YouThrive InLife Mentor

Blackburn, Lancashire
IMO Charity

Role Overview

The YouThrive In Life employment programme is dedicated to supporting disadvantaged young people of South Asian backgrounds in Blackburn with Darwen who are encountering substantial obstacles to securing employment.

Our mission is to help them access, engage in, and sustain opportunities in education, employment, and training. We achieve this by building long-term, trustworthy one-to-one relationships and offering valuable, hands-on experiences tailored to their needs. Through personalised guidance and practical exposure, we aim to empower these young individuals to overcome barriers and build a more stable and fulfilling future.

We are seeking an exceptional candidate to complete our team of mentors, bringing our total to four dedicated professionals. Together, this collaborative team will continue to deliver outstanding support and guidance.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Working with children and young people

• Work with a caseload of up to 12 young people who are deemed at risk of becoming NEET (aged 14 – 18) to provide them with 1:1 mentoring.
• Supporting mentees through a tailored curriculum focusing on their needs that lead to meeting short, medium and long term outcomes.
• Ensure the voices of young people are highly valued and inform the design of the programme.
• Meet with parents/carers of the young people regularly to assess what support is needed, and how this will be implemented and share feedback.
• To create pathways to support young people to engage with career-focused opportunities provided by third parties including employers and other partners.
• Establish and build trusted, professional relationships and create a safe space for young people from a range of South Asian backgrounds.

Outreach and Partnerships

• To ensure that partners and schools are kept up to date with information about the mentoring project and are supported to make referrals on an ongoing basis.
• To represent the project at internal and external meetings.
• Work with partners and schools to signpost to specialist interventions within and outside of IMO Charity.

Monitoring and Evaluation

• To keep accurate records of engagement, attendance and progress with mentees and provide regular reports.
• To carry out regular monitoring and evaluation with the line manager, mentees and their families as well as partner organisations.

Other duties

• To act at all times in compliance with all policies and procedures and ensure filing and storage systems are managed in line with GDPR.
• To undertake training relevant to the job to keep up to date with issues relevant to providing a good service for young people.
• To carry out risk assessments for all activities.
• To report any safeguarding concerns immediately to the Safeguarding Lead.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

A. Being a positive role model with an ability to connect with and support young people to make decisions about their futures.

B. Experience in providing information, guidance and support to young people individually or in a group setting.

C. Knowledge of the local area, in particular the complex challenges faced by young South Asian people in Blackburn with Darwen, the potential strategies to address them and the services available for them.

D. Excellent written and oral communication skills.

E. Excellent organisation abilities and close attention to detail.

F. Commitment to reflective practice and ongoing learning and development.

G. Willingness to work as part of a team, demonstrating a flexible approach.

H. Open, empathetic and compassionate listener.

I. Willingness to positively share relevant life experiences that are safe, trauma responsive and appropriate.

J. Positive approach and commitment to sharing power and decision making with young people.

K. Demonstrate an active commitment to the goals of the programme and organisation.

L. A commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.

M. Knowledge of health and safety, risk assessment and safeguarding procedures relevant to working with young people.

N. Competent use of I.T.

Finally, appointment to this role is subject to satisfactory references and DBS clearance.

For an informal discussion with the Head of Youth, call Faz Sidat on (phone number removed) / (phone number removed)