Youth Engagement Worker – OPAL Team

We have an exciting and unique opportunity to join the Opal Team as a Youth Engagement Worker.  The Opal Team are a specialist team who support children and young people who are at risk of, or experiencing, harm outside of their home as a result of child exploitation or serious youth violence.

Your next role

At the heart of our work is the ambition to foster positive, persistent and long-term relationships and develop protective factors that build resilience in children/young people who are on the cusp of experiencing or experiencing harm outside the home. We will provide a flexible, responsive service to children and their families.

We will empower young people to build and restore positive and trusted relationships and support active engagement and participation, ensuring the voice of the child or young person is embedded in the work we undertake. We will deliver our work where and when young people and families need them, being flexible in our service delivery

The Opal Team works intensively with young people experiencing harm outside of their homes in order to be able to respond quickly and robustly at “critical moments” in their lives. This may include following experiencing trauma, custody or arrest, admission to A&E, and other significant reachable moments in the young person’s life.  This will involve working with and as part of a multi-agency response to young people’s needs.

You will be required to support children and young people and their families both in their homes and their community, as well as delivering intervention group work to young people.

As part of the Opal Team, you will use principals of the Contextual Safeguarding approach to identify and intervene in the environments where young people are experiencing harm, working with community partners to build safety for the young people in their communities. 

To succeed in this role, you will hold a specialist qualification (at least level 4) in a related field e.g. Youth Work, Youth Justice, Mental Health etc. It would be preferable if this qualification was a professional level youth work qualification.

You will need demonstrable working knowledge of working with young people, have an ability to build enduring and trusted relationships with young people and current knowledge the issues that affect young people. You will also need resilience, skills in risk management, the ability to manage your own time well and the ability to prioritise your work.

We are looking for the right person who is able to:

• Build trusting and effective relationships with children and young people.
• Undertake creative, purposeful direct work with young people that is tailored to the developmental needs of the young person and addresses the presenting risks to them.
• Be a strong advocate for the young person.
• Create SMART intervention plans that understand the needs of the young person and builds safety for them.
• Demonstrate strong partnership working skills.
• To work effectively with individuals as well as small and large groups of young people.

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.

This is a permanent position and you must hold a Nationally qualified Youth Workers qualification (or qualified in a related field) to apply for this role.

It is a requirement of the role that applicants have a full and valid UK driving license and access to a vehicle during working hours.

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 together. And you’ll be proud to say it was made better with you.

Please see our Vision and Values page for more details.

Please see our new Swindon Plan.

Potential applicants are sometimes put off if they don’t meet 100% of the requirements. We think individual experience, skills and passion make all the difference, so if you meet the majority of the criteria, we’d love to hear from you.

Your next steps

Read the Role Profile and select the Apply button where you will be redirected to the Swindon Borough Council website to complete our online application process. Clicking the ‘Apply’ button on this job website is not an application, you must register on the Swindon Borough Council website in order to be considered for the role.

For further information about the role please contact Ben Harrington, Team Manager Opal Team at bharrington@swindon.gov.uk or 07935 587474.

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.

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