Young Persons Link Worker at Enable

About Us

Enable is a charity dedicated to improving people's wellbeing and strengthening local communities. Core to our work is the development of strong working relations with councils, charities and other organisations to deliver, health leisure and community services and events that enrich people's love.

Benefits

• Flexible working hours & a hybrid working environment
• 30 days of annual leave (plus 8 bank holidays), 3 additional free days off at Christmas
• Life Insurance
• Reward Schemes (RewardHub Membership, wellbeing budgets and cycle to work)
• Mental Health & Wellbeing Perks (Yoga, activities, massages, monthly talks)
• Free Gym Membership
• Free breakfasts/snacks
• When in the office, we enjoy a well-stocked fridge and food cupboards, and a variety of social activities

Overview

As a Young Persons Link Worker, you will be providing social prescribing support to people aged 15-21 and/or their families. You will be supporting patients of the Battersea Primary Care Network or East Merton Primary Care Network as part of their expanding offer for young people, and be part of the wider Enable Social Prescribing Team. The aim of the role is to help young people to improve their health and wellbeing by connecting them to community support. This could include helping people with a range of issues such as coping with social pressures, emotional wellbeing, physical inactivity, financial difficulties, crime, loneliness, bullying, relationship issues and family problems. This role involves working with professionals in Primary Care to develop the project and building effective partnerships with community organisations. The successful candidate will be an excellent communicator, passionate about supporting young people and dedicated to reducing inequalities in the local area.

Job Purpose

• Provide social prescribing support and deliver one to one appointments to young people (aged 15-21) and/or their families. 
• Develop strong working relationship with Primary Care partners to promote and develop the service. 
• Build and maintain relationships with local community sector organisations to ensure young people are able to access the right support. 
• Provide social prescribing support and deliver one to one appointments to adults, where required 

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Person-centred care and support 

1. Deliver effective social prescribing appointments using a holistic and person-centred approach that helps people focus on what matters to them.
2. Empower young people and their families to take control of their own wellbeing by building their confidence, motivating them to set goals and creating personalised action plans.
3. Signpost and refer people to community and statutory services that help meet their needs.
4. Support people to overcome personal barriers to access VCSE organisations and follow up to ensure they are satisfied, able to engage, and receiving good support.
5. Treat everyone with dignity, and respect different cultures, religions, ways of life and other personal characteristics at all times.

Communication and Collaboration 

1. Work with the Primary Care partners and the Enable Health & Wellbeing Team to develop a social prescribing service that supports young people and families.
2. Maintain regular contact with primary care teams, providing updates and sharing knowledge of local VCSE organisations.
3. Develop supportive relationships and work in partnership with local VCSE organisations, community groups, and statutory services to make safe and effective onward referrals.
4. Work with the Enable Health and Wellbeing Team and local partners to identify unmet needs within the community and gaps in service provision.
5. Promote the social prescribing Community Chest fund and support VCSE organisations to apply.
6. Act as a champion of social prescribing, increasing awareness and promoting its benefits amongst to a wide range of audiences.

Service Quality and Development 

1. Collect and record outcome and monitoring data using required systems, contributing to the evaluation of the programme.
2. Keep accurate records of client interactions and record all onward referrals to VCSE services.
3. Manage own case load to ensure clients receive appropriate levels of support and expectations are met.
4. Gather client feedback to evaluate the quality of the service and to inform service changes and developments.
5. Identify how the service could be developed and improved, drawing upon knowledge of service delivery and making suggestions about how social prescribing could be embedded to a greater extent across Wandsworth.
6. Keep up to date with key changes in the health and social care sector in order to shape and develop the service, including those relating to good practice and policy.
7. Lead by example by demonstrating excellent customer service, delivery skills, organisation and professionalism.
8. Complete Quality Assurance Assessments for VCSE organisations accepting social prescribing referrals to ensure they are safe, effective, and have the support they need to be part of social prescribing.
9. Work with your line manager to identify your own support needs and undertake continual personal and professional development.

General Responsibilities 

1. To comply with all of Enable’s Codes of practice and conduct, including policies and procedures concerning data protection and health and safety.
2. To be committed to the promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion for others, both colleagues and clients.
3. To create and maintain a safe, supportive and welcoming environment where all people are treated with dignity and their identity and culture are valued and respected. Report any instances of inappropriate behaviour or discrimination.
4. Ensure referral data is kept securely in line with data protection law and Enable’s procedures.
5. To be fully aware of the principles of safeguarding as they apply to children and vulnerable adults in relation to your work role. Always follow safeguarding procedures and ensure that your line manager is kept fully informed of any safeguarding concerns.
6. To carry out any other reasonable duties and responsibilities that contribute to the overall function of the team, appropriate with the grading of the post.
7. To apply a flexible approach to working in different environments including GP practices or other healthcare settings, community venues and Enable offices, and from home on occasion.
8. To regularly travel inside and outside of the borough as required.

Person Specification

• Experience in a role that involves delivering face-to-face support in a relevant health, social care or youth work environment.
• Experience adopting a person-centred approach in order to meet the needs of service users and empowering them to make informed choices.
• Experience working with/ supporting disadvantaged young people and their families.
• Experience of working with the VCSE sector, including with small community groups and youth groups.
• Experience of partnership working and relationship building across different sectors and organisations.
• Motivational interviewing, behaviour change, or health coaching qualification (desirable) or willingness to undertake training (essential).
• Motivational interviewing/ behaviour change/ health coaching experience (desirable).
• Knowledge of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors.
• Understanding of personalised care and the skills required to support it.
• Understanding of the principles of confidentiality and how these apply when handling service-user information.
• Understanding of the challenge’s young people and families within inner London face.
• Local knowledge of VCSE and community services in Wandsworth, particularly ones available to young people (desirable).
• Good ability to use Microsoft Office (including Excel, Word, Outlook and PowerPoint) and other client monitoring systems or tools as required.
• Ability to work with and support young people and families with a wide range of social, health and wellbeing needs, inspiring trust and confidence, motivating others to reach their potential.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to develop effective working relationships with a wide range partners including GPs, VCSE organisations and service users. 
• Excellent organisation, planning and time management skills. 
• Excellent communication skills, verbal and written; able to communicate with a range of stakeholders in a meaningful way.
• Able to gather data to enable the monitoring of key performance indicators, reporting on them as and when required.
• Able to work unsupervised to agreed outcomes, meeting deadlines and within a targeted work environment.
• Ability to identify, assess and manage risk and follow set policies and procedures.  
• Able to demonstrate personal accountability, emotional resilience and ability to work well under pressure.
• Commitment to working in deprived communities and reducing health inequalities. 
• Commitment to diversity, valuing differences and working collaboratively.  
• Commitment to own professional and personal development and willingness to undertake training as appropriate to the role.
• Able to work flexible hours if required by the post and able to work in various setting.
• Able to commute to various service locations across the borough as required.