Want to lead a brilliant team making sure no child or family faces hospital alone? We’ve got just the role for you.

We’re looking for a compassionate, confident and values-led Family Support Team Lead to join our Children’s Wellbeing Service at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People. This is a unique role that combines day-to-day team leadership, family support practice and youth work delivery. You’ll support and coordinate a team of Family Support Officers and Youth Workers, while staying closely connected to frontline work with children, young people and families across the hospital.

You’ll help make sure families receive high-quality, trauma-informed support when they need it most, whether that’s emotional support on the wards, practical help during a difficult hospital journey, or creating calm, welcoming spaces where children, young people and families feel seen, heard and supported. You will need strong experience supporting children, young people and families, alongside the confidence to guide a team in a busy, emotionally complex environment. You’ll be someone who can stay calm under pressure, build trusted relationships, make thoughtful decisions and bring people with you.

Some of the things you’ll be doing:

• Providing day-to-day guidance, support and supervision to Family Support Officers and Youth Workers
• Coordinating staff deployment across wards, The Hub and family spaces
• Delivering direct support to children, young people and families through 1:1 family support, youth work and wellbeing-based approaches
• Supporting families with the emotional, practical and mental health challenges that can come with hospital experiences
• Modelling trauma-informed, child-first practice and maintaining clear professional boundaries
• Building strong relationships with hospital staff, external agencies and community partners
• Supporting peer support, youth voice and family participation across the service
• Helping ensure safe, welcoming and well-resourced spaces for families, including The Family Room and The Hub
• Supporting safeguarding, risk assessment, escalation and good decision-making across the team
• Recording activity, outcomes and impact so we can keep learning, improving and showing the difference we make

Let’s talk about you

Must haves

• Experience working directly with children, young people and families in a youth work, support, wellbeing, social care or similar setting
• Experience supervising, supporting or leading others
• Strong understanding of trauma-informed, child-centred and family-focused practice
• Confidence working in emotionally complex environments, where needs can change quickly
• Excellent communication, listening and relationship-building skills
• Ability to manage competing priorities and support others to stay focused and grounded
• Practical understanding of safeguarding, professional boundaries and when to escalate concerns
• Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues, hospital staff and external partners
• Values-led, reflective and committed to inclusion, dignity and respect

Nice to haves

• A qualification in youth work, community development, social care, health, education or a related field or equivalent experience
• Experience working in a hospital, healthcare or multidisciplinary setting
• Experience designing or delivering wellbeing, family support or youth work programmes
• Experience gathering feedback, recording outcomes or evaluating impact
• Understanding of children’s rights, child and adolescent development, and family support systems
• Experience supporting volunteers, sessional workers or small project teams
• Knowledge of local support services and referral pathways

Why ECHC?

Working at ECHC isn’t your average family support role. You’ll be part of a charity that stands beside children, young people and families through some of the toughest times in their lives.

Our Children’s Wellbeing Service offers non-clinical, relationship-based support across the hospital, helping families feel informed, included and more in control during their hospital journey. This role will strengthen that support by providing consistent day-to-day leadership and care for the team delivering it. You’ll join passionate, supportive colleagues who care deeply about making a difference. We’ll trust you to lead with warmth, judgement and courage, while giving you space to help shape a growing service that really matters.