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Play Youth Worker
The closing date is 21 July 2025
The Youth Worker is an integral member of the Play Service and will work very closely with the Play Service manager and Deputy Health Play Specialist manager.
The youth worker will work within the Play Service team delivering professional youth work supporting the Trust adolescent strategy and specific identified aims, objectives and outcomes and work closely with other Youth work colleagues to develop the services for adolescents.
The other roles include
To encourage and to develop a peer group network of support for teenagers
To develop and run a wide range of age-appropriate recreational activities both online and face to face to enable young people aged 11-21 years to develop cognitive, social and emotional skills to help prepare them for the move to Adult Services
To participate in the multi-disciplinary team using specific skills to contribute to the care and understanding of the young people, their families and carers.
To ensure the clinic environment is young person friendly and meets their needs.
The Youth Worker and Play Service Manger are jointly responsible for ensuring competency, therefore be specific to the specialty, clinical area or patient group
Main duties of the job
Create and maintain relationships with patients, parent/carers, offering advice and support where necessary.
Accompany patients to other areas of the hospital for specialised treatment.
Direct supervision using experience and knowledge to ensure patients attend transition clinics and encourage early communication if unable to attend.
Working alongside the young people, use informal or formal assessment to establish the needs of this patient group.
Using these results, work closely with the healthcare team in establishing an appropriate response to support these young people throughout the service.
To provide and lead recreational facilities and youth work activities for young people at Alder Hey Children's foundation hospital.
Encourage and supervise the interaction of young people with activities, with particular emphasis on group work and using motivational approaches, where appropriate.
To devise and develop ways in which a peer group support can be achieved.
Work with young people to prepare them for specific activities, treatment plans and transition to adult services.
To coordinate and supervise social support networks to encourage social interaction and support to young people in order to aid adjustment to diagnosis. Encourage peer support within this group.
Provide active outreach to young people struggling to engage with health services
About us
As one of Europe's biggest and busiest children's hospitals, at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, we treat everything from common illnesses to highly complex and specialist conditions.In addition to our main hospital site, we offer paediatric services at a number of community sites and hold local clinics across Merseyside, Cumbria, Shropshire, Wales and the Isle of Man. We also provide specialist inpatient care for children with complex mental health needs in our recently relocated and newly opened state of the art facility.
Alder Hey has a thriving research portfolio and leads research into children's medicines, infection, inflammation and oncology. We are becoming recognised as one of the world's leaders in children's healthcare and research. We contribute to public health, lead cutting-edge research and teach the next generation of children's specialists. Alongside this is ourInnovation Hub, a dedicated space where clinicians and industries can come together to create new products and technologies.
We know that a children's hospital is different and that our job is more than just treating an illness. To us, every child is an individual. As well as giving them the very best care, we set out to make them feel happy, safe and confident as they play, learn and grow. At Alder Hey we are here to look after a child and their family and that includes mums, dads, brothers and sisters.
Job responsibilities
To participate in fundraising processes, including suggestions for fundraisers, proposals of contributions to the service and accepting donations at charitable events.
To keep accurate records of financial outgoings and donated income for charitable trust to be monitored throughout the year.
Responsibility for ordering supplies and equipment as appropriate.
To supervise unqualified staff such as youth work, play specialist students and volunteers. Contribute to a learning environment for students and provide mentoring when required.
To coordinate creative and therapeutic activities and implement a range of strategies.
Liaise with complementary therapies, music workshop, community and youth groups to contribute to these strategies
To keep records of the numbers and types of patients receiving recreational services/input and to assess social and emotional capabilities before and after intervention.
To attend unit meetings e.g. clinical governance, action log, staff support regularly. To participate in a range of multidisciplinary meetings both within the trust and outside agencies regularly.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* A Professional Qualification (DipHE/FdA/BA(hons) in Youth Work Endorsed by the National Youth Agency or Equivalent
* Other qualification relevant to role
Experience
* Experience of working with young people from a variety of backgrounds in either a healthcare setting, Education setting or a youth community setting.
* Ability to record and document accurately
* Safeguarding Experience
* Other experience relevant to role
Knowledge and skills
* Good interpersonal skills. Effectively communicate with adolescent and young people
* Experience of auditing, data input and ability to use IT systems
* Knowledge of recording patient information on Expanse/Aldercare
* Knowledge of policy, procedure and protocol/mandatory training
* Able to prioritise own workload
* Team Player
* Ability to liaise with external organisations to build links and professional relationships
* Effects of hospitalisation/illness on the young person, family and peers
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
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