Job Description

Every childhood is worth fighting for. This is our belief. It drives us. And it’s the reason our Children’s Services team push themselves to transform the lives of children and families – in person, in centres nationwide, and through the knowledge they share. Join us as a children’s practitioner in harmful sexual behaviour.

Come and work in a dynamic partnership and build your skills, knowledge and experience in preventing child sexual abuse

An exciting opportunity has arisen in Plymouth for a role working across the Plymouth Targeted Youth Support Team and the NSPCC. Together we are looking for an enthusiastic and dynamic practitioner to join us and help prevent child sexual abuse.

As a Together for Childhood site, NSPCC has joined forces with Plymouth City Council, Plymouth Safeguarding Children’s Partnership, safeguarding partner agencies such as police and health, community groups, fellow charities and the voluntary sector, schools and the wider public – with the aim of building a better future for children by identifying and addressing problems at a local level in a truly integrated way.

The focus of our work is on the prevention of child sexual abuse and our work is underpinned by community development and the principle of co-creation. We recognise that we need to learn from the lived experience and wisdom of community members (including children and young people) to identify activities and projects that will help the community feel connected and able to work together to keep children safe.

This is an exciting time for the NSPCC, and an opportunity for you to be part of our ambitious strategy to help end cruelty to children; with staff at all levels engaging in a range of new projects and developments. You will have a manageable workload, and excellent training and development opportunities spanning both NSPCC and Plymouth City Council.  You will also have opportunity to contribute to service development, not only in terms of direct work with children and young people but also evaluation, influencing and dissemination of learning.

This new post will support Plymouth ambitions to create a wide-reaching approach to harmful sexual behaviour, as a practitioner we are looking for someone with a specific interest in this field of work. Perhaps you have worked as a social worker in complex adolescent work or in schools or alternative education settings, or maybe you are a qualified youth worker or youth justice worker who also has a certificate and experience in counselling young people? If you have this experience coupled with the drive to prevent child sexual abuse working at the forefront of our understanding of tackling harmful behaviours amongst children and young people you are definitely who we are looking for.

This post requires the ability to work flexibly to meet the needs of children, young people and families. You will be based in the Plymouth City Council Targeted Youth Support Team day to day, with a shared line management arrangement with NSPCC through an ambitious partnership to develop a city wide approach to working with harmful sexual behaviour. You will work directly with both the local authority team but also work jointly with NSPCC staff delivering HSB support to children, young people and families.

Please note the successful candidate will be required to undertake an enhanced DBS check prior to starting employment.

We are  looking for someone with the interest and skills to work with young people who may have complex trauma history. This may be someone with a social work qualification, but equally we are open to a range of qualified disciplines such as Youth Work, Youth Justice and/or CAMHS practitioner roles.

This opportunity is fixed term until March 31st 2024, therefore we are encouraging candidates with the right skill set to request the role as a secondment contingent on this being supported by their employer.

Join us and you’ll become part of a team that cares about the work they do and the people they work with. You’ll discover opportunities to grow, along with challenges and a shared purpose that’ll bring the best out in you. And you’ll get to find your own way to make a difference that means more, and that impacts millions of young lives.

For an informal discussion please contact Louise Fathers (Team Manager) at Together for Childhood NSPCC –  01752 422577 – Louise.Fathers@nspcc.org.uk

As an organisation, we are committed to creating and fostering a culture that promotes safeguarding and the welfare of all children and adults at risk. Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and thorough process of obtaining, collating, analysing and evaluating information from and about candidates to ensure that all persons appointed are suitable to work with our children and adults.

Click here to apply.