Young Person’s Resilience Worker

Help young people build what comes next

Every young person brings different experiences, strengths and ambitions.

As a Young Person’s Resilience Worker, you’ll create the space for them to be heard, understood and supported — helping young people affected by substance use reduce risk, build resilience and make positive choices for their future.

This is relationship-led work with real purpose.

You’ll be part of a multidisciplinary service built around early intervention, harm reduction and strengths-based, person-centred support. You’ll work alongside young people, not simply deliver a service to them.

What you’ll do

You’ll build trusted, trauma-informed relationships with young people and provide support shaped around what matters to them.

That could mean completing an assessment and developing an individual care plan, delivering one-to-one or group interventions, exploring harm reduction, connecting someone with clinical support or helping them access education, training, housing or another community service.

You won’t always be working from the same place. Engagement could happen in homes, education settings, supported accommodation or other community spaces, as well as through digital channels. You’ll find ways to make support accessible rather than expecting young people to fit around traditional services.

You’ll also:

• recognise and respond confidently to safeguarding and risk

• work closely with education, health, housing, leaving-care and community partners

• advocate for young people and help them navigate services

• create opportunities for young people to influence and co-produce the support they receive

• maintain clear, accurate case records and risk management plans.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is fundamental to this role. You’ll need a strong understanding of safeguarding practice and the confidence to recognise concerns, manage risk and take appropriate action.

Southwark Young People’s Service

CGL Points 23–28
Hours: Full time, 37.5 hours per week. The role includes some evening and weekend working as part of a rota.

Please note: Full-time hours at Change Grow Live are 37.5 hours per week. For part-time roles, the salary and any associated payments will be pro rata based on contracted hours.

What you’ll bring

You’ll already have experience of working with young people or young adults, gained within substance misuse, housing, education or a similar environment.

You’ll understand substance use and the wider factors that can shape a young person’s life, alongside the effects and risks associated with substances such as alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, ketamine, MDMA and nitrous oxide.

You’ll know how to turn that understanding into practical, age-appropriate harm reduction and support.

You’ll also bring experience or knowledge of:

• safeguarding children, young people and adults at risk

• working across agencies and building effective partnerships

• local support and referral pathways

• risk and resilience-informed practice

• communicating with empathy, professionalism and without judgement.

You’ll be comfortable working independently while staying closely connected to your team. You’ll be organised, adaptable and able to prioritise in a service where needs can change quickly.

Experience of co-production, targeted service development, transitional pathways or supporting homeless, Looked After or Care Experienced young people would be valuable. An interest in using digital platforms such as Instagram or TikTok to develop resources and engage young people would also be an advantage.

Believe in people

People are at the heart of everything we do.

At Change Grow Live, we believe change is possible. We see the person, not the label. We listen, we challenge, we support — and we work alongside people to help them move towards the life they want.

That belief extends to our people too.

Bring your experience. Bring your ideas. Bring your perspective.

Help us create support that young people want to engage with — and opportunities they can build on.

A note about using AI in your application

AI can be a really helpful tool when putting together your application, and we're happy for you to use it. However, what we're most interested in is you.

We want to understand your experiences, achievements and strengths, so please make sure your application reflects your own story and clearly shows how you meet the essential criteria and the impact you've made in previous roles.

There's no need to write in a particular style. The strongest applications are those that are authentic, specific and clearly demonstrate your skills, experience and potential. We look forward to learning more about you.

We reserve the right to close this opportunity early if we receive a high number of applications, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Direct applications only – no agencies

We are recruiting directly for this vacancy and will not be accepting agency applications or speculative candidate introductions.

Please note: This opportunity is not eligible for visa sponsorship.