Senior Young Women's IDVA

Youth Realities is an award-winning specialist charity supporting young survivors of abuse and violence aged 11-25, operating as one of the only services in the UK exclusively addressing adolescent relationship abuse through prevention, intervention and healing. 

The Senior IDVA is a critical role that will sit within the wider IDVA team, managing a caseload of medium-high risk young women and girls (maxium seven at any one time), whilst holding leadership capacities as the charities Designated Safeguard Lead, overseeing IDVA case reviews and referrals into the service. 

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

1:1 SUPPORT
Youth Realities provides specialist 1:1 Support and Advocacy, delivered by a team of trained IDVAs, to young women, girls, non-binary and trans young women aged between 11-25. Young people engaged will present with a range of needs including experiences of intimate partner and relationship abuse, sexual violence/ abuse, criminal and sexual exploitation and other forms of intra and extra-familial harm.

IDVAs will engage young people in regular weekly, fortnightly or adhoc support including immediate crisis intervention, harm reduction, emotional wellbeing and long-term practical development. The support is offered for up to 18 months and young people can remain engaged with the charity beyond this point via various community activities. 

Each IDVA supports up to 10 young people at any one time, and support can be delivered from a place of safety, including: Youth Realities community space (Barnet, NW9), other community locations (cafes, community centres), places of education or when deemed safe and necessary, the home of the young person. 

As Senior IDVA and DSL, this role includes direct delivery and caseload safeguarding oversight, and capacity is restricted to an individual caseload of 7 young people at any one time.

YOUR ROLE AND KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Caseload management
To engage up to 7 young people in specialist, targeted 1:1 IDVA support to address existing or previous experiences of violence or abuse. This includes relationship building, session coordination, advocacy within required spaces such as education, health and justice, and completing robust safety plans, risk and need assessments as required.

Safeguarding
It is the responsibility of each IDVA to manage and be accountable for the individual safeguarding of those they are supporting, and it is expected that each IDVA will operate within all outlined guidance and policies set by Youth Realities when doing this. As Designated Safeguard Lead, you will be responsible for overseeing and making the final decisions on all escalated safeguarding concerns, including: responses to immediate or imminent harm that exceed the remit or specialisms of individual IDVAs, making recommendations and final decisions of external safeguarding referrals, i.e to MASH or MARAC, if this is required, and supporting with the establishment of Individual Risk Assessments where needed. 

You will be required to meet weekly with each individual IDVA, for a recommended time of 30 minutes, to discuss any updates to each case, including reviewing outstanding actions, checking the status of Individual Risk Assessments and Safety Plans each IDVA is responsible for establishing, and making decisions on case closures. 

You will be required to represent Youth Realities as DSL in external conferences, meetings and events, such as VAWG Forums, Safeguarding Children Partnerships and Vulnerable Adolescent Risk Panels, as capacity permits. 

You will be required to be available, whether in person or via phone, during the time of session delivery in case there is a safeguarding issue to address. This responsibility will be shared with the Deputy Safeguard Lead (DDSL) during periods of absence (annual leave, sickness etc.). 

You will be requested to give feedback on policies, structures and processes regarding safeguarding in an advisory capacity, though will not hold responsibility for the establishment of such documentation.

Referrals
You will be the first point of contact for all referral agencies into the charity, and will be responsible for processing and allocating referrals into the 1:1 programme as and when they are received. Referrals must be processed within 2 working weeks, at the very latest, of receipt. For further information on the referral process, see here.