Restorative Justice Practitioner

Portsmouth Youth Justice Service is looking for an enthusiastic, creative and knowledgeable Restorative Justice Practitioner to join its supportive, multidisciplinary team. This is an opportunity to play an important role in improving outcomes for children who have offended, supporting victims of youth crime and helping to repair the harm caused by offending.

This role is Part time working 18.50 hours per week

The Service

Portsmouth Youth Justice Service works with children and young people aged 10 to 17 to prevent offending and reoffending. The service provides early intervention and crime prevention work, supervises children who have offended within the community, supports the courts and helps reduce the use of custody. It also supports children returning to their communities following a period in custody.

The Role

Reporting to a Youth Justice Service Team Leader, you will work alongside other Restorative Justice Practitioners to coordinate and deliver restorative justice processes. Your work will include contacting and supporting victims, arranging reparation activities, facilitating mediation and restorative conferences, and providing individual support and interventions.

You will ensure that contact is timely, sensitive and responsive to individual needs, helping to inform effective intervention planning for children and the people or organisations affected by their offences. You will also coordinate suitable community venues and placements for restorative justice, reparation and unpaid work, including opportunities that take place during evenings and weekends.

Working with the Community Engagement Co-ordinator, you will support the recruitment, selection, training and ongoing support of volunteers who contribute to the service's restorative justice work. You will also help promote volunteering opportunities through appropriate media, community venues and local events, responding to enquiries and providing prospective volunteers with the information they need.

As a member of the wider team, you may also undertake office duty and provide support to colleagues across other areas of youth justice practice. Throughout your work, you will maintain high standards of child and adult safeguarding, public protection and data protection., Hybrid working arrangements: Attendance requirements to the designated workplace will be 2 days required in the office.

You will have an understanding of the youth justice system and, in particular, the contribution that restorative justice makes to effective youth justice practice. You will be confident assessing needs and risks and using this information to achieve positive outcomes for children, victims and volunteers.

You will be highly motivated, organised and able to work calmly within a busy service. You will have strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the confidence to build effective relationships with children, victims, volunteers and professionals from a variety of agencies. You will also be able to work to deadlines, use your initiative, solve problems and adapt to the changing needs of the team.

A professional and sensitive approach is essential, together with an understanding of risk, including the risk of reoffending and harm, and vulnerability relating to safety and wellbeing. You will be committed to encouraging service-user engagement and promoting equality of opportunity.

You will need competent IT skills and be comfortable using Microsoft Outlook, Word and specialist systems to create and maintain accurate client records. The ability to communicate confidently with customers and provide advice in accurate spoken English is also essential.