Working for children’s services at Hillingdon council is the kind of job you do if you want to make a positive impact on people’s lives and the local community.
The second-largest London borough by area, Hillingdon in west London has a diverse mix of communities, covers Heathrow airport, and is known for its parks and green spaces. “I know the area like the back of my palm,” says Deborah Beeken, team manager at the Stronger Families service, who grew up in the borough and describes her job as giving her “the opportunity to make a really positive change for the community”.
There are many different teams within Hillingdon’s children’s services, based at the council offices in Uxbridge, and they work together to support young people, parents and carers. The council employs social workers, youth workers, family support workers, EHCP officers – who help create and manage education, health and care plans for young people – triage officers and PAs, among other roles. Together, they form a large support network, with a range of skills and one common goal: to support families and strengthen the local community.
Beeken works at Stronger Families, a consent-based, early intervention service that works to protect children and young people. “Our aim is to get families the right service at the right time and to empower them to resolve things early,” she says.
Practically, this involves working closely with young people, including conducting weekly home visits, one-to-ones, and facilitating family discussions. “We work to build the family’s resilience,” says Beeken. “It’s about pulling the family unit together to get them over hurdles.”
During her sessions, she might carry out interactive activities with children to figure out what’s bothering them. For example, Beeken might give a child pictures of faces showing different expressions to help them convey how they’re feeling. After listening, she helps them to turn things around, by assisting them to come up with strategies and solutions.
Laura Laryea is service manager of the council’s family hubs, which offer a range of activities for parents, carers, children and young people. “We run activities, programmes, baby groups and specialist courses,” Laryea says. For example, the team could work with an anxious mum who doesn’t want to leave her house. “We might support her to access libraries, the leisure centre, [help her to] build a community, to build resilience long-term,” Laryea says. “A lot of people say they’ve learned skills here that they can then use at home.” These encompass techniques from helping a child struggling with speech to strategies for better money management.
Working in children’s services at Hillingdon is not a desk job – the team is normally out and about, talking with a variety of people and listening to them and their needs. “We’re all over the community,” says Laryea. “We’re in 28 toddler groups, hotels for asylum seekers, stay and play groups, libraries, we do walks in the park, we work alongside churches.”
A large part of the work is connecting and strengthening the local community. Marie Fleming, a youth and community worker, runs a mentoring programme, where people from the community – local lawyers, accountants, sports players and more – are trained to mentor young people. She also runs the council’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme for children who are eligible for free school meals, working with partner organisations in the summer to offer football camps, dance or drama sessions or parent-child cooking activities.
“It’s really about engaging with the wider community,” says Fleming. “It’s that ‘it takes a village’ approach. We need to work together.” In practice, this often means connecting people and letting families know what’s on offer from local partners, whether that’s specialist services, or local Scouts and sports-based clubs, for example. “We want people to know what services are in their local area,” Fleming says.
Hillingdon is diverse and it’s important to listen to its different communities – for example, Laryea’s team considers the needs of residents who speak different languages. “We connect them with people and encourage them to use different community groups, such as the local library or park,” she says. “People come in and make friends and connect. Even those who find it difficult will come in and feel more connected.”
Emily Porter works for Hillingdon’s Axis service, which provides a direct preventative response to children and young people at risk from serious youth violence, or criminal or sexual exploitation. It’s challenging work but it can have a real and tangible impact on young people and their families.
Over the past seven years, Porter has worked with hundreds of young people, directing them away from harm by running one-to-one and group sessions. One young man, who needed support after being in a gang, told Porter her work had been life-changing. “He said I picked him up at the right time to stop him from going down the wrong path,” Porter says. Another young girl Porter worked with was being groomed online and bullied in school. “I worked with her and the school and she managed to finish her GCSEs,” Porter says. “She went to college and now she’s at university.”
Overall, Hillingdon is a very good borough to work for, says Porter: “They offer lots of personal training opportunities and they listen if you say you’re struggling.” With such a wide variety of job roles within the organisation, there are opportunities for people with a range of qualifications. For example, Hillingdon’s all-age apprenticeship programme may be suitable for school leavers, or those looking to retrain or upskill.
For service manager Laryea, a highlight is that you don’t feel stuck in one place. “There are opportunities for apprenticeships and promotion and movement across teams.”
Beeken says she loves working with the Stronger Families service: “I’m honoured that I can put something back into the community that I’ve known since I was five years old.” It’s a role where you can support families and strengthen the local community. “If I was going to be dramatic I’d say potentially we’re saving lives,” she says.
For a rewarding career in social care, consider working with children’s services at Hillingdon council
