Lived Experience Learning Lead

An exciting opportunity has arisen as a result of a successful bid for Changing Futures funding across the Northumbria region.

Changing Futures is a three-year, £64 million programme that seeks to test new ways of bringing together the public sector and community sector to address cross-cutting issues and to drive the modernisation of public services for people experiencing multiple disadvantage.

Changing Futures Northumbria is a collaboration across the six local authorities of Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland that aims to improve the life situation of adults who face multiple disadvantage, transform local services, and reinvent the way the system operates.

We will do this by basing everything around each person’s own understanding of ‘What matters to me?’ and going wherever the work takes us. Within this, we will run caseworker teams in numerous ‘touchpoint’ locations including:

• homelessness services (Gateshead)
• alcohol in-reach in hospitals (Sunderland/South Tyneside)
• domestic abuse support (Newcastle)
• Emergency Department (Gateshead)

The role

The postholder will support the work of Changing Futures Northumbria by leading the development, maintaining and supporting of the Lived Experience Network across Northumbria to ensure that the voice of lived experience forms part of our systems change work within the programme.

Key to this role is the ability to build community or service user groups and experience of co-production approaches. The postholder will have an appetite for learning and capturing the learning and insight of citizens who have had experience of local services and issues linked to challenges around multiple disadvantage. You will have effective communication skills both written, oral and presentation skills and be able to present learning/data in an engaging and effective way to a range of stakeholders including representing the CFN project at national Changing Futures Lived Experience working groups / meetings.

To be successful in this role you must be able to build relationships and credibility with citizens. You will have experience of effectively engaging with a range of stakeholders at all levels, including the public and have demonstrable experience of consulting with people and facilitating groups.

The Lived Experience Learning Lead will be able to facilitate group work with citizens to help them identify themes and issues around the operational work and learning coming out of Changing Futures Northumbria and create a strong case for systemic change that will positively affect people with multiple and complex needs. The postholder will think creatively and strategically as well as being able to demonstrate the importance of learning and the voice of lived experience as part of the route to sustained change.

Your experience should include; developing community groups, supporting the development of people’s confidence and skills, putting the person first and seeking out the best way to capture experience and learning; and being able to operate with resilience, flexibility and integrity.

It is essential that you have effective organisational skills and an ability to work on your own initiative. You must have excellent numerical and analytical skills and be able to work both accurately and independently.

You must hold a relevant professional qualification at NVQ level 5 or equivalent level of experience within a similar environment.