Hospital Based Youth Violence Intervention Practitioner

What does a Youth Intervention Practitioner do? Youth Intervention Practitioners use the principles and power of youth work in the setting of a busy emergency department. We meet young people who have experienced injury or trauma while they are in the hospital, and work alongside our clinical colleagues to offer them support at a time when they are feeling very vulnerable. Our first contact with the young person may be to offer them a drink, or to ring their parent, or to check they understand what’s happening to them. When their immediate medical needs have been met, we will talk to them some more and explain how we can support them.

We will do a safety plan with them before they leave the hospital. If a young person chooses to engage with us, we will then work with them for eight to twelve weeks on a plan of action that’s tailored to their needs. We work closely with the hospital safeguarding team every day and frequently have to escalate concerns. We contact any other agencies who know the young person so we’re not duplicating their work, and often arrange to meet them with the young person. We regularly have to strongly advocate for young people, for example with housing agencies.

We look for organisations who can work with them towards their longer-term goals and we do relational referrals, transferring the trust that young people have built with us. Youth Intervention Practitioners hold a caseload of young people, supported by their team leader, and need to be good at recording their work, and discussing and reflecting on their practice. We provide an intensive induction at the start of the role, ongoing training and CPD throughout your time at Redthread and fortnightly clinical supervision.

Our Youth Intervention Practitioners have to be courageous and tenacious, and because ours is a short intervention, we don’t always see first-hand the impact of our work. But we know from talking to the young people we work with that we make a huge difference. Our Youth Intervention Practitioners are resilient, able to work calmly in a challenging environment with young people experiencing trauma, injury or exploitation. They have a good level of self awareness, the ability to reflect on how the work is impacting them, and a willingness to engage in regular clinical supervision that helps them develop their practice and emotional literacy.