About The Role
Supporting young people to make positive choices and build healthier futures

You’re passionate about making a difference in the lives of children and young people, helping them navigate challenges, build resilience and make informed choices about their health and wellbeing.

As a Young Persons Substance Use - Health & Wellbeing Practitioner, you’ll work with children, young people and families affected by substance use, providing advice, guidance and tailored support to reduce harm and promote positive change. Working across community, education and partner settings, you’ll deliver one to one and group interventions, helping young people understand the risks associated with substance use and develop healthier coping strategies.

You’ll manage your own caseload, completing assessments, developing personalised support plans and identifying any risks or safeguarding concerns. Through early intervention, harm reduction and health promotion, you’ll help young people access the right support at the right time. You’ll also build strong relationships with families and partner agencies, including schools, health services and children's social care, to ensure support is joined up and meets each young person's needs.

Ready to help young people make positive changes and create brighter futures?

About You
You’re a compassionate and motivated individual who is passionate about improving the lives of children and young people. You understand the challenges they may face and can build trusting relationships that encourage them to feel heard, supported and empowered to make positive changes.

You’ll bring:

• A relevant qualification in substance use, youth work, counselling, psychology, mental health or a related area, or an equivalent Level 3 qualification in children, young people, families, social care or mental health.
• Experience supporting children and young people, including those affected by substance use, risk taking behaviours and emotional or mental health difficulties.
• Knowledge of safeguarding, child development, confidentiality, consent and information sharing.
• Experience working collaboratively with other professionals and agencies to achieve positive outcomes.
• The ability to assess risk, provide appropriate support and recognise when additional help or safeguarding intervention is needed.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the confidence to deliver health promotion and awareness sessions to individuals and groups.

You’ll be organised, adaptable and confident managing your own workload, while recognising the importance of teamwork and partnership working. You’ll also be comfortable working flexibly across different locations and occasionally outside normal office hours.

If this sounds like you, take the next step and apply today. We’d love to hear from you!

About Us
Compass is committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults. For 40 years, Compass is a national charity which works in communities across the UK providing services spanning substance misuse treatment and rehabilitation, early interventions for vulnerable young people, school-aged health programmes and associated prevention as well as treatment and health promotion initiatives.

All Compass posts are subject to appropriate level DBS checks.

We positively encourage applications from all members of the community, regardless of gender, race, faith, disability, age, or sexual orientation, and encourage applications from people who have experiences in life which enrich skills and empathy. This is part of our commitment to equality and developing a truly inclusive and representative workforce.

We are happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments individuals may require in the recruitment process, on commencement, or once in post.

Benefits
We offer a range of benefits including:

• 27 days holiday + bank holidays, rising to 32 days over time (pro rata)
• Life assurance at 2 x basic salary
• Competitive contributory pension scheme
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme and OH service
• Enhanced sick pay
• Excellent learning & development opportunities and career progression
• Annual salary review

Help us to make a positive change to the lives of children and young people!
Closing Date: 24.11.2026
Interview Date: 10.12.2026