Contract Type: Fixed term
Role Type: Employment
Hours: Full time
Application deadline: Friday, October 24, :59
Based: Sunderland
Salary: £38,682 Per Annum
Salary Type: Salary Scale
Location: Tyne and Wear
Role description: Senior Project Support
Senior Children and Young People's Link Worker
Contract Type:
Fixed term for one year
Contract Hours:
37.5 hours p/w
Salary:
AfC Band 6 comparable (£38,682)
Application deadline:
24th October 2025
Sunderland Counselling Service (SCS) is seeking to appoint a senior link worker to work in our Children and Young People's service. The service will be set within a unique independent mental health charity, which is acknowledged for its contribution to the community by mental health professionals, health practitioners and local and regional voluntary and statutory agencies.
The service responds to the unmet needs of children, young people and families in Sunderland and South Tyneside via the implementation of a social prescribing model for children, young people and their families. The service will connect children, young people and family members into a broad range of services and interventions in their local area in a timely and effective way, led by the wants and needs of the client themselves.
This activity provides additional emotional, social and practical support to wrap around existing Primary Care and mental health services, to support young people while they are waiting for formal treatment, prevent deterioration, maximising treatment outcomes and support independence. It is NOT intended to operate as a crisis service or an alternative to crisis services, nor as a clinical intervention and would not take on care planning or case management functions which clearly must be provided by clinical staff. Additional Listening Ear support will be provided for parents and carers.
The post holder will be responsible for managing the CYP link workers and adult Listening Ear workers, providing regular line management and caseload management support. They will be responsible for co-ordinating and promoting the service, in collaboration with other members of the SCS senior team. They will carry their own small client caseload and will carry out assessments of need, providing support and guidance to clients who are referred to the service. This may include direct emotional, social or practical support, signposting, providing self-help materials, a check in system, identifying a suitable package of specific support and making any necessary onward referrals.
To allow flexibility and to respond to client need, services may be delivered confidentially from home as well as GP surgeries and other community venues in Sunderland and South Tyneside. The post holder will be called upon to use a personal means of transport while engaged in the work of the service for which travel expenses will be available.
Please use your application to tell us how your skills and experience align to the role. Sunderland Counselling Service may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) detection tools to identify whether an application has been completed using AI. We expect that AI may be used to enhance your application such as refining and clarifying your ideas and thoughts and checking for grammar and spelling. However, applications where AI has been used to invent or inflate your skills and experiences or create generic responses will be rejected. To verify you have written your application please add the following to the bottom of your application 'I confirm that the content of this application is my own work and has not been generated by artificial intelligence tools beyond basic editing or proofreading'.
If you have any questions about this role, please contact Toby Sweet (Chief Executive) on
Further information can be found below.
A copy of the job description for this role can be found at, alongside details on how to apply. Please note applications for this post must be submitted to by 11.59pm on 24th October 2025 alongside a completed equal opportunity and diversity form. Applications after this time will not be considered.
Apply for this job
Back to jobs