Adolescent Senior Practitioner - Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge & Malling and Sevenoaks
Role Responsibility
Do you want to work in an Outstanding Local Authority? Ofsted have recently awarded Kent with an Outstanding rating in recognition of the service we provide to our children. We are now looking for social workers who can lend their skills and experience to help us build on our successes.
The Integrated Adolescent Service recognizes that adolescents should be given a bespoke offer of support. We want professionals capable of bringing understanding and emotional intelligence to everything they do. The service promotes a practice philosophy which seeks to empower young people and their families, building on individual strengths, and helping them to develop strategies which support them to understand, manage and respond to the difficulties they face.
Our practitioners need to be resilient and persistent; be solution-focused; look past challenging behaviors; build positive relationships with adolescents and their carers, and inspire young people to reach their potential. We want practitioners who care about adolescents and understand the impact of trauma, and how to respond to contextual harm.
Our post is available in the West of Kent covering Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge & Malling and Sevenoaks districts.
Our generous retention package is up to £3,000 per annum, after a qualifying period. In addition, employees will receive a car allowance of £2000 per annum. In specific circumstances, a relocation package and golden hello payment worth up to £11,000 is available to qualifying applicants. Successful applicants will receive a salary in the range of £43,810 - £49,989 dependent on skills and experience.
About us:
AST sits within an Integrated Adolescent Service which includes Youth Justice, Early Help, Inclusion & Attendance, Children’s Centres, and Youth Services. We offer co-working and co-location opportunities, and we have excellent relationships with key partners including Housing, Education, Health, and the Police.
Your role will involve building trust with hard-to-reach young people, empowering them and their families to develop effective long-term solutions to manage their family relationships and develop strategies to overcome the risks that adolescents face during this phase of their life.
This role is unique and will provide you with experience in working across the areas of assessment, children in need, child protection, contextual harm, Court work, and rehabilitation home. We believe that this will provide you with a wide spectrum of skills, and we are committed to putting in place personalized development plans with our workers to enable them to feel valued and supported in their career development.
We have invested heavily in our core offer to staff, including evidence-based training in case formulation, contextual safeguarding, and trauma-informed approaches. We also offer clinical supervision to practitioners and managers to enhance how we support our workforce. Alongside this, we promote flexible working, a good package of annual leave, and employee support in recognition that all staff do a valuable job, and we wish to promote their wellbeing.
About you:
With a degree in social work – CQSW, DipSW, or equivalent – you must be Social Work England registered and should have proven experience of working with children and families. You will need an interest in working with children who have experienced adverse life events or trauma. You will need an in-depth understanding of Children’s social work legislation, along with a willingness to learn and develop as a practitioner.
You will have excellent opportunities for professional development whilst managing a varied caseload working with adolescents and their families. As a role model for good practice and champion for your area of expertise, you’ll set performance expectations, striking a balance between support and oversight. As well as coaching and mentoring less experienced staff, you’ll have the opportunity to act as a Practice Assessor for ASYE and student social workers.
You’ll share your knowledge and experience with the team in several ways, including assisted fieldwork, case audits, and reviews. In addition, you’ll contribute to working groups and multi-agency forums to develop new initiatives. In the Team Manager’s absence, you will be expected to provide management support to colleagues and act on the Team Manager’s behalf.
This role requires you to be mobile throughout a wide operational area.
This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure application to the Disclosure and Barring service and registration as a qualified Social Worker with Social Work England.
This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements.
KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county’s working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths, and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.
Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.
Location: Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge & Malling and Sevenoaks, United Kingdom
#J-18808-Ljbffr