Youth Justice Liaison and Diversion Practitioner

Job overview

Are you an experienced, highly motivated mental health practitioner, with CAMHS/Youth Justice experience and who is passionate about improving health outcomes for young people within the Criminal Justice system?

We now have the opportunity to recruit a full time (1.0 WTE) Band 7 Youth Justice Liaison and Diversion Practitioner, Hammersmith and Fulham Borough, to join our well established and expanding Liaison and Diversion service within West London. This is a 12-month fixed term contract and would consider a secondment internally. As part of your role, you will be expected to attend police custody, to screen and assess any under 18 presenting. This is deemed the “reachable moment” within Youth Justice. The two custody suites, Hammersmith and Acton, serves a large diverse borough within the West London area.

The Youth Justice Liaison team sits within a wider Liaison and Diversion service in West London NHS Trust, including Court Diversion at Westminster and Ealing, Crown Court at Isleworth and Police Liaison service at Acton and Hammersmith, alongside two other YJLD practitioners in Hounslow and Ealing boroughs.

We are looking for suitably experienced mental health professionals rather than one particular discipline. We are interested in hearing from mental health/Learning disability nurses, social workers or occupational therapists.

Main duties of the job

We provide proactive screening and assessment to individuals within Police custody, Youth Justice Teams and Court, identifying need/vulnerabilities, signposting to other services and where indicated diverting to health. You will be screening those under 18.

Our aim is to improve overall health outcomes, reduce further police contact and re-offending rates, and to avert disorder-related crises. Your will improve access to appropriate services for vulnerable young people by making referrals to health and social care agencies as required. The YJLD Worker may also need to make a care plan to address the needs of the young person while a referral is being made and is expected to hold a small caseload, while assertively in reaching to other services.

The service needs practitioners who can think quickly and work independently under pressure when screening and assessing vulnerable young people in the Youth Justice service. You will need excellent communication and risk management skills and demonstrate a commitment to close partnership working with the Police, YJS, Education and other agencies, both statutory and voluntary.

The successful applicant must be able to demonstrate knowledge and direct experience of the crisis pathway and risk management to a high standard and should have previous significant clinical experience working with young people within acute, community and/or forensic settings.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached.

The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.