Job Description

North Kent Mind is looking for a passionate and people-centred

Lived Experience Lead

to champion children, young people and families' voices across the new Medway Therapeutic Alliance. This is a key role in ensuring lived experience shapes how the service is designed, delivered and improved from day one.

You'll lead our co-production work for this project, bringing together CYP, parents and carers through networking with existing panels and setting up our own advisory groups. You will help create accessible resources, improve referral routes and communications, and make sure "you said - we did" feedback is visible across the Alliance. Working closely with the Lived Experience Manager, Deputy Director and wider CYP team, you'll build strong relationships with CYP, families and partners to ensure insight genuinely drives change.

We're looking for someone with relevant lived experience and a real commitment to inclusion, alongside experience working with CYP or families in community, education or wellbeing settings. You will need to feel confident facilitating groups, creating safe spaces and turning feedback into clear actions.

If you care deeply about elevating CYP and family voice and want to help shape an ambitious new service for Medway, we'd love to hear from you

Purpose of the post

The Lived Experience Lead will ensure continuous, meaningful and safe co-production across the Medway Therapeutic Alliance. The post is predominantly dedicated to leading lived experience, participation and co-production within the Medway Therapeutic Alliance, supporting CYP-facing design, delivery and improvement. They will champion the voices of children, young people and families, ensuring lived experience shapes every stage of the service; from mobilisation through to ongoing development and evaluation.

This is a new and ambitious project for Medway. The post-holder will play a major part in shaping how the Alliance evolves, how it responds to local need and how the model grows over time. We are looking for someone with passion, creativity and commitment to elevating lived experience, and who is confident building relationships with CYP, families, staff and partners.

Working closely with the Analytical Lead, they will interpret feedback and lived experience data, helping the Director and Deputy Director of CYP Services identify themes, opportunities and areas for positive change throughout the project cycle. They will ensure children, young people and families are involved in the decisions that affect them, and that their insight drives improvement.

As this is a newly created position, there will be a degree of flexibility required for the post-holder to support other CYP participation activity where this aligns with Alliance learning and organisational priorities.

Structure of the Post

The Lived Experience Lead is part of the CYP Senior Team and will be line managed by North Kent Mind's Lived Experience Manager, ensuring consistency with the organisation's wider participation and co-production approach. The Lived Experience Manager will provide reflective support and oversight, while the Director and Deputy Director of CYP Services will set the priorities and work plan linked to the Medway Therapeutic Alliance. They will work also work with the Analytical Lead where necessary for data interpretation purposes.

This is a relationship-rich role that depends on building trust, forming positive connections and bringing people together across different organisations and professional backgrounds. The post-holder will act as a bridge between CYP, families and the teams shaping the service, ensuring that insight flows clearly and is used meaningfully. They will work closely with the Communications Officer to co-create accessible materials, share updates and produce clear "you said - we did" messages informed by CYP and family feedback.

The post is based at the North Kent Mind Offices in Chatham, working within a busy open-plan environment. Given the visibility required for the post, the role requires

80% in-person working (approx. 2.5 out of 3 days as 0.6FTE),

we recognise that in-person working may be within other venues and not limited to North Kent Mind's office. The proposed contracted working pattern is 22.5 hours per week, normally worked across three days between 9am and 5pm, however as this is a new role we are open to discussing the daily working pattern with the successful candidate so long as it aligns with the organisational need.

Occasional evening or weekend work may be required to support participation events, advisory groups or community engagement activity, for which time off in lieu (TOIL) will be provided in line with North Kent Mind's policy. Remote working can be used for report writing and preparation, but the majority of duties need to be delivered on site. Any changes to this must be agreed in advance with the Director of Children & Young Persons services, in line with the organisations flexible working procedure.

Some travel to other sites or external meetings will be necessary, for which travel expenses are payable. It is a condition of employment that the post-holder is willing to work from any North Kent Mind site within reasonable distance.

A: DUTIES OF THE POST: GENERAL

These duties apply to all North Kent Mind Staff, whichever service they work for:

1. To work within a framework which:

i. Abides by all the policies of North Kent Mind, including Equal Opportunities, Confidentiality, GDPR, and Health and Safety.

ii. Promotes Social Inclusion, Empowerment, Well-being, and the Recovery Model

iii. Respects, encourages, and builds on individual clients' coping strategies, skills, and autonomy, and is in keeping with the conduct, performance and ethics as declared by the Health and Care Professions Council.

iv. Maintains good liaison with any other outside agencies as is necessary.

v. Promotes good joint working, links, and cross-referral with all North Kent Mind colleagues.

vi. Adheres to the principles of the Social Care Standards as defined by the GCSI.

