Child and Family Practitioner/ChISVA/Social Worker - London, United Kingdom - University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Description

Job summary

The Lighthouse is passionate about challenging the current response to children who have been sexually abused. Directly serving North Central London we have influenced policy and practice across the UK to embed this proven multidisciplinary, child-centred way of working, increasing convictions and improving health and well-being of the child/young people and their carers. If you want to experience working in this unique multidisciplinary service for child victims and be part of changing the response to child sexual abuse, we want to hear from you.

The Lighthouse are recruiting to our Case Management team, two Fixed Term Child and Family Practitioners and a Fixed Term Part Time Manager. All three post will be on a short term basis to start immediately up till 31st March 2025. The Case Management team is multidisciplinary with colleagues coming from a variety of backgrounds including ChISVA's and Social Workers, who work directly with children and carers in supporting their journey through the criminal justice process.

Main duties of the job

The Lighthouse is leading the response in children's recovery from child sexual abuse and is England's only Barnahus/Child House. We are part of an innovative network of integrated multidisciplinary services to Child Sexual Abuse across Europe. We directly serve North Central London but are influencing policy, decision makers and the legal framework for victims of Child Sexual Abuse across the UK and are seen as a model of best practice in this area. We are passionate about promoting this proven child-centred way of working; increasing criminal convictions and victim advocacy; improving health and well-being of our children , young people and their careers. We want our shared learning and research to inform service delivery and the roll out of multidisciplinary Barnahus services in England so every child has access to similar such services.

An exciting opportunity has arisen to be a part of the Lighthouse team shaping the innovation of integrated services for children and carers. We are looking for two experienced and skilled Child and Family practitioners to join our multidisciplinary team of social workers and ChISVAs to work directly with children and carers in assessing needs and devising care plans. You will be supporting the child's criminal justice journey and early advice; children's safeguarding; and pathway through the Lighthouse service and their recovery from sexual abuse.

About us

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) is one of the most complex NHS trusts in the UK, serving a large and diverse population. We provide academically led acute and specialist services, to people from the local area, from throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. Our vision is to deliver top-quality patient care, excellent education, and world-class research.

We provide first-class acute and specialist services across eight sites:

We are dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of many complex illnesses. UCLH specialises in women's health and the treatment of cancer, infection, neurological, gastrointestinal and oral disease. It has world class support services including critical care, imaging, nuclear medicine and pathology.

We are committed to sustainability and have pledged to become a carbon net zero health service, embedding sustainable practice throughout UCLH. We have set an ambitious target of net zero for our direct emissions by 2031 and indirect emissions by 2040.

Job responsibilities

We are also looking for a part time Senior ChISVA /social worker who will manage and support our Child and Family Practitioners.

This post is open to practitioners from a variety of professional backgrounds who have experience of working directly with children and carers who have been affected by child sexual abuse in the UK and have a working knowledge of Home Office ISVA Guidance, criminal justice and safeguarding processes and Children's social care procedures.

Child and Family practitioners B6

The purpose of this role is to act as primary case holders; taking responsibility for the co-ordination of the child or young persons journey through the criminal justice process and in the Lighthouse, providing direct support to them and their family along with liaising with their Professional networks.

Child and Family Practitioners are the first point of contact for all queries and referrals to the Lighthouse; are responsible for the triage process, offering early advice to victims in the police investigation, safeguarding oversight and supporting the intake process.

They will provide advocacy and support to children and families, in an inter-agency context where activities will be complex and where there is a requirement to take considerable responsibility and work autonomously.

The Case Management team also provide support through the criminal justice process, delivered in line with Home Office guidance on The Role of the Independent Sexual Violence Adviser.

Child and Family Practitioners will be part of the Case Management team some of whom are social workers and some are ISVA's. Our work is integrated into the Multidisciplinary team which consists of the Lighthouse CAMHS team, Lighthouse Health team and in partnership with NSPCC practitioners; supporting children in North Central London that have experienced child sexual abuse.

The Lighthouse Model

The Lighthouse is the first UK Child House, a multi-professional, child centred and trauma informed service for CYP who have experienced child sexual abuse and a national leader in the field. The Lighthouse provides a holistic health assessment and medicalsupport, emotional support and therapeutic interventions, advocacy and police interviews led by clinical psychologists. This child-centred concept has had proven success abroad, in particular Iceland, where there is evidence of increased convictions and improved health and well-being of the child/young person.

After a successful pilot, funded by the Home Office, NHS England, Mayors office for Police and crime (MOPAC) and Department for Education from , the Lighthouse secured recurrent statutory funding from April 2022. NHS England commission the service which is provided by University College London Hospitals (UCLH) in partnership with NSPCC and Metropolitan Police Service. CYP who live in the five boroughs in North Central London: Camden, Islington, Enfield, Haringey and Barnet can be referred or can self-refer to the service.

The Lighthouse Team

The service is jointly managed by the Lighthouse Operational Manager and the Clinical Lead. The Lighthouse service includes a CAMHS team of therapists (including Clinical Psychologists, Psychiatrist, CAMHS practitioners), Lived Experience Consultant; a Case Management team including Child and family practitioners, who are ChISVA's & social workers: a Health team including Paediatricians, Clinical Nurse Specialist for sexual health, Play Specialist; and can access Letting the Future In practitioners (NSPCC) in the Lighthouse.

The Case Management team

The Lighthouse is a service with a focus on quality and safety for children and young people. The posts will be within the Case Management team which is a busy, fast paced and responsive team made up of child and family practitioners who are ChISVA's and social workers. The team is responsible for ensuring the seamless journey through the lighthouse and working closely with colleagues in the community particularly the Police and Children's Social Care . You will be a good team member and be able to contribute in areas of clinical practice and development; will be responsible for working independently, as well as being able to contribute to multi-disciplinary working, and managing a caseload of children and young people ensuring safe and effective practice.

With our focus on safety and improving the experience of children and young people who have been sexually abused, we are committed to advocating for victims' rights and the wishes of children and young people in the Lighthouse within the criminal justice process. We work closely with community colleagues addressing health and wellbeing inequalities for those child and young people who experience more barriers to accessing support in their recovery.

We are passionate about creating inclusive service delivery, where children are and workplace that promotes and values diversity and actively addresses barriers faced by our children. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as they are underrepresented within the service.

Given the nature of the service and high level of exposure to information about child sexual abuse, you will be expected attend mandatory reflective supervision; you must be comfortable with both with formal process and "softer" engagement and development approaches; you will have good awarenessof trauma informed practice; be committed to promoting psychological safety for yourself; and building on effective partnership working with colleagues in the community.

For the full Person Specification and more information regarding the main responsibilities of this role, please refer to the attached Job Description.

Come and be a part of the best NHS trust in England to work for, according to our staff*

UCLH top trust to work at in England for the second year running : University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

*In the most recent NHS staff survey UCLH had the highest percentage of staff who said they would recommend us as a place to work, out of all general acute or acute/community NHS trusts in England for the second year in a row.

UCLH top trust to work at in England for the second year running : University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Once again, UCLH has received the highest score of all general acute and acute/community NHS trusts in England for staff that would recommend us as a place to work.

1.Knowledge & Qualifications

Essential

Desirable

2.Experience

Essential

Desirable

3.Communication

Essential

4.Personal And People Development

Essential

6.Quality

Essential

8.Information processing

Essential