Youth worker jobs in Central london, greater london

Company Description

Catch22 exists to help build a society where everyone has a good place to live, good people around them, and a fulfilling purpose. We call these our '3Ps'.

We achieve this in two ways. First, we improve lives on the frontline through delivery of public services. Secondly, we use our knowledge to change 'the system', to fix the complex web that can trap and disempower those it was set up to help. With the heart of a charity and the mindset of a business, we are uniquely placed to deliver on this challenging agenda.

Our Young People & Families (YP&F) Operational Hub delivers a wide range of integrated support services designed to help resolve complex difficulties experienced by young people and their families/carers.

Support is provided to people who find themselves in a range of circumstances; they may be missing from home or have emotional, housing or substance misuse issues. We also support families where parents/carers are experiencing domestic abuse, substance misuse, emotional issues, homelessness or unemployment. Whatever the situation, we work alongside young people and their carers to find a way of stabilising their lives.

Redthread is a hospital based youth work service, working alongside NHS staff and other professionals in emergency departments.

Our experienced, specialist youth workers engage with and support young people, aiming to support them with their needs in hospital and post-discharge. We often meet young people at a moment of change and work with them to find a positive way forward.

We provide long-term, holistic support. We consider every aspect of a young person’s life and build support around them.

About the Mental Health Youth Work Service Pilot

The prevalence of reported mental health challenges in children and young people living in England have been increasing.  In addition, research tells us that children and young people facing such challenges with their mental health are more likely to self-harm. For some children and young people, A&E Departments may be a first point of contact with healthcare services following self-harm. While in recent years the number of attendances by children and young people for mental health needs and/or self-harm have stabilised, there was a sharp increase in attendances following the pandemic. For children and young people who have gone to A&E for support with their mental health, such as following self-harm, waiting a long time in A&E can be hard. A&E Departments are often very busy and loud places and there is not always access to secluded space for those who have gone to A&E when experiencing difficulties with their mental health.

Children and young people who are also neurodiverse may find the environment particularly challenging and overstimulating while they are waiting to access care and support. This pilot aims to strengthen the offer of support to young people aged 11-18 in A&E, and also consider the wider social and emotional wellbeing needs of those individuals whilst in that environment and following discharge by ensuring there is follow up support for a variety of services.

The Mental Health Youth Work Service model has been informed by young people with experience of hospital attendances after self-harming, and their feedback has been used to shape the care we aim to deliver.

The service runs across two hospital sites in London: King’s College Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital. There will be a team consisting of one Senior Youth Worker and a Youth Worker embedded in each site.

Where you fit in

This is an exciting new service working in partnership with Queen Elizabeth Hospital Accident and Emergency Department. The project is a pilot that aims to provide specialist Youth Work support for young people presenting to a hospital because of their mental health, and specifically where they attend because of self-harm.

The Senior Youth Worker will lead on the Mental Health Youth Work service embedded within the A&E department. This will involve line management responsibilities for the Mental Health Youth Worker, partnership working to build relationships both internally within the hospital and externally in the local community, and with both statutory and non-statutory partners.

The Senior Youth worker will be expected to support and build trusting relationships with young people who present with acute needs and are often in a crisis. They will manage a caseload of their own, with contact taking place both in the hospital and post-discharge in the community.

The Senior Youth Worker will ensure the integration of the service at their respective hospital A&E department, and work alongside the Team Leader in reporting, monitoring and evaluation requirements

Main Duties & Accountabilities

• Lead the delivery of the Mental Health Youth Work service for young people aged 11-18 who attend the A&E department. Ensure that all young people are assessed holistically and care plans are tailored, trauma-informed and empowering, with the aim of reducing further harm.
• Line manage the Mental Health Youth Worker, providing guidance and direction through regular contact and meetings, case allocation, caseload oversight and one-to-one supervision, both formally and informally.
• In collaboration with the other Senior Youth Worker, provide overall support to the team to develop and improve skills, including assessment and recording, to ensure that Redthread’s model of intervention is delivered consistently.
• Promote high levels of wellbeing for staff members who are working with young people who have experienced acute and chronic mental health challenges
• Hold a caseload and work with young people with often complex needs, in a range of settings, including in A&E, in the community, face-to-face and virtually where required, and promote their personal, educational, health and social development through all interactions
• Assist with the on-going development of the service model to ensure that young people and other stakeholders gain the maximum benefit from Redthread’s interventions
• Along with the team, tailor and design youth work resources that are specific to the young people we are working with
• Contribute to the training programme that Redthread provides for hospital staff, including informal microteaching and more formal presentations.
• With support from the Team Leader, maintain strong working relationships within the Hospital, and NHS staff ensuring that Redthread youth workers are fully embedded in the health setting and are working with clinical staff to deliver a service that meets the needs of young people, including promoting the service within the hospital and attending appropriate internal meetings
• Assist in building and maintaining strong working relationships with Redthread stakeholders, project partners and with other agencies working with young people and to represent Redthread at external meetings as required.
• Ensure that as a team, you are proactive in researching and networking with other organisations working with young people in the area served by the hospital to ensure that the Youth Workers have a good knowledge of other services and projects that may be of interest to the young people we work with or appropriate for us to refer to.
• Attend multi-disciplinary team meetings in hospital, working with ED staff and CAMHS teams to support and safeguard young people
• Maintain a good level of professional knowledge of the issues affecting young people, particularly related to their mental health needs and self harm.
• In all areas of the work, apply an in-depth understanding of safeguarding responsibilities when working with children and young people, and provide guidance to your team members that adheres to Redthread’s Safeguarding policy and procedures and safeguarding policies of respective NHS Trusts.
• Ensure information resources such as client forms, databases and contact files are kept fully up-to-date and secure, in line with GDPR, the Data Protection Act and our Confidentiality Policy and Consent Policy. Maintain high-quality recording of interventions with young people on our database, Salesforce, in line with Redthread’s best-practice requirements. (Training will be provided.)
• Collect and record evidence of project outcomes and young people’s achievements, to ensure the completion of monitoring forms and project progress reports as required.
• Work as part of a team to continue to develop the programme’s monitoring and evaluation in order to facilitate internal reflection and learning, and to demonstrate its effectiveness and impact to external stakeholders.
• To ensure that the Youth Worker accurately captures and records data on the CRM system. To ensure that it can be used to identify trends and provide insights. To use these insights and trends to shape service delivery and share information with partners.
• With support from the Team Leader and oversight from the Service Manager, produce monthly and quarterly reports as required by funders and to inform leaders of the operational performance of the organisation.

