Independent mental health advocate jobs in leeds

UK-based/ Colchester or Home-based with monthly travel to Colchester office. Overseas travel with trips lasting from 10-14 days. 

This post requires the candidates to have independent rights to live and work in the UK

Background

Lepra is dedicated to addressing leprosy and lymphatic filariasis (LF) and their consequences through direct support, advocacy, and the promotion of inclusive communities. We work in Bangladesh and in India, through our sister organisation, LEPRA Society. We work in partnership with people affected by leprosy and LF to improve detection, ensure access to treatment and care, and promote inclusion and wellbeing. Last year we finalised our new Global Strategy for 2024-30, which will guide us in our efforts to accelerate progress towards global targets for leprosy and LF, and towards our vision of a world free from leprosy and LF.

Job Context

Our Global Strategy marks a significant evolution in our organisational direction, introducing innovative approaches and renewed priorities. This includes our first-ever global Theory of Change (ToC), our most comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) framework to date, a Research and Innovation strategy, and a dedicated Advocacy sub-strategy to guide our influencing efforts.

With the Lepra Advocacy Strategy, we will be working over the next 6 years to strengthen our approaches to our advocacy efforts. The post holder will play a key role in supporting the roll out of the Advocacy strategy working closely with the Director of Programmes and Advocacy, the Head of Research, the Senior Programme Manager, the Programme Officer and the teams where we work.

Job Purpose

This role is an exciting role within the programmes team in response to evolving needs. The incoming post holder will work within the 5 person UK’s Programme and Advocacy team and will drive, advise and support the team in relation to Lepra’s advocacy profile. We are looking for an enthusiastic, motivated, strategic and creative person who has outstanding skills to engage and work with a diverse team. We are looking for someone to work with a clear strategy and then develop, grow and successfully shape the future of Lepra’s advocacy efforts.

Working Relationships

Reports to Lepra UK’s Director of Programmes and Advocacy (DPA)

Works closely with the Programmes and Advocacy Team

Close working links with colleagues in India and in Bangladesh and the UK’s communications team

International travel as needed for programmes oversight and support, and external representation.

Key responsibilities

Advocacy Delivery (50%)

Under the supervision of the DPA implement Lepra’s global Advocacy strategy and coordinate advocacy initiatives.

Serve as the driver of advocacy efforts, facilitating the transitional year of implementation including coordinating the Advocacy Steering Group; advocacy toolkit development; action planning.

Represent Lepra in specific fora and advocacy networks and within the broader leprosy and NTD community in close coordination with the DPA.

Produce quarterly advocacy newsletters

Maintain quarterly reports on flagging areas of concern and actioning steering committee advice.

Assist in the preparation of policy documents and the presentation of papers for publication, conferences, or specific institutions and/or individuals - identifying and targeting the most appropriate audiences.

Support and contribute to the development and implementation of initiatives that foster an inclusive, equitable, and diverse environment across organisational programmes, policies, and advocacy efforts.

Support and contribute to initiatives that promote inclusion and equity, with a strong focus on developing the leadership and advocacy capacity of people with lived experience of leprosy, ensuring their voices are central in decision-making and programme design.

Knowledge management / Learning and Development (20%)

Support the preparation of Lepra advocacy and policy documents.

Disseminate knowledge so that it is integrated into Lepra’s portfolio to amplify the impact for target audiences and improve their outcomes.

Facilitate the new knowledge and learning hub and forge a clear path for its evolution.

Facilitate knowledge sharing through updating the communications team with relevant materials for the new programme folder on the website.

Organise and develop advocacy training.

Develop and take ownership of the new programme’ s team knowledge sharing approaches.

Develop a workplan of knowledge sharing events. 

Support annual review meetings.

Communications (10%)

Assist the programmes team with the documentation of Lepra examples and models of best practice, at the same time identifying and developing mechanisms and avenues for the effective dissemination of this knowledge – internally and externally.

Assist the programmes team, DPO, Chief Executive and Country Programme staff in the synthesis of complex technical/scientific information adapting it to language and formats easily used by target audiences.

Contribute to content development of community engagement materials (public information, brochures, leaflets) that help explain the operations and impact of Lepra’s work to LF and/or leprosy affected communities.

Maintain good working links with Lepra’s UK Fundraising and Communications Team, contributing towards UK facing communications materials as and when required.

Prepare updates, papers, and reports for trustee meetings, funding partners, and wherever else applicable.

