Gender Outreach Worker

Leeds Gender Identity Service offers assessment and support to people aged 17 and above with Gender Dysphoria from an out-patient setting. Peer support was introduced in 2017. The Gender Outreach Service initially offered peer support across set areas of Yorkshire and Lancashire to provide additional support for people waiting to access the service, due to the increased demand for gender services. Due to the success of this initiative, we have successfully bid for additional funds to expand peer support to all people on our waiting list, covering the whole of England.

It is essential that you have lived experience in relation to gender identity for this post as this is a peer support worker role.

The Gender Outreach Worker, although employed by the Trust, will be based within the third sector organisation. There will be some agile working across the locality involved. The role of the outreach worker is to provide one to one/and or group support to individuals who are awaiting assessment or receiving care from Leeds Gender Identity Service. This will be from a variety of different settings. The Gender Outreach Worker will support people who are undergoing gender transition or are questioning their gender. The service has developed a dedicated Information & Advice Line, which will also form part of the Gender Outreach Workers role to support. The Gender Outreach Worker will work as an integral part of the Leeds Gender Identity Service and receive support, supervision, and guidance.

We are a high quality, high performing NHS foundation trust. We are the main provider of specialist mental health and learning disability services in Leeds. We also provide specialist inpatient services in York as well as some highly specialised services across the country.
We employ around 3,000 staff and every year we have contact with over 25,000 service users. Our vision is to provide outstanding mental health and learning disability services as an employer of choice. Our ambition is to support our service users and carers, our staff and the communities we serve to live healthy and fulfilling lives. We need people like you to help us achieve our goals; to live our lives free from stigma and discrimination; and to improve the lives of people with a learning disability and mental ill health.
We perform well against local and national targets and in our most recent CQC inspection, 85% of our services were rated good or outstanding.
As a teaching trust with strong links to local universities, we are a centre of excellence for teaching, research and development.

**The main duties and responsibilities of this post are**:
To have good communication skills, being able to develop professional and empathetic relationships with people who are accessing the service.

To be able to develop good working relationships across the team, both in the third sector organisation and the gender service.

To be proactive in developing positive links, relationships, and social inclusion within the community to support people’s care.

To be able to respond well in difficult circumstances and a crisis, and to obtain support and guidance when needed.

To be able to accurately record contacts with people that you see and contribute to quarterly reports.

**Please note**: Postholders will be based at Yorkshire MESMAC, Leeds, and work from Trust sites, other community locations, and from home. Postholders will be employed by Leeds Gender Identity Service (Leeds and York NHS Partnership Foundation Trust) and work with Yorkshire MESMAC in the Yorkshire region.