Expert Development and Delivery Caseworker Four Day Week Full Time

Expert Development and Delivery Caseworker – PRSB

Job description

What we do

Safer London provides consistent, trauma-informed support to children, young people and parents/carers who’ve already experienced harm. Through specialist one-to-one support we support them move from crisis to stability, and from harm to hope.

We support young Londoners affected by a range of harms, including criminal exploitation, sexual exploitation and sexual violence, violence in the community and peer-to-peer harm. Our work happens in the community – wherever the young Londoner feels safe and comfortable. This could be a school, park, café, or another safe place.

Each child or young person is matched with a caseworker based on their unique needs and circumstances. They meet with them weekly and support typically lasts between 6 months and 18 months, but support can last for as long as needed.

Each intervention is tailored to the young Londoner’s identity, experiences and needs, and may focus on safety planning, emotional wellbeing, healthy peer relationships and family dynamics. We also help young Londoners access education, training, employment opportunities, and safe, stable housing.

Through our work, we are helping young Londoners heal, rebuild and move forward – so they can live safer lives and have the positive futures they deserve.

About the Role

In this role, you will work alongside children and young people who have been exposed to or have engaged in harmful sexual behaviour. Within your role as an Expert Development and Delivery Caseworker – Positive Relationships and Sexual Behaviours, you will provide one to one support to young Londoners as well as develop the service with a focus of making it accessible to all needs. You will also be required to share your knowledge and expertise with colleagues. You will be expected to provide robust risk and needs assessments that reflect the contexts within which harm has occurred, and to work collaboratively with partnership agencies to reduce risk and secure services and support.

Who you will be working with

At Safer London we work as one team across the entire organisation. This cohesive working allows us to realise our vision of helping to create a safer city for everyone who lives here. We choose to invest heavily in our direct practice work, with practitioner Caseworkers making up the majority of Safer London’s workforce. Safer London’s Caseworkers are supported by a team of practice managers and safeguarding professionals.

We have Caseworkers who are Specialists and Experts in the following areas:

Violence and exploitation

Sexual violence

Neurodiversity and SEND

Harmful Sexual Behaviours

Families (parents and carers)

Education, training and employment

At Safer London we encourage a culture of shared learning and collaborative working. We work together to support the presenting needs of the young Londoners and families we work with. Our work is grounded in the AMBIT approach of working, with the team working to the AMBIT principle of mentalisation.

Collaborative working with multiple different external organisations and agencies is critical in this role. In order to effectively safeguard and address the complex challenges faced by young Londoners, you will be required to work alongside a variety of professionals, each with their unique expertise. By fostering effective communication and information sharing, multi-agency working allows for:

Enhancing the effectiveness of safeguarding for young Londoners and their families.

Early intervention and prevention of potential risks.

Providing a holistic understanding of a young Londoner’s situation.

Creating a coordinated effort that prevents duplication of work and ensures resources are used efficiently.

If the practice team is the beating heart of Safer London, then the central resources team are the brain. Encompassing finance, HR, data, governance, fundraising, communications, learning and development and data management, these individuals work hard to make sure Safer London is operating to the highest standard possible.

Main purpose of the role

In this role within the Positive Relationships and Sexual Behaviour Service, you will provide one-to-one support to young Londoners who have engaged in concerning and harmful sexual behaviour. The role will also require developing the service focusing on meeting the needs of a diverse range of young Londoners. You will support in creating resources; drawing on best practice, research and data to inform development. You will also be responsible for sharing your knowledge and expertise to support colleagues in adequately identifying, understanding and addressing the needs of young Londoners who engage in concerning and harmful sexual behaviours. This will be through facilitating a space to offer advice or consultations to the wider Safer London team.

At Safer London we see that young Londoners are often stigmatised for their behaviour and left without the space and support to address their feelings and behaviours. We aim to be changemakers; reframing language from harmful sexual behaviour to positive relationships and sexual behaviours; preventing it being victim-blaming and instead seeing the behaviours through a strengths-based lens. Through our services we offer relationship-based support which advocates for their needs, celebrates their strengths, and helps them focus on their positive futures. In planning our support, we take into account their experience of trauma and safety and consider their experience across the various contexts of their lives.