External representation (10%)

Support the Chief Executive, DPA and programmes team to maintain and expand existing strategic relationships with key international stakeholders to further Lepra’s advocacy strategy and advance Lepra’s agenda.

Ensure Lepra’s external profile is raised and become the go-to organisation for the leprosy community in terms of advocacy and policy briefings.

Support the preparation of documents for presentation, publication or dissemination at international fora.

Develop/support the development of country specific briefing notes/press kits with the communications team.

Represent Lepra at key events, conferences, and meetings to enhance our visibility and opportunity for impact.

Safeguarding (5%)

Promote a culture of respect, transparency, and accountability within Lepra’s implemented projects.

Ensuring that safeguarding mechanisms are in place and remain at the heart of all activities.

Support the integration of strong safeguarding and PSEA practices into project design and delivery.

Monitoring, evaluation, and impact (5%)

Ensure that all advocacy and knowledge transfer efforts are captured and embedded in appropriate results frameworks, objectives, outputs, indicators and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Provide inputs to Lepra’s reports, according to Lepra’s needs.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Relevant degree level of education in Public Health, Social Sciences, Global Health, Human Rights, Political Sciences or equivalent experience.

Desirable

Relevant post-graduate qualification

Relevant professional health-related qualification

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

Minimum of 2 yrs experience of advocacy/campaigning/policy work with an overseas development organisation

Experience of working to advance the rights of excluded populations

Extensive knowledge of global health issues and an up-to-date familiarity with issues and practice in the international development sector

Experience in planning and implementing successful strategies/campaigns/advocacy in Asia.

Experience in programme/project planning, budgeting, M&E and reporting, within a non-governmental organisation, including the preparation of reports for institutional donors.

Ability to analyse and act on data.

Experience of working on issues in relation to disability, mental health, gender, human rights and social inclusion.

Experience in project coordination and management.

Desirable

At least two years’ experience as an advocacy manager, preferably gained with an overseas development organisation or in academia, in a similar health focused role.

Familiarity with data visualisation tools and packages.

Proficiency in one or more Indian languages (e.g., Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, etc.) is an asset.

Skills, Attitudes and Personal Qualities

Highly motivated individual with excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal to build strong relationships, negotiate and persuade a wide range of audiences, with confidence at presenting and representing.

Proven strength in both written and verbal communication

Able to reach, network with and communicate to a wide range of stakeholders and potential stakeholders.

Excellent attention to detail, and organisational and time management skills

Ability to manipulate and analyse data to draw useful conclusions to improve programme delivery.

Ability to use databases, Word, excel, PowerPoint and other Office packages

Ability to work independently, be flexible and prioritise workload.

Ability to travel within the UK and overseas.

The right to work in the UK.

We operate a non-bias recruitment process and run our job advertisements through anonymous recruitment methods.

We offer a lot of flexibility in working practices and there is free reserved parking available at our Colchester office. We also offer 26 days annual leave plus public holidays (pro-rated), pension, Employee Assistance Programme and support from an in-house well-being team.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited for interview. Please check your email inbox and spam/junk mail folder for any email correspondence for this vacancy.

If you require any reasonable considerations such as access or information in an alternative format, please inform us soon as you are able so that we can make the appropriate adjustments.

Please do not use AI to help you write cover letters, CVs and responses to any screening questions.  We want to hear your original voice.

Senior Team Nurse
Permanent Contract
Location: Harrogate Based
Hours: 37.5 hours per week (24 hours shift pattern, 5 over 7 including nights and weekends)
£45,969.69 per annum FTE (45% of hours need to be in unsocial hours)
Brand: Saint Michael’s Hospice
Closing Date:  12th October 2025 (the advert may close early if we receive a sufficient number of suitable applications)
Interviews will take place in Harrogate within two weeks of closing date

Do you want to be part of an organisation that makes a real difference to our local communities? Our family of services including Herriot Hospice Homecare, Just‘B’ and Saint Michael’s Hospice provide vital support to people when they need it most. Our vision is of a community where everyone gets the care they need, want and deserve, you can help make that a reality.

We are an independent charity powered by local communities. Every day, we help to improve quality of life for people living with terminal illness, bereavement and mental health concerns, because our belief is that no one should suffer. Our incredible teams work together to make this happen.

