Job Description
The Youth and Community Engagement Worker role cuts across several aspects of Jigsaw's work at local Service level, including youth voice and engagement, and youth mental health promotion in community and education settings. The role involves delivering youth mental health promotion activities, supporting youth advocates, and promoting Jigsaw's youth advocates to participate and have their voice heard in the local Jigsaw Service and to influence decision-making across the organisation.
We are Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health. Our mission is to lead a nationwide transformation in the area of youth mental health. By joining the Jigsaw Team, you will help us create an Ireland where every young person's mental health is valued and supported.
Our approach to youth mental health involves intervening early with mental health difficulties, offering a therapeutic service to young people at primary care level. We also advocate for a holistic and integrated view of the individual person, which is inextricable from the contexts of their lives.
Youth voice is central to our work in Jigsaw. We believe that service user engagement and wider youth participation is about involving young people, listening to them and giving them a voice in how our services and supports are planned, designed, implemented and evaluated.
**Key Responsibilities:**
* Support the implementation, evaluation and ongoing evolution of Jigsaw's youth voice and engagement framework
* Facilitate the engagement and participation of youth advocates in Jigsaw through a planned process of recruitment, induction, training and ongoing support
* Facilitate youth advocate meetings on a regular basis to ensure that young people are at the centre of the work of Jigsaw
* Support the development and implementation of initiatives that build the capacity of youth advocates to act as ambassadors and change agents in promoting youth mental health in their own communities
* Review the effectiveness of the youth advocate work plan and the various youth voice and engagement strategies in conjunction with the Jigsaw Service Manager
* Liaise with the Jigsaw Service Manager/Clinical Manager to ensure that the mental health and wellbeing of youth advocates is promoted and supported, as needed
* Strengthen and further develop local networks, collaborations and partnerships with key community-based organisations with a focus on achieving better mental health outcomes for young people
* Coordinate and respond to requests for workshops and programmes at local Service level
* Facilitate/co-facilitate a broad range of mental health promotion workshops and programmes for young people and those who work/volunteer with young people
* Represent Jigsaw at local community meetings
* Play a key role in communicating with a broad range of stakeholders and producing reports/presentations for various audiences
* Develop promotional materials for the Service
* Work in collaboration with the Fundraising and Communications to identify funding opportunities for youth and community engagement activities
**Requirements:**
* Degree or equivalent youth/community work, health promotion or a relevant education or social sector discipline
* Minimum of two years' experience in developing and implementing programmes relevant to working with young people
* Experience of working with young people and community groups in a community, education or health care setting
* Passion for enabling youth voice and engagement
* Strong presentation, communication and group facilitation skills
* Full, clean driving license and access to a car