Health Promotion Specialist - Youth Focused (North Essex)
Essex Sexual Health Service (ESHS) is the sexual health provider in Essex, led by Provide Community and commissioned by Essex County Council.
The post holder will work as part of the outreach and education team, focusing on the delivery of relationship, sex, and health education. This includes the delivery of education directly to young people through one-to-one tailored support and small group work, as well as training to upskill educational staff and other professionals supporting young people.
ESHS encourages applications from those with backgrounds in teaching, youth work, or working with people from seldom heard communities.
Main Duties of the Job
The post holder will support in the design and delivery of effective health promotion (HP) and behavior change communication (BCC) interventions appropriate to the needs of young people and other groups at increased risk of poor sexual health outcomes.
The post holder will work closely with educational establishments to directly deliver relationship and sexual health education (RSHE), parent sessions, and educator training in both primary and secondary settings.
Delivery will also involve community engagement approaches that tackle health inequalities, including HIV-related stigma and discrimination, while increasing knowledge and awareness of sexual health issues, including sexual health testing, consent, confidentiality, and LGBTQ+ inclusivity. The post holder will also increase access to eC-Card and broader sexual health services across Essex.
Although this post will predominantly focus on delivery in North Essex, the post holder will be expected to support the wider service across Essex; therefore, the post holder must have their own car and a full driver's license to fulfill the requirements of this role.
About Us
Provide is a Community Interest Company (social enterprise) delivering a broad range of health and social care services in the community, committed to ensuring that they are safe, responsive, and of high quality. Provide is owned by its employees and has primarily social objectives. Any profits made are reinvested into the local community or back into delivering services.
We work from a variety of community settings, such as community hospitals, clinics, schools, nursing homes, and primary care settings, providing more than 40 services to children, families, and adults across Essex, Dorset, East Anglia, and the North of England.
A highly respected, award-winning health and social care provider, we expect our staff to demonstrate and uphold our values at all times:
Vision: Transforming Lives
Values: Care, Innovation, and Compassion
Mission: An ambitious, employee-owned social enterprise, growing in size and influence. We transform lives by treating, caring, and educating people.
Provide is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills, proud to have LGBT+, Ethnic Minority, and Men's Networks. We welcome applicants from underrepresented groups. If you have the skills and experience for the job, please apply regardless of your background.
Job Responsibilities
1. Support educational establishments, parents, and other professionals in delivering RSHE.
2. Coordinate the eC-Card scheme (free condoms and lube for people aged 16-24), ensuring young people are aware of the scheme and how to access it.
3. Increase awareness and knowledge of key sexual health topics by delivering training days and community education sessions with a sex-positive approach.
4. Work directly with young people at risk of harm or sexual ill health through THT 1-2-1 education and early intervention programs.
5. Deliver targeted HP/BCC outreach interventions to relevant communities.
6. Achieve competencies to become an Assistant Practitioner (AP) enabling the post holder to offer HIV/Syphilis point of care testing (POCT).
7. Facilitate HP/BCC interventions virtually and face-to-face with target populations and partner agencies.
8. Develop, maintain, and use systems to monitor and record HP/BCC interventions, ensuring high-quality data entry.
9. Establish and maintain professional relationships with partner agencies and represent ESHS professionally.
10. Increase awareness of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) and distribute self-testing kits for STIs.
11. Support the development of networks with alternative education settings to provide RSHE access to vulnerable young people.
12. Manage resource availability and suitability for HP/BCC interventions.
13. Work in partnership with the co-production and user involvement team to ensure young people's views are heard.
14. Identify and undertake continuing professional development (CPD) to improve skills and maintain knowledge of sexual health and HIV.
15. Assist with campaigns and events such as World AIDS Day and National HIV Testing Week.
16. Manage own workload, maintaining and updating calendars, timesheets, and annual leave records.
17. Work flexibly to meet the needs of the service and its users across a wide geographical location.
Person Specification
Skills
* Clean driving license & access to a car with the ability to travel across the county.
Qualifications
* Hold a relevant teaching qualification or accredited RSHE qualification.
Experience
* Experience delivering education/training packages to professionals and/or community groups.
* Experience working directly with young people on a 1:1 basis.
* Experience delivering and evaluating health promotion interventions to communities that experience health inequalities.
Knowledge
* Understanding of HIV prevention, sexual health, contraception, and health needs of communities at risk.
* Knowledge of key national and local sexual health and HIV issues.
* Good understanding of the local area.
* Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975, and a submission for Disclosure to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) will be necessary to check for any previous criminal convictions.
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