We are a youth provision charity based in Eastleigh, Hampshire, supporting vulnerable young people aged 10 – 25 with additional needs, mental health issues, those at risk of exclusion, those who are excluded, young offenders, young carers and those who are not in employment, education or training to engage in positive activities.

We do this by running supported youth clubs, holiday schemes, volunteer projects, providing mentoring and delivering informative workshops on youth trending issues.

We are a youth focussed team, who enjoy seeing young people develop and grow despite their personal challenges. We also like cake.

Youth Support Worker for Community Buddies, Club, and Holiday Scheme Projects

Location: various locations throughout Eastleigh, Southampton and surrounding areas

Salary: £12.50 per hour

Contract: 0 hours (plus 5.6 weeks pro rata holiday entitlement)

Hours - various and flexible which can include: 

• Tuesday evenings 6-9pm (term time)
• Wednesday evenings 6- 9pm (term time)
• Weekdays 12.30pm- 5.30pm during school holidays
• Afternoons and evenings and potentially weekends 

PURPOSE OF THE POST

1. Work as part of the youth work team to facilitate holiday scheme activities and youth clubs for young people with mild to moderate additional support needs
2. Offer young people with additional needs support to access activities within their community as part of the Community Buddy Programme. This is a one-to-one provision, where a young person and their buddy go out into the community and take part in social activities that their more able peers would enjoy (such as crazy golf, cinema, bowling, McDonalds, Zumba, dog walking etc).

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

Centre Based Provision

• Work as part of youth work team at our supported youth clubs and school holiday schemes.
• Develop and facilitate variety of fun and creative activities for young people aged 10-22, incorporating youth issue topics ensuring that are age/need appropriate and service user centred.
• Supervise youth club sessions encouraging positive participation in a variety of activities including cooking, team games, creative activities, music, conversation and sport. 
• Enabling and supporting the young people to plan future sessions.
• Complete necessary paperwork.
• To create a warm, safe & welcoming environment for young people engaging, supporting and empowering them to get involved.
• To create opportunities for young people to explore issues that are important to them and enable them to make more informed choices about their actions and their lives.

Community Based Provision

• Support young people through the one-to-one Community Buddies programme to access activities in the community of their choice.
• Build up positive relationships and encourage and enable young people to participate in their chosen activity.
• To empower young people to make informed and positive decisions.
• To act as a mentor, being a positive role model and point of contact for support

All Provision

• To regularly consult young people with all our services and develop activities around their feedback
• To comply with all of SYA policies and conditions of service as laid out in the Staff Handbook and amendments.
• To ensure a positive working environment and to assist in the general running of the organisation.
• All employees and volunteers are expected to work as a team by actively sharing and exchanging information across the organisation, attending staff meetings when asked and working together with other staff when roles and interests overlap.
• To undertake training as required and agreed through supervision and to build up specialist knowledge.
• To be mobile within the area of operation and be willing to work with some flexibility to most appropriately meet identified needs.
• To be aware of the Health and Safety at Work Act and other legislation as appropriate, with particular reference to equal opportunities legislation, sex and race equality.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Ability to work with young people in a variety of settings
• Ability to develop a variety of youth work activities reflective of the young people’s interests, needs and aspirations.
• Good communication and drive to engage and empower young people.
• Ability to work as part of a team and independently
• Ability to empower and support other staff members to function successfully in a youth work environment.

PREFERABLE SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Experience within a youth work or social care setting. 
• Knowledge of current legislation that applies to working with children and young people
• Experience of motivating young people to participate in community activities
• Experience of working with diverse and hard to engage groups
• Qualification in youth or social work

General information for candidates

• Salary will be paid monthly, on the 25th of each month in arrears
• This role is subject to an enhanced DBS check

For more information on the work that we do please check us out online:

• Website: www.solentyouthaction.org.uk
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/solentyouthaction
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/solentyouthaction  
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/solentyouth