Project Development Lead – Peterborough LERO
Location: Peterborough – based from the Change Grow Live Fletton Hub, with community outreach working
Hours: 37.5 hours per week Reporting to: Operations Lead Accountable to: Head of Operations
About Intuitive Thinking Skills
At Intuitive Thinking Skills (ITS), we believe that people’s experiences, including the challenging ones, can become strengths.
We don’t believe our role is to fix people or tell them what their future should look like. Our role is to create opportunities, remove barriers and help people recognise the skills, strengths and potential they already have.
Working alongside Peterborough City Council, Change Grow Live, commissioners and local partners, we are developing a Lived Experience Recovery Organisation (LERO) that puts lived and living experience at the heart of Peterborough’s recovery community.
Our aspirations go much further than delivering a commissioned service. Over the lifetime of the contract, we want to support local people to develop the LERO into a strong, sustainable and ultimately independent organisation for Peterborough.
We are looking for someone who can help us make that happen.
The Role
This role is about people, relationships and community development.
As Project Development Lead, you will work across Peterborough, building relationships with people who have lived and living experience of drug and alcohol challenges and helping them identify what they want to achieve next.
For some people that might mean volunteering or becoming a peer supporter. For others it could be education, employment, becoming an ambassador or trustee, developing their own community activity, or simply becoming more connected with their local community.
You will work closely with Peterborough City Council, Change Grow Live, local recovery communities, mutual aid groups, voluntary and community organisations, employers and other local services to strengthen what already exists and identify where something new could make a difference.
A significant part of the role will also be developing the LERO itself. We want local people to increasingly take ownership of the organisation, influence how it develops and eventually lead it independently.
This means you will need to be equally comfortable sitting around a table with commissioners and partners as you are spending time in communities, talking with people, listening to ideas and helping turn those ideas into something meaningful.
What You’ll Be Doing
Developing the LERO and Our Local Community
You will:
· Lead the continued development of the LERO across Peterborough.
· Spend time within local communities identifying existing strengths, skills, people, groups and community assets.
· Build relationships with people with lived and living experience and support them to identify their own goals and aspirations.
· Create routes into volunteering, peer support, education, employment, training and wider community involvement.
· Work alongside local people to develop new activities and projects that respond to what communities tell us they need.
· Make sure co-production is genuine, with people having a real say in what the LERO does and how it develops.
· Help ensure recovery support reaches beyond formal treatment and creates opportunities for people to build relationships, confidence and supportive networks within their communities.
· Identify gaps in existing support and work with local partners and communities to develop practical responses.
Building Partnerships
You will:
· Develop strong working relationships with Peterborough City Council, commissioners and other key stakeholders.
· Work particularly closely with Change Grow Live as Peterborough’s structured drug and alcohol treatment provider.
· Build relationships with mutual aid groups, recovery communities, voluntary and community organisations, employers, housing providers, healthcare services and other local partners.
· Represent ITS and the LERO at relevant partnership meetings, forums and community events.
· Make sure the LERO complements existing services rather than duplicating them.
· Develop partnerships that create new opportunities for people with lived and living experience.
· Work with local voluntary and community organisations where activities are commissioned or delivered through partner organisations.
Developing People and Future Leaders
One of the most important parts of this role will be creating opportunities for local people to lead.
You will:
· Recruit, support and develop volunteers, peer supporters and ambassadors.
· Deliver training and accredited programmes where appropriate.
· Identify people who have the potential and ambition to become future community leaders.
· Support people to build confidence and use their experiences positively.
· Create opportunities for people to influence local services and decisions.
· Support people to progress into positions of greater responsibility, including governance and trustee roles.
· Help build a strong network of people and organisations that can sustain the LERO into the future.
Building an Independent LERO
Our long-term ambition is for the Peterborough LERO to develop into an independent and sustainable organisation.
You will play an important part in that journey by:
· Working towards the development of a fully independent Peterborough LERO by 2030.
· Developing a clear plan for how the LERO grows from a commissioned project into a sustainable local organisation.
· Supporting the development of appropriate governance arrangements.
· Working alongside members, future trustees and community leaders to increase local ownership.
· Helping develop the policies, procedures and systems needed for an independent organisation.
· Identifying grant funding, partnerships and other potential income opportunities.
· Helping reduce long-term reliance on a single source of commissioned funding.
· Supporting the development of co-produced projects that could become part of the future Peterborough LERO offer.
· Ensuring the development of the LERO reflects recognised LERO principles and good practice.
· Keeping the independent voice of people with lived and living experience, families and local communities at the centre of how the organisation develops.