About the role

As a Senior Team Nurse, you’ll be at the heart of our mission to deliver compassionate, high-quality, patient-centred hospice care. You’ll provide high-quality, personalised support to patients and their families during some of the most challenging times of their lives.

In this role, you’ll:

· Deliver expert palliative and end-of-life care with empathy and professionalism.

· Conduct holistic assessments, develop care plans, and evaluate interventions.

· Lead on-shift when required, supporting other healthcare staff.

· Mentor staff, promote continuous learning, and contribute to a positive team culture.

· Play an active role in service improvement, clinical audits, and governance.

· Represent the hospice’s values in every interaction — with patients, families, colleagues, and the wider community.

We’re looking for an experienced, compassionate Senior Team Nurse with strong clinical and leadership skills, who is committed to supporting patients with dignity, advocating for their needs, and enhancing the quality of hospice care.

The ideal Senior Team Nurse candidate will have a strong background in hospice and palliative care, with at least 3 years of specialist clinical experience and 2 years in end-of-life care leadership. They should demonstrate expertise in nurse-led care delivery,

patient assessment, and escalation. Experience in ward management and involvement in service improvement projects is also essential, highlighting both leadership and innovation in clinical settings.

How we look after you

• We put people first in all that we do, which includes our own team
• Wellbeing and resilience support with a dedicated team by your side
• Flexible and hybrid working for many roles
• A supportive and caring environment
• Opportunities to grow, develop and progress, with culture of lifelong learning

How to apply:

Please click Apply and you will be forwarded to the vacancy page on our website. Click on the role and this will open the application form.

·       Download and read through job description (via the ‘Downloads’ section at the top of the advert) as you will need to tell us how you meet the essential requirements of the role.

· Make sure you answer all supplementary questions as part of your application otherwise your application will be automatically rejected.

·      We recommend reading the application pack “Joining Herriot Hospice Homecare, Just ‘B’ and Saint Michael’s” and browsing the “Join our team” pages of our website, which will provide lots of useful information about what it’s like working for us and how the recruitment process works. 

·       Did you hear about this role from a current employee as part of our recommend a friend scheme? Don’t forget to let us know after clicking apply.

Our values

• We put the people who use our services at the heart of everything we do
• We are caring and compassionate
• We are personal and supportive in our approach
• We engage positively
• We are responsive
• We are driven to do better
• We are fair
• We are professional
• We work collaboratively
• We are accountable

Living out our values

Our behaviour framework puts our values in the context of our everyday work. See what this includes at .

We positively encourage applications from all areas of the community, regardless of gender, race, faith, disability, age, or sexual orientation. As part of our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, we collect and monitor EDI data of applicants to help us ensure that our policies and procedures are effective in promoting equality. The information you provide in the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion section of the application form will have no bearing on your application, it is only used for diversity monitoring and is not visible to hiring managers.

·     We believe that children, young people and adults should never experience abuse of any kind.  Our safer recruitment and safeguarding processes help protect those accessing our services. Please see our safeguarding statement on our website:

· If you require any support or adjustments to be able to apply for this role, please let us know by emailing

·       We will need to complete satisfactory pre-employment checks before appointing you. These include but are not limited to identity checks, DBS clearance at an appropriate level for the role, verification of right to work in the UK, employment references and employment history. We will cover the cost of these.

Don’t quite meet the requirements for this role? We’d still love to hear from you, please get in touch via to discuss other opportunities across our family of services.

PLEASE NOTE: Unfortunately, we are not currently able to consider applicants who require sponsorship to work in the UK.

North Yorkshire Hospice Care has a duty to protect those who receive our support. Roles within our organisation are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. All applicants aged 16 or over who are offered employment will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check before the appointment is confirmed. This will include details of cautions, reprimands or final warnings, and convictions. Applicants will not be discriminated against due to convictions and cautions, but will be considered on their merit. Should a successful candidate have any convictions or cautions, the nature of the position and the circumstances and background of the offences will determine if it is possible to proceed with the appointment.

North Yorkshire Hospice Care is a registered charity in England and Wales (518905) with a family of services operating as Herriot Hospice Homecare, Just‘B’, Saint Michael’s Hospice, and Talking Spaces. North Yorkshire Hospice Care is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales (2121179).

