Gender Space Project Worker - BARNARDO'S

BARNARDO'S

28,124 per year

Leeds Support Office

Full-time

4th January 2026

Initial Specific Responsibilities

This role will mainly focus on Gender Space. Gender Space is funded by Barnardo's Foundation to test and trial a programme for children and young people, alongside their parents/carers around their gender identity. The programme includes a group work programme and access to therapeutic support. The service is working with colleagues from the Mental Health Platform and a Learning Partner. Required days of work will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (specific hours in these days to be discussed). Evening work required and occasional weekends. The role will be predominantly home based with a requirement to come into the office in Leeds on a regular basis (to be discussed at interview and subject to your home location).

Key responsibilities:

Facilitate and plan one-to-one and group work sessions with young people and with parents/carers
Working with the team to develop the programme
Building a relationship with the learning partner and working closely with them to identify ‘what works'
Actively support the evaluation of the programme
Engage young people and their families with the programme
Prepare reports and presentations in relation to Gender Space
Work to the CSSO model (Child-Directed, Systems Focussed, Strengths Based, Outcome Informed). – training will be provided
Ensure visibility of our service through attendance of events (i.e. Prides)

Additional requirements:

Applicants will need to have an understanding and experience of how to support children, young people and their families in relation to gender identity and sexuality.

You will need to evidence that you can provide a non-judgemental and confident approach whilst working with LGBTQ+ communities.

The Positive Identities PW2 (Gender Space) will support further development activity and training across the wider service as required.

Supplementary Information

There are two Positive Identities project workers, and two therapists leading on the Gender Space programme with support from the Children's Services Manager, administrator and other project staff.

The Barnardo's Positive Identities Service has provided support to children and young people, through targeted 1:1 sessions, youth groups, school workshops and family sessions for 12+ years.

We provide support to young people around the following areas:

Exploration of gender identity and/or sexuality, and feeling confident and proud of their identity
Emotional health and wellbeing support for LGBTQ young people
Empowering families to support children and other family members around their identity
Restorative sessions for young people who have themselves used discriminative language or engaged in homophobic, biphobic or transphobic (HBT) bullying.
Safe Spaces award (quality assurance accreditation)
Gender Space – developing groupwork and therapeutic programme.

We also deliver a range of training and guidance, supporting organisations and community groups to embed cultures of inclusivity of LGBTQ+ identities and to proactively challenge discrimination.

We are dedicated to expanding our team and developing further opportunities and increasing representation. We welcome applications from candidates with protected characteristics.

Although this contract has a permanent status, please be aware that this post is subject to funding currently March 2027 and therefore should this funding not be extended further, you may be subject to a redundancy consultation or a TUPE arrangement. This contract is due to expire on March 2027.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
Service related sick pay from day 1
Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
Cycle2work scheme
Interest free season ticket loans
Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
20% discount at Barnardo's stores
Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

Reference number:22235
Job Title:Gender Space Project Worker
Location:Leeds Support Office
Contract type:Permanent (Fixed term funded post)
End date:March 2027
Hours:18.5
Salary:£28,124.00 (FTE) £16,8746.00 (Pro Rata)
Closing Date:4 January 2026
Interview Date:To Be Confirmed

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