Children & Young Person Team Leader

Overview

Team Leader - Croydon Young People's Drug and Alcohol Service

Are you a passionate leader ready to make a lasting impact? We're seeking a dynamic Team Leader to help drive the next chapter of Croydon Young People's Drug and Alcohol Service.

You'll lead a dedicated team, build and nurture strong strategic partnerships across local services, and act as a key ambassador for the project within the community. Working collaboratively with schools, health services, local authorities, and voluntary sector organisations, you'll help create joined-up pathways of support that enable young people to access the right help at the right time.

This is an exciting opportunity to champion innovative intervention approaches, and shape a service that delivers meaningful outcomes for young people affected by drugs, alcohol, and other challenges.

We’d love to hear from you if you:

• Have experience working in children and young people’s services.
• Are an empowering and collaborative leader.
• Can build strong partnerships and respond to local needs.
• Bring creativity, innovation, and a commitment to inclusion.

Where: Croydon

Hours: Full Time, 37.5 hours per week

Contract Type : Permanent 

Please note: Full-time hours at Change Grow Live are 37.5 hours per week. For part-time roles, salary and payments will be pro rata based on contracted hours.

Responsibilities

About the role: 

• Provide supervision and line management – Regularly oversee identified team members, ensuring delivery of a high-quality service.

• Guide and support assessments – Assist the team in evaluating the needs of children, young people, and families, creating individual and group plans, and encouraging active engagement with support.

• Maintain a safe and welcoming environment – Ensure compliance with health and safety standards at all times.

• Foster effective partnerships – Identify and work collaboratively with partner agencies, taking a proactive role to achieve positive service outcomes.

• Support learning and development – Recognise training needs within the team and help members achieve their professional development goals.

• Lead on performance management – Use tools such as observed practice to identify areas for improvement and implement targeted support or action plans.

• Collaborate with key partners – Work alongside managers from Social Care, Youth Justice Services, and other partners to enhance activity within their services.

• Monitor budget expenditure – Oversee spending with the Cluster Manager, including client costs, staff expenses, and operational costs.

• Ensure governance and monitoring – Work with the Service Manager to uphold governance standards and make effective use of monitoring systems.

About you: 

• Experience supporting children and young people with substance misuse issues – Practical background in helping those experiencing difficulties related to drugs or alcohol.
• Awareness of challenges for affected families – Understanding the broader social, emotional, and practical issues impacting young people and their families.
• Strong knowledge of drugs and alcohol – Detailed awareness of substances and their physical, psychological, and social effects.
• Line management and supervision skills – Experience leading staff, including reflective supervision to support professional growth.
• Leadership and team motivation – Ability to inspire, guide, and empower colleagues.
• Safeguarding expertise – Comprehensive knowledge of safeguarding children and young people, with experience embedding these practices operationally.
• Partnership development – Ability to build and maintain positive relationships with external agencies and partners.
• Psychosocial and clinical intervention knowledge – Understanding of approaches such as motivational interviewing and ITEP (International Treatment Effectiveness Project).
• Understanding of the ‘Hidden Harm’ agenda – Awareness of the impact of parental substance misuse on children.
• Experience in community outreach – Skilled in delivering support and interventions in community-based settings.

Why Join Us

We thrive by recruiting for success, recognising effort, and creating safe, healthy, agile, and flexible workplaces. Together we are always learning, developing, and growing — where every voice counts and everyone belongs.

If you’re ready to lead a team making a real difference for children and young people in Croydon, we’d love to hear from you.

What We Offer

• 25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), rising annually for first five years.

• A paid “Wellness Hour” each week, plus access to our Wellness Hub and Employee Assistance Programme.

• Other benefits: Change Grow Live employee benefits
• Training, professional development, and clear career progression pathways.

Please ensure that when completing your application form and supporting statement, you reflect on the details outlined in the job description. This will help us understand how your skills and experiences align with the requirements of the role. 

Join us in our journey of empowerment and holistic support, where every individual's well-being is at the heart of what we do.

AI can be a really helpful tool when putting together your application, and we're happy for you to use it. However, what we're most interested in is you.

We want to understand your experiences, achievements and strengths, so please make sure your application reflects your own story and clearly shows how you meet the essential criteria and the impact you've made in previous roles.

There's no need to write in a particular style. The strongest applications are those that are authentic, specific and clearly demonstrate your skills, experience and potential. We look forward to learning more about you.                          

Direct applications only we will not be engaging agencies for this vacancy.

Please note: This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship. Applicants must already have the right to work in the UK at the time of application. For applicants with time-limited visas, unfortunately, we are unable to support new visa applications or extensions. 

We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if we receive a high number of applications, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Salary Range (pro rata if part time)

CGL points 31 to 33 (£36,101.10 - £38,114.53)

ILW / OLW /Fringe

Outer London Weighting (£2,250.61)

Closing Date

11/10/2026

If you have any questions on this opportunity that you would like to talk through please contact us using the below details:

Sammy Fletcher | [email protected] | 07920 866867 This post is subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check at an enhanced level.