Key responsibilities

1. Delivering effective and appropriate services to young Londoners who have engaged in concerning or harmful sexual behaviours in line with the Safer London model of work, ensuring that they receive support in order to meet their individually assessed needs.

2. Contribute to the continuing development of the service, with a particular focus on ensuring it is accessible to meet all diverse needs.

3. Working creatively with colleagues to generate resources and materials which are accessible to young Londoners with a diverse range of needs.

4. Leading on facilitating advice, consultations and training as well as providing support and expertise around methods of communication appropriate to the individual needs of the young Londoners.

5. Undertaking high-quality case recording in line with the highest standards and best practice principles.

6. Completing robust risk assessments and strengths-based needs assessments, reflecting each individual’s needs, creating the intervention accordingly and ensuring safeguarding is the priority.

7. Making appropriate onward referrals and signposting young Londoners to support services and positive activities.

8. Working with partners, communities and other key stakeholders to deliver the service effectively.

9. Contributing to the reporting around the service both internally and externally: this may include on occasions giving presentations and leading learning events.

10. Acting at all times in line with safeguarding legislation and guidance, as well as Safer London’s processes and wider pan-London processes and protocols.

11. Undertaking any other duties as required and commensurate with the level of this post.

Person Specification

Skills and experience

1. Relevant qualification in social care, health, youth/community work, criminal justice or demonstrable equivalent experience – e.g. Registered and Qualified Social Worker (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview).

2. Experience of managing complex safeguarding issues with children, young people, families and adults at risk, including being able to demonstrate effective partnerships working (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview).

3. Experience of working with children, young people and/or vulnerable adults affected by harmful sexual behaviour who have a range of diverse needs (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview).

4. Ability to contribute to developing services, focusing on emerging needs (Essential, assessed at Essential, assessed at Application / Interview).

5. Extensive knowledge of the impact of context on children, young people and adults, with a clear understanding of the principles of contextual safeguarding (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview).

6. Experience of enabling the learning of others through delivery of presentations, group work, peer support and/or coaching which includes space for reflection and embedding learning in to practice (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview/ Test).

7. Recognition of the importance of resilience in coping with the emotional demands of the role.  (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview).

8. Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, in order to communicate and influence a wide range of internal and external colleagues on matters relating to the service, and produce reports for a variety of audiences (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview/ Test).

9. IT literate (Excel, Outlook, Word etc.) and experience of using databases (Essential, assessed at Application / Test).

Knowledge

10. Demonstrable knowledge of best and good practice around working with children, young people and/or vulnerable adults affected by harmful sexual behaviour (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview).

11. Demonstrable knowledge of the current context and societal conditions influencing the nature of harmful sexual behaviours – e.g. exposure to online extremist ideology and misogyny (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview).

12. Knowledge of trauma-informed practice and of how trauma –including from their own lives – can impact on how practitioners manage cases (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview).

13. Knowledge around best practice in and understanding of the importance of good quality case recording (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview).

Values and attitudes

14. Commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, and experience of applying these principles in the workplace (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview).

15. Ability to demonstrate, with examples, your alignment to Safer London’s values (Essential, assessed at Interview/ Test).

16. Ability to prioritise own workload and able to work without close supervision  (Essential, assessed at Interview).

17. Ability to be flexible with work location (Essential, assessed at Application / Interview).

Additional Considerations

• We’re committed to protecting and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect anyone who works and volunteers with us to share this commitment. An enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is required for this role.
• The successful candidate will be required to travel to different locations around London.
• Safer London Caseworkers sometimes work extended hours to meet the needs of young Londoners/ parents/carers. Therefore, the successful candidate may occasionally be required to work evenings.
• Safer London is an agile working organisation. This means employees are able to work from different locations, e.g. from home, our office premises and community locations such as libraries/co-working spaces, where the work allows. Agile working arrangements will be agreed with the line-manager.
• Safer London understands that resilience is a skill that can be learnt over time and recognises and supports the role of self-care in developing resilience.