Substance Use Worker (Youth Justice Service)
Young Person’s Substance Use Worker
Youth Justice Service (YJS)/Gwent N-gage
Job Description
Young Persons Substance Use Worker
Youth Justice Service
Newport
Civic Centre, Newport
37 hours per week
£26,265 - £28,314 per annum
Relevant Team Leaders
No direct staff reports
Permanent, in line with funding
N-gage provide a Gwent wide service for young people offering support, information, and advice in relation to their drug and/or alcohol use.
The aim of the Service is to provide integrated substance use treatment to young people and their families and to support and enable universal and targeted children and young people services to respond to substance use needs. This post will be based within the Youth Justice team providing substance use support to those involved with the Youth Justice team in Newport.
In this role you will be responsible for the following:
- To assist with assessing young people identified as having substance use as a contributory factor to their offending
- To provide secondary prevention and therapeutic work with substance using individuals and/or groups coming into contact with the YJS
- To provide primary prevention work with non-substance using individuals and/or groups coming into contact with the YJS
- To empower individuals and enable them to help themselves through informed choice and decision making.
- To ensure access to and maintenance of appropriate support networks and services for young people.
- To maintain appropriate written client records and case notes.
Liaison and Networking - To foster and sustain good working relationships with other members of the YJS, and other local statutory agencies and community groups
- To accept and assess referrals within the YJS framework
- To liaise and communicate effectively with significant others, including families, within the YJS framework
- To assess other necessary services and resources in line with individual needs through referral, negotiation, mediation and advocacy where appropriate
- To undertake assertive outreach, targeted at young offenders and young people at risk of offending
- To maintain a positive profile of Barod/YJS and the services provided, through appropriate networking, liaison and multi-agency/disciplinary working and to work in a manner which dovetails with existing statutory/community provision
- To maintain appropriate professional boundaries
- To promote awareness of substance use issues generally, and in relation to young people in particular
Information and Awareness Raising - To provide accurate information and answer queries on drug/alcohol issues
- To deliver talks, workshops, presentations, provide training where appropriate
- To assist with organising displays, exhibitions and participate in community, agency led events where appropriate
- To disseminate Barod and other leaflets, posters, factsheets and other literature as appropriate
- To provide awareness raising training and facilitate groupwork where appropriate
Other - To adhere to all Barod/YJS policies and procedures
- To ensure the undertaking of appropriate monitoring, review and evaluation procedures
- To undertake appropriate administrative tasks
- To co-operate with requests from Barod management and administration
- To take up Barod’s arrangements for support and supervision and participate in all relevant internal meetings
- To undertake other reasonable duties as requested, but which may not be specified within the job description.
Ideally all these requirements must be met by the candidate on appointment. However, in certain circumstances, a candidate may be appointed who does not meet a particular requirement. This is providing that the shortfall can be made good in a reasonable time, and the candidate brings other skills, knowledge or experience which are valuable to the role and the Organisation.
Full, current driving licence and use of a vehicle which is insured for business use.
Willingness to work towards appropriate qualifications/training
Relevant qualifications, including Level 3 in Advice and Guidance, Health and Social Care related topic.
Training in the following areas:
- Safeguarding
- Boundaries
- Substance Awareness
- Harm Reduction
- Safe Injecting
- Psychosocial interventions
An understanding of youth justice issues.
Literacy and numeracy skills.
Excellent IT skills: Microsoft Word, Outlook, Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, Canva etc.
Time management skills.
Ability to problem solve, work under pressure and work under own initiative.
To work flexibly as part of a team and as an individual.
Effective interpersonal and networking skills.
Good communication and presentation skills.
Ability to establish and maintain clear boundaries in respect of personal and professional responsibility.
Passionate about working with young people.
Previous experience of working in the substance use field.
Experience of working with children and young people.
Understanding of substance use treatment pathways.
Welsh language speaker.
Understanding/knowledge of ACEs and their impact.
Experience of working in a trauma-informed way or knowledge of this.