Specialist Children & Young People's Advisor

FearFree delivers services across the South West for victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse and victims of sexual violence. We provide responsive, victim focused, and trauma informed support and this post will be fundamental to ensuring service users, stakeholders and partners experience this in our daily delivery.

Following a successful trial in several surgeries, the Interpersonal Trauma Response Service (ITRS) is now being rolled out across Devon, Plymouth and Torbay.  This makes it a very exciting opportunity to take ownership and be part of an innovative new service, delivering real improvements to the local community.

The aim of the ITRS is to improve the health, wellbeing and safety of people who have been exposed to trauma arising from sexual violence and abuse and/or domestic abuse. We provide adults whose health is being negatively impacted by interpersonal trauma with appropriate support. We also provide support to children affected by domestic abuse, and provide people who are using abusive behaviours with appropriate support and interventions.

Your team will provide appropriate training to GP surgeries to improve identification, enquiry and response for patients. The Specialist Children and Young People’s Advisor will work within a multi-agency system to provide trauma informed, proactive, person-centered service for children and young people and their families who have experienced domestic abuse, empowering choice through informed decision making.

Our Interpersonal Trauma Response Service brings together dynamic, passionate and committed individuals who share a common focus on delivering high quality, person-centered and trauma informed support to patient’s referred by partner GP Surgeries across Devon. The team have a responsibility to work with multi-agency partners, building awareness and understanding of domestic abuse.

This is a fixed term role for 12 months.

Key elements of the role include:

·       Providing high-quality practical and emotional support and outreach to children and young people who have experienced domestic abuse

·       Risk assessing and helping to keep children and young people safe through safety planning

·       Ensuring the voice children and young people informs every stage of our support provision

·       Delivering educational, time-bound, sessions

·       Enabling children and young people to access statutory and other services where appropriate

·       Engaging with and supporting the MARAC and MASH process, to ensure that the voice of victims is heard

·       Supporting in-house training & refresher training for general practice teams on understanding, recognising and responding to domestic violence and abuse (DVA) and sexual violence (SV).

·       To provide ongoing specialist advice and support around DVA and SV to practice teams.

·       To encourage general practice health professionals to ask patients about their experience of abuse and respond, record, safety check and refer.

·       Manage a caseload and working proactively to support young people and their families

·       Facilitating early intervention

·       Raising awareness of children and young people’s needs who have been impacted by domestic abuse

·       Working with multi-agency partners and the wider FearFree service provision

Key responsibilities:

·        Provide a high-quality, person centred, trauma informed service and empowerment to children and young people (CYP), ages 5-18, who have experienced domestic abuse.

·        Effectively manage a caseload of CYP clients.

·        Completing initial assessments of CYP’s needs.

·        Collaboratively develop support plans with CYP to meet their needs.

·        Assess and managing risks to services users, colleagues, and self.

·        Work with multi-agency partners to meet service users’ needs.

·        Have an understanding of multi-agency partners services.

·        Work with schools and education establishments to ensure support offered is appropriate, planned and coordinated.

·        Uphold, promote and work within safeguarding principles and practice.

·        Support CYP to develop an increased understanding of the impact of their experiences. relating to domestic abuse and their awareness of what constitutes a ‘healthy relationship’.

·        Respond to crises with a focus on CYP’s wellbeing and safeguarding.

·        Support the development of self-awareness, confidence and participation of CYP.

·        Support CYP’s participation in the design, delivery, and evaluation of services.

·        Ensure resources and services meet CYP’s specific needs.

·        Support the development of services and resources.

·        To understand and work effectively within a multi-agency framework, consisting of the MARAC and local partnership responses to domestic abuse, in order to reduce the risk for service users and their families.

·        Empower service users to make decisions about their life through advocacy and providing information.

·        To recognise, respect and address the needs of service users who face barriers when seeking help to access the service, including those from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, LGBT communities, disabled people, those with complex needs and other groups which services have found difficult to reach.

·        Accompany service users, when needed, to other relevant agencies and support them in their interactions with these agencies.

·        To work alongside colleagues to deliver a whole family approach, including colleagues in other teams and locations.

·        Be proactive with your line manager to carry out periodic case reviews.

·        Help maintain accurate and confidential case management records and contribute to monitoring information for the service.

·        Attend children’s social care meetings as required, including Child Protection Conferences, Core Groups, Team Around the Family and Strategy Discussions. 

Practice-based work:

·        Support  the delivery of DA/SV training to clinicians and non-clinical staff in participating general practices.

·        Promote awareness of the experiences and needs of CYP affected by DV/SV, particularly in relation to their health.

·        Develop a good relationship with all general practice staff and work effectively as part of the practice team.

2.       General

·        Remain up to date and concordant with organisational procedures, policies and professional code of conduct, upholding standards of best practice.

·        Attend and contribute to team meetings.

·        Contribute to effective team working with a flexible and pro-active approach, including cover for other team members’ holidays and sickness where required.

·        Undertake agreed training and keep updated on changes in legislation, policy, and best practice

·        To support additional duties at your team managers discretion.

For a full job description/person specification and to apply, please follow the link provided on this website. The closing date for this role is 11th August, with interviews currently planned to take place on 14th August.

FearFree is committed to encouraging equality and diversity in the workplace.  We strive to be a diverse and inclusive place to work where we can all be ourselves and individual differences are recognised and valued.