Quality and Impact
We want to be able to demonstrate the difference the LERO makes without losing sight of the people behind the numbers.
You will:
· Capture outcomes, feedback and stories that demonstrate the impact of the LERO.
· Monitor progress against our development plans and contractual commitments.
· Produce reports and presentations for commissioners, partners and stakeholders.
· Ensure safeguarding, equality, diversity and inclusion are embedded within our work.
· Support good-quality delivery across activities provided directly by the LERO and through local partners.
· Learn from what works, what doesn’t and what local people tell us, and use that learning to continually improve the service.
Who We’re Looking For
We are looking for someone who naturally sees people’s strengths rather than defining them by the challenges they have experienced.
You will enjoy meeting people, bringing different organisations together and turning conversations and ideas into action.
You may already work within drug and alcohol services, community development, mental health, public health, social care or the voluntary and community sector. You may also have developed similar skills through your own experiences or through work in a completely different setting.
You don’t need to arrive knowing everything about LEROs. We can support you to develop that knowledge.
What matters most is that you believe people with lived and living experience should have a genuine voice, genuine responsibility and genuine opportunities to lead.
We’d Like You to Have
· Relevant experience of overcoming life’s challenges and an ability to use those experiences positively.
· Experience of developing strong relationships and partnerships.
· Experience of managing projects, services or community initiatives.
· Confidence working with commissioners, partners and senior stakeholders.
· An understanding of strengths-based working and community development.
· Experience of involving people in designing or improving services.
· Experience of supporting or developing volunteers.
· Strong communication and relationship-building skills.
· The ability to produce clear reports and present information to different audiences.
· Good organisational skills and the ability to balance competing priorities.
· Confidence working independently and spending significant time within local communities.
· A full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle.
It Would Be Helpful If You Have
· Experience within drug and alcohol services.
· Experience of working with charities, Community Interest Companies, LEROs or voluntary and community organisations.
· An understanding of governance and trustee development.
· Knowledge of recovery communities and mutual aid.
· Experience of securing grants or developing sustainable funding opportunities.
· A Level 3 Award in Education and Training, or equivalent.
· An Information, Advice and Guidance qualification.
Don’t worry if you don’t meet everything listed above. Where appropriate, we can provide training and development, including AET and IAG qualifications.
If you believe in what we are trying to create and think your skills and experiences could help us achieve it, then we would encourage you to apply.
What It’s Like to Work at ITS
We are proud of the culture we have created at ITS. We trust the people closest to our communities to use their judgement, build relationships and come forward with ideas.
We don’t want people to simply follow a process because “that’s how it has always been done”.
You will have the support of experienced operational leaders, but you will also have the freedom to make this role your own.
The Peterborough LERO is new in development, part of the opportunity is helping us build it. You will be encouraged to try things, learn from what works, challenge us when something could be better and, most importantly, listen to the people the LERO exists for.
If you want a role where relationships and people matter, where lived experience is genuinely valued and where you can look back and see something in Peterborough that you helped local people create, this could be the role for you.
What We Offer
· 26 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays, pro rata.
· The opportunity to buy or sell annual leave.
· Company pension.
· Occupational sick pay.
· Ongoing training and professional development.
· Regular reflective practice.
· Flexible and agile working.
· Opportunities to develop and progress within a growing organisation.
· Company-wide bonus scheme, providing a share of profits where business targets are achieved.
· Most importantly, the opportunity to play a significant part in developing something that we hope will remain within Peterborough for many years to come.
Additional Information
There may occasionally be a need to work evenings or weekends to support community activities and events. We believe flexibility works both ways and will work with you to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
The role is subject to the appropriate Enhanced DBS check.
Intuitive Thinking Skills is committed to creating an inclusive working environment and communities where people are welcomed, respected and given the opportunity to thrive. We welcome applications from candidates with a range of backgrounds, experiences and working styles. Candidates are encouraged to let us know if they require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process.
Applicants do not need to meet every desirable criterion to apply; we are interested in relevant skills, potential and values alignment as well as direct experience.
Compliance
All colleagues are responsible for following organisational policies, procedures and relevant legal and regulatory requirements, including safeguarding, Prevent, health and safety, equality and inclusion, UK GDPR/data protection and information security.
The postholder must support compliance with applicable organisational standards, including ISO 27001 Information Security, ISO 9001 Quality Management and ISO 14001 Environmental Management, by maintaining accurate records, protecting confidential information and escalating concerns appropriately.
Pay: £28,000.00-£30,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
