JOB DESCRIPTION

TITLE OF JOB: Expert by Lived Experience co-trainer

LOCATION: Sussex

SERVICE/PROJECT:  Lived Experience Training

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 08/12/2025, 5PM

INTERVIEW DATE: December 2025 to be confirmed

CONTRACT: Zero hours

HOURS PER WEEK:
Flexible with the aim of a minimum of 3 hours per week.

BASED: Sessions will be delivered across Sussex.

SALARY: £15.27 per hour

HOLIDAY ENTITLEMENT: This is a zero-hours post. Holiday entitlement accrues at 12.07%
of all hours worked, in line with statutory requirements. Holiday pay is paid in addition to
wages rather than provided as bookable leave.

These  roles  are  only  open  to  candidates  who  have  a  diagnosis  of  autism  (often
diagnosed as ASD, ASC and including Asperger’s Syndrome), learning disability (see
this link for more information) or both. This is deemed to be a genuine occupational
requirement under Schedule 9, Paragraph 1 of the Equality Act 2010.

If you have any questions, please call, text or WhatsApp James Parmenter on 07787
250627 or email LET@impact-initiatives.org.uk

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974) and the successful
applicant will be required to undergo an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure
and Barring Service (DBS).

Impact Initiatives is a registered charity, no. 276669. Company registered in
England, No.1402692. Registered office: 69 Ship St, Brighton, BN1 1AE.

Job title:

Expert by Lived Experience co-trainer

About the job

The role is to deliver learning disability and autism training to
people who work in health and social care.

Most of the training you will deliver is called The Oliver McGowan
Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism.

The training includes:

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•
•
•
•
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learning disability awareness
understanding autism
reasonable adjustments
supporting people with a learning disability
supporting autistic people
communication

As a trainer your job is to talk with the people attending training
about your personal experiences of being autistic or having a
learning disability and using health and social care services. You
will be talking about what is difficult for you in using services and
how services can change to make this less difficult for you.

When delivering Oliver McGowan training you will be part of a
training team with at least three people. There will be one autistic
person and one person with a learning disability. The team and the
training is supported by a facilitating trainer. The facilitating trainer
will manage the training and help you to prepare for the training as
well as helping with any difficult questions that may be asked.

There are two tiers of Oliver McGowan training:

Oliver McGowan tier 1 training is delivered online via Microsoft
Teams. We will support trainers to learn to use Teams and be
confident training online.

Oliver McGowan tier 2 training is delivered in person. We will
support you to be confident in talking face to face to a group.

You will receive full training and support to carry out this role and
develop the skills to be successful in this role.

Once you are trained, you may be asked to train other people to
deliver The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training.

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Our organisation is committed to helping people with a learning
disability and autistic people to carry out their work. Your role can
be adjusted to suit your abilities.

We will help you to feel welcome and supported from the moment
you join us.

Training
required

As part of your induction you will supported to complete the
following training:

Oliver McGowan e-learning course
This is a short online course which requires you to read some
information, watch some videos and answer some questions
about autism and learning disability.

Oliver McGowan tier 1 trainer training (tier 1 trainers only)
This involves completing a 3 hour online training session and
preparing and delivering a recorded training session.

Oliver McGowan tier 2 trainer training (tier 2 trainers only)
This involves completing a 3 day in-person training session.

You will be supported to complete these courses by the Lived
Experience Training team including a facilitating trainer.

You will be paid to complete the above qualifications.

Organisation
structure

Each Oliver McGowan session is delivered by a team that includes
1 expert with lived experience of autism, 1 expert with lived
experience of a learning disability.

Expert by lived experience co-trainers will be supported to deliver
the sessions by a facilitating trainer.

Lived Experience Training is a project that supports autistic people
and people with learning disabilities to deliver training about their
experiences.

We want to provide a flexible, supportive place to work and to help
communities and services be better for autistic people and people
with learning disabilities through our training.

We are part of a larger charity called Impact Initiatives.

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About you:

Experience and
knowledge

Skills and
abilities

To do this role you must:

•  Be a person with a diagnosis of learning disability or autism
(including ASD, ASC and Asperger’s), or have both diagnosis

•  Be enthusiastic about delivering training on autism or
learning disability to health and social care staff

It would be helpful (but isn’t essential) if you have:

•  Delivered training, or other types of presentation before
•  Worked in a customer care environment
•  Worked in health or social care
•  Worked in a team
•  Worked in a busy role before

The skills in this list are essential for the job.

•  be confident talking in front of people to deliver good training
•  have good listening skills and understand what people are

saying to you (with support if appropriate)

•  being able to organise and manage your time and your work
•  be reliable – doing your best to arrive on time for the sessions

that you commit to

•  keep motivated
•  work well with other people
•  be able to communicate difficult things in a positive way
•  be professional
•  pay attention to detail
•  travel to different training venues across the county

The following skills are not essential, but they will help you.
It would be helpful if you:

•  have experience of talking in front of a group of people
•  are confident in using digital online platforms such as

Microsoft Teams

•  are able to manage some pressure. At times the role may be

challenging

Qualifications
and training

There are no essential qualifications or training but it helps if
you:

•  Have a good level of education in English

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About the job:

Who you will
work with

You will work with:

•  other people in the training team. For example, facilitating
trainers other expert by lived experience trainers and
administrators

•  the learners who attend your sessions. They will usually

be health and care staff such as doctors, nurses,
receptionists, care workers etc

What you will
do

We will support you to:

•  complete the training to qualify as an Oliver McGowan

trainer

•  talk to others about your lived experience
•  talk about important information and issues
•  feel comfortable talking in front of and training groups of

people

•  communicate well and make people comfortable
•  answer questions from the audience about your experiences
and the experiences of other people with a learning disability
or who are autistic

•  come to training sessions and meetings on time
•  be trustworthy and able to keep information confidential
•  work well with the rest of the team and support your other

team members

•  talk positively about The Oliver McGowan Mandatory
Training and tell other people about the training

•  communicate to others in a professional, kind manner
•  feel able to let us know of any problems or concerns about

The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training

•  work with other trainers in your team to deliver training

sessions.

•  attend meetings, training and rehearsals to develop your

skills, knowledge and confidence

•  be in the right place at the right time to deliver training and

attend meetings,

•  let us know what is working well with the training and where

we could improve

•  respond to unexpected issues with support from your

training team

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Your
responsibilities

You will be supported to:

•  manage any tasks that you need to complete to prepare for

training

•  reflect and improve on your work and share thoughts with

your team

•  be a role model to new starters
•  help new trainers

You will be supported to:

•  share your views on how we could improve training content

or how we deliver it

•  help new members to the training team feel welcome
•  help new members to the training team learn how to deliver

the training

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