Job Title: Online Engagement and Inclusion Lead (Young People’s Services)

Organisation: Kids

Location: Remote work with occasional travel to London for in-person meeting

Hours: 36 hours per week

Contract: Fixed term for 2 years

Salary- £31,000 - £33,000

Purpose

This role leads the coordination of Kids’ online engagement and digital inclusion work for young people with SEND, including information provision, participation, and wellbeing support. You will deliver a two-year Online Wellbeing and Resilience Support Programme, including identifying and engaging digitally excluded young people to help them access vital digital tools and services. The role also drives collaboration across the Digital Services Consortium (a collaboration of 12 children’s charities), embedding shared learning, outcome measurement, and inclusive digital practices across Kids, and will create new capacity to work with young people to scope and deploy online campaigning activity.  

Responsibilities

• To lead and coordinate Kids’ online engagement and inclusion work for young people with SEND. This includes Kids’ online information provision; voice/ participation and wellbeing work.
• To develop and deliver Kids’ two-year digital inclusion programme, Online Wellbeing and Resilience Support Programme* to ensure reach and impact is maximised.
• To work with the Digital Services Consortium Driving Digital Inclusion members on shared digital project outcome measures and community of practice, ensuring learnings and online engagement and digital inclusion principles are captured, shared and built into the organisation.
• To identify and recruit (working closely with colleagues from services across Kids) digitally excluded young people to the digital inclusion programme so they can become digitally included and access much needed support and guidance.
• To establish a holistic and joined up approach to Young People’s online engagement and digital inclusion with Kids.
• To create new capacity to work across all services and teams, and with a range of young people, to scope and deploy online campaigning capabilities in line with Kids’ Speak Up and wider national and local influencing work.

Key to your success in the role will be:

• Ensuring an audience-led approach, leading and championing an important collaborative way of working across Kids existing young people's services.
• Confidently working within the Kids digital infrastructure and context – understanding where we are at on our digital journey, building excellent problem-solving relationships with marketing, IT, change team and young people’s services colleagues.
• Helping to embed digital inclusion practices across the organisation.
• Applying strong digital, data and analytical skills to enable you to baseline, track and measure progress.
• Demonstrating excellent attention to detail whilst being flexible to adapt to the needs of a new programme.
• Influencing the broader Kids service teams to identify and engage digitally excluded young people.
• Centering the voices and needs of young people with SEND.

Person Specification

Experience

• Proven experience working in digital engagement initiatives, ideally with young people or vulnerable groups.
• Involvement in programmes that promote digital inclusion and wellbeing.
• Experience in outcome measurement, impact reporting, and using data to inform practice.

Desirable

• Experience in co-producing content or services with young people, including those with SEND.

Skills

• Strong project management skills, with the ability to coordinate multiple workstreams and meet deadlines.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, tailored to diverse audiences including young people, professionals, and stakeholders.
• Skilled in using digital tools and platforms to deliver services and measure engagement.
• Ability to work collaboratively across teams and build strong internal and external relationships.

Knowledge

• Knowledge of safeguarding principles and practices in online environments.
• Awareness of current trends in digital engagement and youth participation.
• Knowledge of inclusive digital design and accessibility standards.
• Understanding of digital inclusion principles and the barriers faced by digitally excluded young people.

Personal Attributes

• Passionate about inclusion, equity, and empowering young people.
• Committed to co-production and user-led design.
• Growth mindset and proactive approach to problem-solving.
• Committed to continuous learning and sharing best practices.
• Flexible and adaptable, with a collaborative mindset.

*About the funded programme

Kids Online Wellbeing and Resilience Support Programme will help young people with SEND (aged 13 – 25 years) build resilience, positive self-regard and meaningful connections.

Our goal is to reduce isolation and protect mental health through a supportive, inclusive digital environment. We’ll begin by consulting directly with young people to understand what they need most. Together, we’ll co-create new online content and resources that truly reflect their voices and experiences. 

 What the Programme Offers: 

• Online information with resources codesigned with young people with SEND. 

• A series of interactive webinars and guided online activities. 

• Free devices and data to improve access to those who need it most, plus the support to ensure everyone can participate.

We will reach over 1,800 young people over the two year funded period.

Partner Acknowledgements

Thanks to National Lottery players, the Digital Services Consortium (DSC) has received over £1.5 million over two years from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK. The DSC has also received a grant of £400,000 from BBC Children in Need for two years to provide digital support for disabled or seriously ill children and young people and their family members across the UK. Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone have generously donated devices and data through the Good Things Foundation National Databank and Device Bank which will help address affordability barriers.