YES Caseworker

About Us

The Youth Emotional Support (YES) service works with young people aged 11 to 18 to help ensure that they are supported to achieve their potential. The foundations for future mental health, emotional control, intelligence, and parenting ability are all set in place in the early years through to adolescence, and the home surroundings, family life and parenting are all important factors in determining positive outcomes for young people in the future.

The YES service are passionate about delivering positives outcomes for young people to provide them with the building blocks for future success with a focus on mood, anxiety, relationships, self-esteem, self-injury and any other issues that might be affecting their emotional well-being. We are passionate about our people and how we deliver services to our communities in West Sussex. That's why we encourage a culture that puts Children First.

The Opportunity

Salary: NJC Grade 9 £35,235 to £37,938 per annum
Working Pattern: Full Time, 37 hours per week
Contract Length: Fixed term contract, ending 31^st March 2026
Location: Crawley (plus Crawley Weighting Allowance £561 per annum) and Horsham

Interview Date: 17th January 2024 in Chichester

Please Note: Internal candidates wishing to apply for this role will be considered for a secondment position. Please can you therefore discuss and agree this with your manager before applying for this position.

You will provide support to individual young people and their families, helping to assess and meet their learning, personal and social needs, to assist them in making the transition between childhood and adulthood, and to make positive choices about their lives, in particular their emotional wellbeing. You will provide information, advice, and guidance services and personal one to one support to young people aged 11-17 years old who have emotional health and wellbeing vulnerabilities. You'll be working very closely with people who access or need the service and/or dealing with subject matter which will require you to demonstrate emotional resilience. The role could also involve exposure to challenging behaviour from people who access or need the service.

Experience and Skills

Key Skills

• Ability to analyse and interpret people-related information and data to prioritise needs, and to negotiate and implement effective plans for intervention and service provision.
• Ability to effectively engage and empower young people to undertake direct work and use a range of interventions to achieve change. Ability to work effectively with young people in crisis and manage conflict, containing own and others' anxieties and working within the boundaries of the role.
• Ability to work in partnership with carers, colleagues, and a variety of external agencies to deliver the most effective service, including the ability to facilitate and co-ordinate multi-agency meetings and plans.
• Ability to work professionally, to reflect on own practice and learn from experience. To take responsibility for own performance and be proactive in relation to own work and professional development.
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in both written and oral format including the ability to explain complicated and contentious information to a wide range of people and negotiate and persuade others to adopt a particular course of action.
• Ability to recognise the limits of own accountability and responsibility, and to seek appropriate support, advice, and supervision.

Qualifications and/or experience

• Relevant degree, or equivalent qualification or experience, demonstrating that level of applied knowledge in providing advice and support to young people.
• Relevant postgraduate professional qualification or equivalent qualification or equivalent demonstrable experience.
• Significant experience of direct work with young people.
• Experience of working in a multi-agency context, demonstrating an awareness of differing roles and responsibilities and effective methods of collaboration.
• Evidence of good assessment skills, including the ability to ensure regular reviews and risk management with a variety of young people. Evidence of effectively prioritising work and meeting deadlines.
• Experience of working in partnership with those who access or need the service and maintaining a focus on the needs of the individual whilst handling conflict and disagreement.
• Experience of working with those who access or need the service to identify issues and identify specific action by means of creative and pragmatic solutions.
• Experience of managing levels of risk within a caseload.

Rewards and Benefits

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do.

In addition to working within a great team and a brilliant opportunity you will receive:

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is CAFHE05520.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact the team at if for issues or queries regarding your application please contact .

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and cover letter. In your cover letter outline your motivations for applying and explain how you meet the key skills listed in full and the experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability, Veteran's or WSCC Care Leaver's Guaranteed Interview Scheme, this can be found on our application help page.

Available documents

• YES Caseworker Job Description.pdf