Senior youth worker

The Abingdon Bridge (TAB) supports the wellbeing and mental health of young people aged 11–25 across the Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire. For 33 years, we’ve been rooted in our community, walking alongside young people through life’s challenges, helping them feel seen, valued, and hopeful about their futures.

At TAB, relationships come first. We believe that when young people experience consistent, trusted, and empathetic adult support, they can grow in confidence, reduce risk‑taking, and reconnect with their aspirations.

Senior Youth Worker

Hours:

12‑18 hours per week (open to discussing additional working hours further at interview)

Salary Band: £32 000–£38 000 (pro rata, based on agreed hours)

Benefits: 5 weeks holiday per year pro rata + public holidays pro rata, NEST employer pension scheme, excellent clinical supervision and training opportunities

Location:

Abingdon and surrounding areas (driving licence required)

Contract:

Funding secured for one year, with the intention to extend to a permanent role subject to impact

Reports to:

Director of Youth Services

We are excited to offer this newly shaped role for a experienced Youth Worker who is passionate about building meaningful relationships with young people and creating spaces where they feel safe, heard, and empowered.

This role is ideal for someone who believes deeply in the power of connection, trust, and empathy. Someone who wants to make a lasting difference in young people’s lives.

The Senior Youth Worker will work directly alongside young people, particularly those who are more marginalised or ‘harder to reach’ offering consistent support, encouragement, and belief in their potential.

The heart of this role is relationship‑based youth work. You will hold space for young people, support them to explore their aspirations, and help them navigate challenges safely and confidently, while supporting them to act, belong and commit to their community.

• Improve young people’s wellbeing and emotional resilience
• Reduce risky behaviours by offering trusted support and positive alternatives
• Increase aspiration and help young people feel valued, connected, and hopeful about their future

• Relationship‑Based Youth Work! Support and deliver outreach work, community‑based drop‑ins, and detached youth work.
• Facilitate group work across a range of themes including wellbeing, identity, belonging, and aspiration.
• Contribute to intergenerational and community‑based projects that strengthen connection and understanding.
• Support delivery of community events and preventative wellbeing initiatives.
• Bring creativity and fresh thinking to develop activities and approaches that resonate with young people.
• Shape and adapt programmes in response to young people’s voices and lived experiences.
• Explore new ways of engaging young people that create lasting, meaningful impact.
• Guide and support junior staff and/or volunteers.
• Model excellent youth work practice grounded in empathy, boundaries, and reflective practice.
• Contribute to team learning, reflection, and continuous improvement.

You are someone who genuinely cares about young people, about fairness, and about creating spaces where people feel safe to be themselves.

You will bring:

• Proven experience working with young people aged 11–25, particularly those who may feel excluded, marginalised, or unheard.
• A strong ability to build authentic, trusting relationships.
• High levels of empathy, emotional intelligence, and self‑awareness.
• Confidence in holding space for young people’s emotions without judgement or agenda.
• Resilience, warmth, and a calm presence, even in challenging moments.
• A belief in young people’s potential, even when they struggle to see it themselves.
• Be a self‑starter who can work independently while being a supportive team member.
• Feel comfortable contributing ideas and shaping new ways of working.
• Share TAB’s values around safeguarding, ethics, and the wellbeing of young people and communities.

The ABC Model

Everything we do at TAB is shaped by our ABC model. It’s not a framework that lives on paper it’s how we build intentional…