Specialist Caseworker (Emergency Department)

Full-time (35 hours pw) - evening and weekend flexibility required as this service operates 9am-8pm during the week and 9am-12pm Saturday and Sunday

Newham University Hospital

Ref: EDSCN-241

Are you a proactive, driven and empathetic individual who is passionate about supporting and uplifting children and young people and want to make a difference within the community for the betterment of children and young people?  Do you have an understanding of the challenges that are faced by some young people and of dominate youth culture? 

If so, join St Giles as a Specialist Caseworker embedded into a multi-disciplinary team within the Emergency Department of Newham Hospital, where you will provide support for those young people admitted to emergency departments right through to their discharge back into the community. 

About St Giles Trust 

An ambitious, well-established charity that helps people facing adversity to find jobs, homes and the right support they need.  Central to our ethos is our belief that people with first-hand experience of successfully overcoming issues such as an offending background, homelessness, addictions and gang involvement, hold the key to positive change in others.

About this key role

As a Specialist Caseworker, you will provide peer supervisory support to the team within the wider hospital-based services, which includes deputising for the Senior Caseworker when required, and support the Data Coordinator and Senior Caseworker with the collation of information and data for project monitoring purposes.  You will develop and maintain an up-to-date and accurate resource of suitable onward referrals and develop and maintain strong relationships with both clinicians and hospital staff and with other services in the hospital, i.e. CAMHS, IDVA, COMPASS.

We will count on you to identify and assess young victims of violence, producing support and risk management plans based on these assessments, and to provide support, advice and advocacy for children, young people and their families as they plan to be discharged from hospital back into the community.  You will also deliver a holistic support service, working solo or with colleagues as the situation dictates, which will see you provide practical help such as social and housing support, accompanying to appointments, ETE options, benefits work, debt advice, and appearing in court.

What we are looking for

• Personal experience of the criminal justice system, lived experience of the issues facing this client group and/or experience of working with ‘high risk’, vulnerable children 

• Experience of providing support, advice and advocacy

• Substantial experience of assessing the needs of young people at risk of significant harm

• Experience in working as part of a multi-agency team, working together to achieve positive outcomes for young people and establishing links to further the aims of a project

• Experience of using support plans, to enable people to successfully access support services

• Substantial experience of engaging successfully with ‘challenging’ young people

• Excellent IT, prioritisation, interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written

• A flexible, collaborative and professional approach to your work

As an organisation that works with children and adults at risk we are committed to safeguarding, protecting and promoting the safety of our clients and successful applicants will require an Enhanced Child and Adult with Child Barred DBS Check.

We actively encourage people with personal experience of the criminal justice system or lived experience of the issues facing this client group to apply for this role. 

In return, you can expect a competitive salary, generous leave allowance, staff pension, flexible working, a mentoring programme, an advice and counselling service, clinical therapist sessions, life insurance (4 x annual salary), duvet days, season ticket loan, employee perks programme, eye care voucher and much more.

We are an equity and inclusion confident employer. We welcome all applications and we particularly encourage applications from people of the global majority (black, brown, multi- heritage) and those who identify as disabled, neuroexpansive, neurodiverse, with any protected characteristics and/or social barriers or challenges. We value the empowering and informative impact that all lived experiences and diversity of thought can offer the organisation.

St Giles will guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria set out in the Job Description for the vacancy.

To apply please request an application form from our HR Team, via the apply button, stating the job title and ref number.

Closing date: Monday 30th September @ 11:45pm