Job Title: Lead Youth Facilitator – Explorers Leigh
Location: Leigh Family Hub
Hours: 4 hours per week (46 weeks)
Rate: £25 per hour
Contract: Freelance, fixed-term.
Application Deadline: 31/07/2026
As a Lead Youth Facilitator for Explorers Leigh, you will play a vital role in taking ownership of our sessions and fostering a welcoming, inclusive environment where our young LGBTQ+ people feel safe and supported. Explorers is open to all LGBTQ+ and questioning young people aged 11-18, but has a special focus on being accessible to Neurodivergent young people. Lived experience, significant work experience, and deep knowledge of Neurodivergence is essential, as you'll be leading sessions for young people with a wide range of support needs and mentoring a Supporting Facilitator.
"Who you are"
"I am punctual and passionate about my work and the organisation’s missions and values."
"I am confident not only in planning, delivering, and completing all admin required for sessions, I am also able to support and prompt a Supporting Facilitator, and help them grow."
"I have experience, qualifications, and confidence in dealing with challenging behaviour, keeping risk assessments up to date, and reporting safeguarding concerns."
"I am confident in working with young people, following their lead, and adapting plans when necessary."
"I am exceptionally clean and organised, and also know how to engage young people in tasks they may not want to do, such as helping with cleaning."
"I almost always use my initiative to solve problems and improve my skills, and communicate strongly and closely with my team and others in the team to overcome issues at an early stage."
"I actively seek opportunities, such as qualifications and accreditations, to help me develop my career."
Key Responsibilities:
Session Leadership: Plan sessions independently, confidently, and without prompting (sometimes weeks or months in advance). Deliver, adapt, and reflect on sessions using a strong youth-led model, making even "boring" tasks fun.
Team Support: Effectively support and guide the Supporting Facilitator, ensuring a fair balance of work and letting them know well in advance which admin tasks are expected of them each week.
Safety & Risk Management: Complete all admin on time. Act as a confident lead on dynamic risk assessing, formal session risk assessments, and immediately reporting safeguarding concerns.
Environment Maintenance: Value tidiness and organisation (including keeping resources and drawers well-organised), finding creative ways to include young people in these tasks whenever possible.
Community Engagement: Genuinely enjoy participating in a variety of activities and easily build strong, professional relationships with young people, parents, and stakeholders while modelling healthy boundaries.
Youth Leadership: We're looking for someone who really "gets" Youth Leadership. This looks like someone who actively prompts and listens to the young people, using creative methods. Someone who knows how to get ideas out of the quietest of young people, and knows when to step in when loud voices dominate. This person proactively uses young peoples' ideas in their long-term session planning, telling management so they can seek funding and resources in a timely manner, and ensuring our young peoples' wishes come true.
Skills and Qualifications:
Leadership Role: We are looking for an individual with a decent number of years of experience in youth or community work, accredited qualification(s), and is ready to confidently step into a leadership role and guide others.
If you are looking for an entry-level position, please consider our Supporting Youth Facilitator Role.
Essential:
Experience and qualification(s) in working with challenging behaviour, using de-escalation techniques, and setting healthy boundaries.
A deep passion for working with young people and promoting LGBTQ+ and Neurodivergent inclusion.
Excellent communication skills, strong professional values, and the ability to manage and support a team member.
Reliability, punctuality, strong organisational skills, and a high value for meeting deadlines.
Lived experience of being LGBTQ+ and/or Neurodivergent is highly valued.
Desirable:
Creative skills (arts, music, drama) or experience working with young people with additional needs.
Hobbies and interests that might align with young people aged 11-18, such as sports, video games, DnD etc.
First aid and safeguarding qualifications (additional training will also be provided).
A valid driving license.
About Our Values
At Explorers Leigh, we are deeply committed to fostering an environment that is:
Safe: We believe in creating a space where all young people, particularly those who are LGBTQ+ or neurodivergent, feel secure, respected, and free to express themselves. Ensuring emotional, psychological, and physical safety is at the core of what we do.
Engaging: We pride ourselves on offering activities that are interactive, fun, and empowering. Facilitators help foster a sense of ownership and excitement about what the youth are doing.
Youth-Led: Young people’s voices are central to everything we do. Our group operates as a collaborative space where young people feel empowered to take the lead, with adults providing guidance and support.
Additional Salary Information
Hours: 4 hours per week (46 weeks)
Pay: £25 per hour (£100 per week)
This is a freelance role, and you will be expected to pay your own tax and National Insurance contributions.
Our wage reflects our ambition to become a Real Living Wage employer.
Employee Benefits
Flexible, Neurodivergent-friendly working patterns. The majority of our staff and volunteers identify as Neurodivergent, and we offer an environment built around mutual support.
7 Free Day Passes & Employee Discount at Anytime Fitness Leigh.
Paid training and opportunities to earn Level 2 and 3 JNC Accredited Youth and Community Work Qualifications.
Staff social events.
An Enhanced DBS check will be required (provided by us if you do not have one).
Working pattern details
The 4 hours per week are broken down as follows:
Saturdays (In-person at Leigh Family Hub): 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM (30 mins setup, 2 hours group facilitation 12:30–2:30 PM, 30 mins reflection and tidying).
Remote Admin: 1 hour per week, completed at a time that suits you.
Note: Pending funding, there may be opportunities for additional paid hours to staff residential trips, Pride events, and attend compulsory training.
Application instructions
To apply, please submit a CV and a short statement in a format that works best for you (e.g., a 500-word cover letter/document, or a 2-minute video/voice recording) to Thomas at [email protected]. We strongly encourage applications from individuals with lived experience.
We will provide everyone accepted at interview the interview questions in advance. We are strongly committed to being as accessible as we can. Please email us if there's any way we can make the recruitment process more accessible for you.
Job Types: Part-time, Temporary, Temp to perm
Contract length: 46 weeks
Pay: £25.00 per hour
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: In person
