Senior Youth Worker

About the role

The role of the Senior Youth Worker is to support youth justice caseworkers to address young people’s offending by reinforcing the Service Response Plan and providing supervision and support to young people. The Senior Youth Worker supports the Program Coordinator/Team Coordinator in the ongoing management of Youth Workers, including induction, coaching/mentoring and adherence to departmental policies and procedures. The Senior Youth Worker will be responsible for delivering outcomes through self-management, sometimes with guidance from team leaders.

Key responsibilities

As Senior Youth Worker, specifically, you will:

• Demonstrate cultural capability and/or a commitment to developing cultural capability to ensure an inclusive culture that aligns with the Human Rights Act 2019 and supports departmental programs and community partnerships aimed at preserving cultural connections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
• Facilitate the delivery and coordination of core programs to young people, whilst working alone or in team settings to support and reinforce the service response plan as developed by youth justice caseworkers.
• Provide supervision and support to young people to ensure delivery of high-quality service in accordance with relevant legislative provisions, statutory delegations, departmental policies, procedures and contemporary best practice.
• Consult and negotiate with relevant stakeholders including other government and community agencies, service providers and families on behalf of young people to provide detailed coordination, direction and planning to design, implement and enhance their access to services, including support networks, in accordance with the young person's service response plan.
• Provide supervision and culturally appropriate individual and family support to young people to assist with their compliance with bail, court orders and reintegration into the community, in accordance with the young person's service response plan.
• Contribute productively as a member of a multidisciplinary team involving a range of internal and external stakeholders and service providers to achieve quality casework and case management outcomes. This may involve assisting with, or reviewing the work undertaken by Youth Workers and other team members.
• Develop and maintain knowledge relevant to the role, and actively participate in appropriate learning and development processes. This may involve working with staff to develop work performance, planning and co-ordinating tasks and workflow.
• Prepare and maintain timely and accurate case records consistent with departmental case management requirements and protocols, to assist service response planning and reviews, and attend these meetings as required. This may require the dissemination of information in relation to a young person's program to internal and external stakeholders and service providers to ensure quality casework and case management outcomes.
• Exercise a high level of autonomy to undertake detailed planning and development of weekly rosters of work in consultation and coordination with the Program /Team Coordinator for young people subject to supervised orders and bail programs in accordance with the young person's service response plan.
• Support the Program/Team Coordinator in conducting regular audits of service delivery sites and program equipment to ensure appropriate safety requirements are met and program activities are conducted safely. When supervising young people, exercise autonomy in undertaking risk assessment and mitigation to ensure the successful implementation of occupational health and safety requirements.
• Contribute and participate in providing coaching, mentoring and positive guidance to the training and development of Youth Workers.