Job Description

Mental Health and Justice Worker - Qualified Social Worker

Permanent, Full Time

\xc2\xa334,712 to \xc2\xa346,751 per annum

Location: North Essex

Working Style:

Closing Date: 29th August 2023

This is a fantastic opportunity for qualified Social Workers to join an award-winning emotional well-being and youth justice project making a real difference to children and young people\'s lives.

Weekdays will be working out of Colchester Youth Offending Team the post holder will work in schools across North Essex, travelling to Chelmsford for supervision and team meetings.

The Team

The POWER project (Mental Health and Justice Pathways) is an award-winning* team of social work and senior social work practitioners developing therapeutically informed interventions to prevent the escalation of children\'s mental health needs and to reduce the risk of offending, or the need more specialist services such as Tier 4 inpatient provision. Practitioners work systemically and therapeutically to introduce supportive measures for young people showing markers of emotional distress, enabling them to remain in mainstream education, and support families and schools to build strength and resilience in their children and young people.

*Children and Young People Now Young Justice category 2019

The Role

Mental Health and Justice Workers (POWER practitioners) will carry out both 1-1 direct work with children and young people and family work, leading to increased understanding and implementation of effective strategies within the family home, and within their networks. They will also support schools to make reasonable adjustments according to need. Repairing and encouraging connection and belonging is central to the role.

Post-holders must hold an accredited professional qualification in social work and be registered with Social Work England. Candidates will present evidence of excellent practice, participation in casework, recording and assessment. Strong partnership working is essential for this role as it operates in a multi-agency environment and across 3 local authorities, so the need to be flexible and develop innovative ways of working is key.

Accountabilities:

\xc2\xb7 Responsible for providing early interventions for children and young people displaying early indicators of potential mental ill health, to prevent escalation to more specialist services. This includes assessment plans, reviews, reports writing and signposting for onward referrals. prevent escalation to more specialist services. This includes assessment plans, reviews, reports writing and signposting for onward referrals.

\xc2\xb7 Responsible for developing a systemic family approach, signposting to relevant agencies and the voluntary sector, enabling parents to seek support for themselves.

\xc2\xb7 Contribute to identifying unmet need around young people\'s mental health, leading to whole system change. Analyse and assess the effectiveness of key interventions, recording these to monitor success of outcomes.

\xc2\xb7 Establish plans which provide sufficient change in young persons\' behaviour to enable them to remain in a mainstream educational setting.

\xc2\xb7 Cultivate innovative ways of working, testing new initiatives, which assist in the development and implementation of protocols.

\xc2\xb7 Work collaboratively with children\'s mental health services, with Youth Offending Service (YOS) colleagues, children\'s social care, and adopting a multi-agency approach with Police, Health and others.

\xc2\xb7 Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

We a looking for a great communicator who is passionate about young people, early intervention, and prevention, creative in their approach, and able to form constructive relations with schools, families, and young people. With an excellent understanding of child and adolescent development including attachment and trauma, the post holder will be highly motivated and able to draw on variety of theories and apply themselves using a variety of approaches, such solution focused, therapeutic and systemic.

\xc2\xb7 Post-holders must hold an accredited professional qualification in social work and be registered with either Social Work Psychotherapy and be practicing for a minimum of two years.

\xc2\xb7 Evidence of significant continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area, delivering assurance around practice and participation in casework, recording and supervision.

\xc2\xb7 Evidence of direct engagement with young people, with successful delivery of 1-1 and indirect interventions.

\xc2\xb7 Proven ability to work within an evidence informed framework, with knowledge and understanding of criminogenic factors, causing young people to offend.

\xc2\xb7 Significant experience of building strong partnerships, which are collaborative and influential in their nature and engender delivery.

\xc2\xb7 Deep knowledge and understanding of vulnerability and safeguarding protocols.

\xc2\xb7 Evidence of being an effective catalyst for change, early in young peoples\' lives.

To read more about us please visit:

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Role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

Why Essex? Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England\'s oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest - Basildon and Harlow - are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career. Read more

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We\'re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.

We\'re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

What you should do next

If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

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If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

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