Young Persons Worker, Ref: 0162ZSNHS

Job summary

All applicants must submit a CV along with a cover letter explaining why they should be considered for this role. Applications will not be accepted without a cover letter.

Please note that this role may close earlier than the stated deadline if we receive a high volume of applications, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Closing date: Wednesday 7th October 2026

Please find attached the Job Description

Do you have a great rapport with young people? Are you passionate about educating and supporting them to navigate their way through the many issues they face today? If so, we'd love to hear from you.

As a leading charity supporting people with drug, alcohol, and mental health challenges, we operate over 80 services across England and Scotland, providing free and confidential support to more than 100,000 people each year. Find out more about us

Please ignore the Faversham reference in the advert, this is for internal purposes only.

Main duties of the job

The Sunlight Project is a structured group work program of 8 sessions set within primary schools for children aged between 7-11 who are affected by someone else's substance use. The project aims to move any sense of blame or guilt away from the child, increase their skills of emotional regulation, provide age appropriate information, and helping them to identify support networks.

The Sunlight Project sits within WithYou in Kent for Young People, we are the commissioned provider of substance use support for young people aged between 10-25 years old.

The role will require you to facilitate small groups in primary schools with children affected by someone else's substance use. The groups will be focused around age appropriate discussions and therapeutic activities with the aim to promote self esteem and improve their emotional wellbeing. You will use outcome tools to measure any progress and liaise with schools to achieve the best outcomes for these children. This role will cover the whole of Kent, with groups running in approximately 6 schools per 2 school terms with mileage costs contributed towards by the service.

This position is offered on a full time (37.5 hours), fixed term until 31/01/2029 working Monday - Friday. As a Young Person's Worker, we offer a starting salary of £26,250, rising each year in line with our pay progression salary bands, to £30,900 per year. For further details please reach out to a member of the recruitment team via [email protected].

Job description

Please see the linked job description and person specification for more information on the role and its responsibilities.

About us

As an organisation, we continue to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our staff. We know that representing the communities we serve is key to us meeting our vision of a future where everyone lives a life free from the harm associated with drugs and alcohol. We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring and we encourage people from underrepresented communities and backgrounds to apply to join our team, including people with lived experience, people with disabilities, people from racialised communities, LGBTQ+ people, people of all ages and armed forces veterans.

As part of our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant we provide a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates that are veterans and meet all the essential criteria for a role. With You is also a Disability Confident Employer and we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates with a disability and meet all the essential criteria for a role.

If you have a disability, a learning difficulty such as dyslexia or a medical condition which you believe may affect your performance during any aspect of our selection process, well be happy to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to perform at your best.