Partnership procedures
• Able to deliver community resolution interventions to divert young people from the Criminal Justice System.
• Confident to represent UTurn at local events.

If you believe you have the skills, experience and enthusiasm to join this service and make a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged young people and their families then we want to hear from you.

You must be fluent in the English language (as a requirement of Part 7 of the Immigration Act “for the effective performance of a customer-facing role”).

Your next package

Please see our Rewards and Benefits offer for more details.

As an employee, you will receive a diverse and exciting environment in which to work, encouraging creativity and innovation whilst recognising the need to support ongoing personal development and a flexible work life balance.

For Swindon to thrive in the future, we need to lay the foundations now. It’s why our regeneration and transformation programmes are already underway. So, you’ll be joining us at an exciting time on our journey. We’ll look to you to share your knowledge, influence decisions and drive real, positive change. With your contributions, we’ll achieve our vision of a prosperous, re-vitalised Swindon by 2030 together. And you’ll be proud to say it was made better with you.

Your next steps

As an inclusive employer, we welcome applications from a diverse range of communities, and in particular disabled people and people from ethnic minorities. Read our statement of commitment to equality & inclusion.

Read the role profile and select the Apply button to start an application.

For further information about the role, please contact Rebecca Lewis at RLewis3@swindon.gov.uk

If you are experiencing technical issues submitting your application please email resourcing@swindon.gov.uk