The Youth Justice Service in St Helens are looking to recruit a number of volunteers to support their work with young people.
Volunteers are an essential part of the delivery of Youth Justice Service. Volunteers work alongside professional staff to help to reduce crime and contribute to working with young people and making a difference to their lives. They also create a positive link between the community and young people. Volunteers need to be available for a few hours every week and commit to at least 12 months volunteering.
Volunteer Roles with St Helens Youth Justice Service
Youth Mentor
A mentor helps others to achieve their potential. For young people at risk, a volunteer mentor from their own community is someone they can rely on, and who is not associated with other adults in authority who may be in their lives (police, teachers, social workers, probation officers, even parents), with whom they may have had difficult relationships.
Mentors can provide young people with extra support and a positive adult role model. Being a mentor requires you to take an interest in the young person with whom you work and encourage them to keep working at the areas which put them at risk of offending.
Mentoring is about supporting children with a variety of personal aspects of their lives – this may include engaging in education, training and employment, sports and recreation or more simply being a friendly face in difficult times for that child. A mentor should support children to achieve their potential and also be a positive adult role model.
Being a mentor requires you to take an interest in the child with whom you work and encourage them to keep working at the areas which have been identified as key to support desistence.
Mentoring provides a one-to-one personal relationship that can act as a protective factor and provide them with opportunities for success. It can also support children away from some of their negative experiences that increase the risk of children coming into contact in further criminality.
The child-centred approach to mentoring allows the child to consider what they need in order to succeed in their life. Mentoring generally takes place when you are available and when it is suitable for the young person, taking into account that mentoring is child centred, so commitment may be weekly or more frequent with a minimum of one to three hours per week.
Mentors can also undertake a range of tasks to support a young person to participate in their statutory court order. This can include assisting them to attend individual and group work sessions; supporting young people to get to external appointments or interviews and helping with transport. There will be a number of young people who would benefit from a “long term” Mentor, which can offer individual support from the same volunteer over the period of their involvement with the service.
Appropriate Adult
Whenever the police detain a child or young person (aged 10 to 17), or interview them as a voluntary attender, they must inform an appropriate adult as soon as is practicable and ask them to attend.
The appropriate adult’s role is to protect the interests of the child or young person. Their responsibilities include:
- promoting the emotional and physical well being of young people
- supporting detained children or young people
- ensuring that interviews are conducted properly and fairly
- facilitating communication between a child / young person and the police
When a young person is being held at a police station and has no adult person to act for them, a volunteer will be asked to attend the police station and act as an Appropriate Adult. Call outs vary, and visits to the police station will generally last between two and four hours. YJS provide appropriate adults Mon-Fri from 09:00 – 18:00. There is training available and the expectation to attend the quarterly Appropriate Adult Support Group.
Panel Member
Youth Offender Panels are chaired by two panel members and the panels are held on Wednesday evenings with additional daytime panels arranged as required. The meeting consists of the child and their parent/carer, a Youth Justice Service representative and the victim (where possible and/or appropriate). The panel meeting is run in a restorative way to discuss the harm caused and ways to repair this. The child and the parent/carer then agree and sign the Referral Order Contract that the child must comply with while they are subject to the Referral Order. Using a scripted format, your role would be to lead and monitor the young person's compliance with their Referral Order during a panel meeting, suggesting appropriate interventions that best suit the child or young person and participate in the successful completion of their intervention plan and contract. You will be required to be available on Wednesday evenings from 4:45pm-6:45pm.
Restorative Justice Volunteer
Restorative justice involves supporting young people to pay back to the community for harm caused. There are a range of reparation activities that young people are involved with in St Helens, from supporting local foodbanks, working at local community allotments, fixing bikes, making dog snuffle mats etc. Volunteers will need to communicate effectively with the young person and their Youth Justice Service worker, to support young people to carry out their restorative intervention. Restorative Justice Volunteers would benefit from having a range of skills that they can use to support young people in practical and physical activity. Opportunities exist for volunteers that can spare a couple of hours a week either during the day, evening or at weekends.
Group Programme and Intervention Support:
Working alongside our experienced officers, you will help facilitate our group programmes and community projects designed to address children’s unmet needs, overcoming any barriers, and identifying their strengths and creating opportunities for them to realise their potential. These projects support young people to build their skills and knowledge in order to build positive relationships and lead pro-social lives. This can range from supporting group work or engagement in prosocial activities, designed to help children to see themselves in ways that encourage positive behaviours. Positive relationships with children are crucial for reaffirming their individual strengths and teaching them that they belong, engaging them in constructive activities to help children move forward. Opportunities exist for volunteers that can spare a couple of hours a week either during the day, evening or at weekends as well as extended full day activities during school holidays.
Skills and requirements for volunteer positions:
- You will need to be 21 years or older.
- A desire to work with young people and their families.
- A desire and interest to work with victims of crime.
- Able to relate to and communicate with children.
- Committed to equal opportunities.
- Reliable and punctual.
- Good listening and communication skills.
- A non-judgemental approach, good organisational skills.
- Common sense and patience are essential.
- An understanding of the issues facing children.
- Willing to commit to the scheme for a minimum of one year.
- Understanding of the issues of confidentiality
- have a sense of humour and the ability to build up a rapport with young people.
- be reliable and committed to the young person.
- be able to maintain confidentiality.
- respect the privacy of the young person.
- be able to work as part of a team.
- be sensitive.
- be flexible.
- required to undergo an Enhanced DBS check.
St Helens YJS welcome applications from a wide range of people from different backgrounds and experiences who have time to offer, who are passionate about supporting young people to fulfil their potential. St Helens YJS are particularly interested in recruiting volunteers with lived experience of having been through the justice system or of being cared for and who reflect the diversity of the area, in terms of age, gender, ethnic origin and social background.
For further enquiries or to request a volunteer application form, please contact:
Email: yotadministration@sthelens.gov.uk
Tel: 01744 677990