QUALIFICATIONS

Essential:

• Relevant level 3 or 4 qualification in health & wellbeing, youth provision or similar or demonstrable equivalent experience

Desirable:

• A degree-level qualification in social work, youth work, social science, education or another relevant field
• Qualifications in counselling and/or mental health first aid for young people

KNOWLEDGE

Essential

• A thorough knowledge and understanding of the physical, social and emotional developmental needs of young people
• Understanding of the issues faced by young people living in inner city areas
• An awareness of child protection and safeguarding issues and knowledge of current best practice within the youth work sector
• Knowledge of Mental Health systems and processes and the function of statutory services such as CAMHS
• Knowledge of the specific needs of young people who self harm
• A knowledge of best practice in case recording

Desirable

• Knowledge of capacity and consent issues including Gillick competence
• Knowledge of solution-focused brief therapy tools or a similar counselling methodology.
• Knowledge of psycho-education tools appropriate to share with children and young people who also may be neurodivergent
• Knowledge of health inequalities and how these can affect different groups/individuals

EXPERIENCE

Essential

• Significant professional experience of working with vulnerable young people in a range of activities and settings
• Experience working with young people in a health and well-being context, especially with young people experiencing mental health challenges
• Experience of working within a multidisciplinary team
• Experience of leading and managing a project to enable growth and continuity
• Experience in developing and maintaining excellent relationships with partner organisations
• Experience in planning and delivering training

Desirable

• Experience of working in a London borough
• Experience in leading, managing, supporting, and motivating a team in their work
• Experiencing of developing a project’s processes, procedures, and policies
• Experience of monitoring and evaluation systems to measure programme impact

SKILLS & ABILITIES

Essential

• Resilient and reflective
• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills and an ability to interact young people on a one-to-one basis within a range of contexts
• Ability to plan and manage own workload
• Accurate data entry and record keeping and monitoring processes
• Ability to use up-to-date IT systems
• Able to analyse and evaluate information and provide effective management oversight of high-risk complex cases
• Able to oversee cases using an electronic database

Desirable

• Leadership and management skills to enable the team to have a clear sense of direction, feel motivated and have a clear understanding of how their own roles contribute to and enhance the work of the organisation
• Able to provide supervision, guidance, and support to youth work teams, particularly around task allocation, setting priorities and personal development
   

OTHER

• Share Catch22 values
• Awareness of and commitment to Equality & Diversity
• Willing to travel and work flexibly
• Desire to develop and undertake training as required
• Enthusiasm for Redthread’s work
• Approachable, self-motivated and committed to continuous personal development
• A commitment to and understanding of equal opportunities as they apply to all aspects of Redthread’s work

Additional Information

When applying please be cautious over the answers you provide. If you select “NO” to the screening question regarding Right to Work in the UK, your application will automatically be closed. 

Contract: Permanent

Hours & work pattern: 37 hours per week, with regular evening and weekend shifts required. Evening shifts cover the hours of 1pm to 9:00 pm 

Salary: £32,917.50 per annum

Location: Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, London. With regular travel to other Redthread sites and Catch 22 offices when required.

Screening: Successful admission to post subject to enhanced DBS check, police vetting check, and employer Right To Work in the UK check. The post-holder must have right to work in the UK. Catch22 does not currently provide a licence to sponsor visas but please see this register to see those that do.

To Apply: Please provide your CV and cover letter, along with the completion of the screening questions to express your interest in this opportunity. Please note, in the interest of safer recruitment and ensuring that applicants are a right fit for the role, submitted applications must contain a CV, satisfactory responses to the screening questions, and information detailing interest in the role, to be considered for this position.

Closing date: Midday on Friday 5th June 2026

Interviews will be held in week commencing 15th June 2026

AI generated applications are not acceptable and could lead to a disqualification of your current and future applications across Catch22 jobs. In order to ensure that applications are fair, genuine, and representative of the candidate applying, our teams may use a number of tools to identify occurrences where candidates have not given an honest response during the application process. 

Catch22’s Commitment to Ban the Box

Catch22 is proud to have “Banned the Box”. This means that we do not ask for candidates to disclose criminal convictions at the application stage. Instead, we invite disclosures at interview stage, and encourage them at the offer stage. ​

Unless otherwise stated, interviews will be arranged as suitable candidates are identified, so early application is strongly advised.

We aim to review applications as quickly as possible. However, due to the volume of interest we receive, we may not be able to contact all applicants individually. If you have not heard from us within two weeks of the closing date, please assume that your application has not been successful this time.

At Catch22 we value equality, diversity and inclusion. We are wholeheartedly committed to the principle of equality of opportunity, both as an employer and as a provider of services. Diversity and Inclusion is part of what we do every day, working to deliver our vision to build a strong society where everyone has good people around them, a purpose, and a good place to live.

Catch22 is committed to rigorous safeguarding and safer recruitment practices; ensuring that every individual within the organisation has been safely and appropriately checked.