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Community Projects (Select images for more views)
Young people clearing debris
Chorley community project
Overgrown car park Beacon Country Park
Beacon Country Park project
Youth Offending Team
Lancashire Youth Offending Team
Artwork
The health workers attached to the Youth offending teams are qualified nurses employed by the local Health Trusts and seconded to work within the YOT .
The role of the health worker is to help ensure that the physical and mental health needs of those young people who come into contact with the Youth offending team are identified and addressed through appropriate health services. The health worker, by providing comprehensive health assessments for all young people identified through ASSET as having unmet health needs, achieve this.
Through health promotion and health education the health worker aims to empower the young people and their families by providing knowledge, skills, support and encouragement in health related areas for them to use these if they feel able to. Health education can be described as a combination of learning opportunities designed to facilitate voluntary adaptation of behaviour that will maintain or improve the health of individuals. Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over health by building their capacity to make and act upon informed choices for healthy living (WHO 1978).
The health worker can provided advice and education in the areas of diet and nutrition, drug and alcohol issues, sexual health, relaxation and physical exercise amongst many others.
The health worker has links with other professionals within the health service to whom she can refer young people or liaise with their GPs. These may include Consultants, school nurses, specialist child and adolescent mental health workers and psychologists.
The health worker is a confident and competent practitioner and able to respond with a positive non-judgemental approach whatever issues may be raised by young people and their families.
Those sharing concerns with the health worker are informed that the nurse will respect their confidentiality, but are also made aware of the nurses' duty of care (UKCC 1996, DoH1991), and certain information they receive may have to be shared with other professionals if this was in their best interests, or if by withholding the information others may be at risk.
The role of the health worker is to help ensure that the physical and mental health needs of those young people who come into contact with the Youth offending team are identified and addressed through appropriate health services. The health worker, by providing comprehensive health assessments for all young people identified through ASSET as having unmet health needs, achieve this.