Joanne Collins

I am an experienced Youth Justice Practitioner with over 20 years of experience working with children and families within the youth justice system. I am skilled in assessments, intervention planning and risk management. I have a strong focus on the Child First Principles and ensure that all children are treated as children. I can manage complex caseloads, complete statutory reports, and provide evidence-informed interventions that support rehabilitation of young people as well as safeguarding both the child and the community. I have dedicated my career to working in youth justice and have seen the movement from a punative approach to that of understanding that the children need to be treated as children, this is work that I enjoy and I want to continue working within youth justice system however I feel that I would like a new challenge.

• Trauma informed practice
• Safeguarding
• Child First training
• Equality and Diversity
• SALT- training
• Exploitation training
• Assessment training
• Girls and gangs training
• Prevent training

• Self-motivated, organised, and able to manage a complex workload
• Strong communication and negotiation skills
• Ability to prioritise workloads which was vital when I was working part time.
• I have the ability to respond to emergencies and manage my diary accordingly
• I am a committed to supporting my colleagues and will always assist in helping others when needed.
• Committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children
• Ensure the needs of the victims are considered and explored
• Risk focused and have a good understanding of assessing risk and how to manage this within an intervention.
• Full UK driving licence and assess to my business insured vehicle
• Assisted in the planning and delivering of group work activities within the team

I completed my criminology degree in 2004, which provided me with an understanding of the theories and frameworks underpinning the Criminal Justice System. Following the completion of my academic studies, I embarked on my professional career within the Youth Justice Sector.  I have been employed by Bedfordshire Youth Offending Service since 2005 and have had a variety of roles, each providing me with new skills and experiences. I was initially employed as a prevention worker, supporting children who were at risk of offending (as part of the Youth Justice Board’s prevention agenda).  Following this, I became a designated caseworker, managing children subject to Referral Order’s.  I have been a Youth Justice Practitioner since 2009, which primarily involves supporting children subject to court orders and pre-court disposals. I am responsible for completing comprehensive assessments, using ASSETPLUS and PDAT.  I have experience of writing reports (including PSR’s) and ensure that my recommendations are proportionate, focus on the welfare of the child, whilst not losing sight of the victim’s wishes or the possible risks element (risk to self and others). Following the completion of my assessments I co-create individualised intervention plans, that they are strengths based and focus on positive desistance factors, in-line with the child first principles, but also ensuring that victims wishes are considered.

I have a good understanding of the child first principles which have helped me with developing positive working relationships with children. For example, I supported a 14-year-old child who was subject to a Referral Order. There were concerns regarding his school attendance and his relationship with his parents was being affected as a result. This created tensions within the household which often resulted in heated disagreements. As part of my intervention, I initially focused on developing a positive working relationship with him and his parents, which helped me gain and understanding of their perspectives and identify practical strategies that may support. By maintaining open communication, displaying empathy and involving the child and family in the planning, helped strengthen the family’s relationship, which ultimately improved his school attendance. I believe that by applying the first child principles, such as, building trust and collaboration, resulted in positive outcome for this individual.

As a caseworker, managing complex cases, I am often required to work in partnership with other professionals, including Social Workers, education, health etc to ensure that there is a co-ordinated approach to support the children we work with. For example, when supporting the child who stopped attending education, it was essential that I worked in partnership with his school to ensure that there was a coordinated approach to successfully support his reintegration into education. This included having regular communication with his Head of Year (both verbal and written) and sharing the child’s voice, so we could collectively create strategies (such as a tailored timetable) to best support him. I also ensured that my intervention offered, was in-line with the scaled approach, assessed risk levels and was delivered in a way that met his neurodiversity needs. (short sessions, not overloading with information etc).

Within my role, I am required to maintain accurate and confidential records on case management systems, such as childview, including inputting assessments, case notes and navigating other IT systems, such as Social Care databases. When supporting the child who refused to attend school, I ensured that I typed my cases notes in a timely manor and captured the communication/ correspondence I had with his school and family in his electronic case record.

In addition to the above, I have experience of using Excel spreadsheets to track ‘housing-keeping’ tasks, in addition to utilising other Microsoft-softwares, such as powerpoint.

As a caseworker, I am frequently required to manage conflict and problem-solve. A recent example involved in the family I referred to above. During the early stages of my intervention, I completed a home visit to establish that a heated argument was taking place. The mother insisted that the child could no longer reside in the family home, as she felt she could no longer manage his behaviour. Throughout this situation I remained calm and de-escalated the situation by removing the child from the immediate environment (we went for a walk). This allowed both parties to calm down and reflect on how quickly things escalated. I then facilitated a conversation with the mother, exploring her views and validated her feelings. I then mediated between the two, providing them both with an opportunity to share their views from each other’s perspectives. This helped the mother feel more confident in responding to situations in the future, which reduced the amount of conflict within the family home.

I hold a full UK driving licence and have access to my own vehicle for work purposes. I currently work on a duty rota system and cover office and court duties.

Having worked in a Youth Justice Service for several years, I have obtained a thorough understanding of the legislative frameworks underpinning the system, as well as gaining an understanding of policies relating to children and victims. The includes a good understanding of the Crime and Disorder Act, the Children Act 1989 & 2004, Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, LASPO. I apply this knowledge when writing reports, working within a court arena or when providing information/advice to professionals. 

I am self-motivated and extremely organised. I previously worked on a part-time basis, and it was essential that I could effectively prioritise my workload and meet deadlines. I often achieved this by having dedicated administrative time in my diary, creating a spreadsheet, as well as responding to work tasks as soon as they are allocated to me.

• abigail.prosho@bedford.gov.uk- current line manager
• brian.weatherall@bedford.gov.uk – previous line manager