Group Mentoring Project Officer

We are recruiting two Mentoring Project Officers to support the Project Manager in delivering our high-quality 1-year Mentoring Programme that supports young carers aged 14-16 to achieve goals tailored to their needs. Each cohort will be delivered through a combination of 1:1 mentoring and monthly groups with a maximum of 8 mentees and 2 mentors. The programme aims to help the mentees improve their educational attainment, identify routes into further and/or higher education and apprenticeships, increase independence skills, build confidence, access appropriate services, reduce isolation and build resilience. 

We are looking for an individual who is passionate about supporting young carers to reach their full potential. We do not expect you to have direct experience of mentoring nor working with young carers but we do expect you to have empathy, good listening skills and a strong knowledge of the needs and common challenges of young people aged 14-16 with a desire to make a real difference in their lives.

You will be responsible for building and maintaining strong partnerships with community organisations and to generate and maintain steady referrals to the programme. You will be required to assess young carers’ needs and in conjunction with the other Mentoring Project Officer, deliver one-to-one and group support to the mentees, carefully monitoring their progress. Further to this, you will be responsible for responding to safeguarding concerns and maintaining strong professional boundaries.

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, particularly those with a lived experience of having caring responsibilities. If you think you have the skills and experience to be one of our new Mentoring Projects Officers, we would love to hear from you.

The job description as described will be reviewed on a regular basis to respond to any changing needs of the post.

Main duties and responsibilities

Partnerships and Referrals

1. To work with schools, local carer services and community organisations to create and develop referral and access pathways into and out of the mentoring programme and to promote the programme as widely as possible.

2. To ensure partners are kept up to date with information about the mentoring programme and are supported to make referrals on an ongoing basis

3. Provided consent is gained, to report back to the referral organisations to highlight progress that is achieved through the mentoring programme as well as any challenges.

4. To set up and deliver regular school outreach sessions to generate referrals

5. To represent YCDT an any relevant external networking meetings

Young Carer Assessments and Support

1. To carry out thorough assessments of young carers referred to YCDT to understand their support needs in order to provide appropriate mentoring.

2. To explain the Mentoring Programme to young carers who may have never heard of the term ‘mentoring’ before.

3. To build relationships of trust with the young carers so that they can inform you of any problems arising within the mentoring sessions and so that you can effectively track their progress.

4. To provide between 4-6 one-to-one mentoring sessions for each mentee.

5. To deliver 6 x monthly group work sessions for each mentee with an anticipated total of 16 cohorts per annum.

6. At the end of each group work cohort to jointly deliver a celebration activity.

7. To transport young carers to and from each group work session and celebration event.

8. To keep in contact with your mentees throughout their mentoring to ensure they are being supported effectively and are happy with their mentoring sessions.

9. With each mentee, to write a support plan upon completing the programme to identify continued community support.

Monitoring and Evaluation

1. To ensure our Lamplight CRM is up to date and has accurate information, including updating case notes and safeguarding concerns in a timely manner.

2. To ensure you and the other mentor complete session reports after each mentoring session and complete an Outcomes Star at the initial assessment, midway through the mentoring and upon completion.

3. To monitor and evaluate the service, including gathering and uploading data from evaluation forms and surveys.

4. To attend regular supervisory sessions with the Service Manager and produce verbal/written reports on the programme as appropriate.

Other Duties

1. In conjunction with the Service Manager, support the delivery of an annual Young Adult Carer Aspirations Conference.

2. To jointly design and develop the group work sessions and adapt to feedback as needed.

3. To process all expenses, invoices and receipts in line with financial management systems and adhere to budgets in line with funding requirements.

4. To act at all times in compliance with all policies and procedures of YCDT and ensure systems are managed in line with GDPR.

5. To undertake training relevant to the job in order to keep up to date with issues relevant to providing good service for young carers and our partners.

6. To undertake any other appropriate duties relevant to the post.

Further Information

• You must have the right to work in the UK to apply for this job

• You will need to hold a full, clean driving licence and have use of a car

• You must adhere to YCDT’s Equal Opportunities at all times

• Your employment at YCDT is subject to two satisfactory references and an enhanced DBS check

• There is a 3-month probation period for this role

• In your supporting statement, please demonstrate how you meet the person specification of this post and explain why you would like to work for YCDT

Person Specification

Skills and Experience - Essential / Desirable (E or D)

Working with young people

Experience of supporting young people’s education and personal development (E)

Experience of mentoring and/or working in the education system (D)

Communication skills, training and outreach

Strong communication skills including listening skills and empathy (E)

Excellent IT skills, the ability to use spreadsheets, databases and emails effectively (E)

Full driving licence and own transport and willing to travel across the region (E)

Confident speaking to professionals and ability to promote service (E)

Experience delivering group work sessions (D)

Programme Management

Excellent programme management, planning and coordination experience (D)

Experience of monitoring and evaluating programmes effectively (D)

Highly competent in prioritising workloads, with strong organisational skills (E)

Knowledge

Good knowledge of the education system and accessing educational opportunities (D)

Knowledge and understanding of the issues faced by young carers (D)

Knowledge of support organisations and potential referral partners (D)

Good knowledge of safeguarding practices (E)

Personal attributes

Ability to work within a team as well as independently (E)

Committed to YCDT’s mission, vision and values (E)

Sound judgement, able to overcome challenges in a calm and professional manner (E)

Highly motivated with energy and determination to achieve great results (E)

Trustworthy, non-judgmental, caring, proactive, self-motivated and hardworking (E)