2. To participate in supervision and appraisal

3. To attend staff meetings and team meetings

4. To attend training/meetings and some annual events as required

5. To undertake any other duties which the CEO or Board of Trustees may, from time to time, reasonably delegate, or assign.

B. DUTIES OF THE POST: SPECIFIC

This role will be responsible for leading the co-production and lived experience activity across the Medway Therapeutic Alliance. Key responsibilities include:

1. Lead Continuous Co-production Across the Alliance

Deliver a continuous, embedded co-production approach across all parts of the service. Ensure CYP and family insight informs planning, delivery and improvement. Keep co-production active throughout mobilisation and ongoing delivery. Work with the Director and Deputy Director to align lived experience with service priorities.

2. Develop and Lead Lived Experience Panels for CYP and Families

Establish and run Lived Experience Panels for children and young people, and separate panels for parents and carers. Ensure panels are accessible, representative and inclusive. Facilitate safe, trauma-informed spaces for CYP and families to influence decisions. Produce clear "You Said - We Did" actions and outcomes.

3. Advisory Groups and Young Evaluators

Lead CYP Advisory Groups, Parent/Carer Advisory Groups and Young Evaluator roles. Support involvement in workshop design, resource testing and service evaluation. Contribute to our strategy for involving CYP and families in staff recruitment and communications.

4. Co-produce Referral Routes, Communications and Resources

Ensure lived experience shapes the digital front door, referral routes and communication templates. Co-create waiting-well resources, welcome information and accessible guides. Test appointment letters, text messages and online content with CYP and families for clarity and accessibility.

5. Build Partnerships and Strong Working Relationships

Collaborate with subcontractors to maintain consistent co-production practice across the Alliance. Work positively with commissioners, Medway Council teams, local VCSE partners and community groups. Maintain visible relationships with parents, carers and CYP across Medway, including within existing co-production forums. Represent North Kent Mind and the Alliance professionally in all external engagement.

6. Governance, Safety and Ethical Participation

Ensure participation is safe, ethical and trauma-informed. Maintain risk assessments, boundaries, consent processes and safeguarding considerations. Record participation activity and provide evidence for governance and reporting.

7. Workforce Development and Culture Change

Contribute to induction, training and reflective practice on participation and co-production. Support the team to embed lived experience in care planning, group work and day-to-day practice. Develop accessible tools and templates to make participation easier for staff.

8. Feedback Interpretation and Project Improvement

Work closely with the Analytical Lead to interpret lived experience feedback, outcome themes and demographic insight. Present clear lived experience findings to the Director and Deputy Director to support decision-making. Provide reports relating to lived experience influence for governance, quality meetings and commissioner updates. Use feedback insights to help identify opportunities for improvement and shape changes throughout the project cycle, presenting the findings to the Director and Deputy Director of Children & Young Persons Services.

C: QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL OR LIVED EXPERIENCE

The post-holder will bring lived experience that helps them relate to the challenges children, young people and families face when trying to navigate emotional wellbeing or mental health support. This may be through their own experiences as a child or young person, through supporting a child or young person, or through having worked closely with families facing these pressures navigating services such as CAMHS, Early Help, youth work, SEND support, or community mental health. We do not expect applicants to share personal details, what matters is the ability to draw on experience safely, appropriately and in a way that strengthens the quality of co-production across the service.

The post-holder will need experience working directly with children, young people or families in a community, voluntary, education or wellbeing setting. As this role involves many points of connection across the Alliance, strong partnership-working is essential. We are looking for someone who can build positive relationships, create safe spaces for CYP and families to share their views, and help teams understand what feedback means in practice; Training in participation, co-production, group facilitation or youth engagement.

They will need to communicate clearly, support co-produced materials and "you said - we did" updates, and help translate lived experience insight into meaningful change. Above all, they should bring genuine passion for driving forward CYP and family voice, along with the confidence and flexibility needed to work in a new and evolving project. The post-holder will need to work safely within boundaries, both personally and professionally, follow safeguarding expectations and be organised and reflective in their approach.

Closing date: 22.12.25 (we may close early if we receive sufficient applications). Interviews will take place in early January.

Job Types: Part-time, Permanent

Pay: 28,560.00-30,328.68 per year

Expected hours: 22.5 per week

Benefits:

Bereavement leave Company pension Health & wellbeing programme Sick pay
Work Location: In person