Portage Practitioner

Kent County Council; East Malling; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Kent County Council’s Youth Justice Service seeks a Restorative Community Development Practitioner to develop, facilitate and sustain restorative activities for children in the youth justice system in West Kent.

The post requires working with partners to create engaging resources and to reflect the impact on victims, while supporting desistance through constructive opportunities. Interviews are scheduled in Maidstone during the week commencing 2 November 2026.

Qualifications

• Experience engaging with adolescents who have experienced trauma.
• Ability to work with individuals displaying challenging behaviours.
• Open to applicants with and without formal qualifications.

Responsibilities

• Create, facilitate and offer restorative resources and activities for children in the youth justice system.
• Collaborate with multi-agency partners and community groups to ensure sustainable, accessible activities.
• Align activities with victims' wishes and reflect on impact and outcomes.

Skills

Engaging with adolescents

Trauma-informed approach

Multi-agency collaboration

Job description

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join Kent County Council's Youth Justice Service as a Restorative Community Development Practitioner. The successful candidate will work within the Kent Youth Justice Service to create, facilitate and offer a wide range of restorative and reparative interventions, activities and projects, to fulfil statutory obligations for children in the youth justice system.

The post holder will be responsible for working collaboratively with multi agency partners and community groups to create a range of creative and engaging restorative resources and activities that are sustainable and appropriate to a diverse range of skills, abilities and interests. You will ensure these activities are where possible, aligned to the wishes and feelings of victims, with reflection on who the activities impact on and how. You will provide opportunities for the transferable skills undertaken by children in those activities to be accredited, and to support the child's desistance by developing constructive interests and opportunities for success.

We are seeking someone who has experience of engaging with adolescents who have experienced trauma and who can display challenging behaviours (youth work; social work; early help; family support; youth justice; secure estate).

We're more interested in who you are, and the skills you bring to engage children, than in what you've studied. We welcome applicants with and without qualifications. For further information on the role, please see below the Job Description.

We are recruiting to one full time post, which will cover West Kent.

Interviews for this post will take place week commencing the 2nd November 2026 in person in Maidstone.

Post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.