THIS IS A HYBRID ROLE, WORKING FROM OUR OFFICES IN LEEDS, WORKING FROM HOME AND UNDERTAKING VISITS TO MEET FAMILIES. YOU WILL BE SUPPORTED BY OTHER NAVIGATORS IN BRADFORD, LEEDS, KIRKLEES AND CALDERDALE AND WORK CLOSELY WITH THE TEAM.

As our West Yorkshire Navigator you will listen to parents and offer emotional support. You could be an experienced family support worker or even have experience of working in a school setting working with children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and their parents in your local community.
You could have lived experience of neurodivergence, either your own or with family members that would make you an asset in supporting others.
You will have experience and knowledge of navigating local services and systems and understand the importance of empowering families and support them to self-advocate.
You will have the opportunity to build strong working relationships with the school-age neurodevelopmental assessment team, and as part of your induction you will develop an understand the importance of collaboration.
Through the induction process and learning, you will understand that families on the waiting list experience high level so distress and stress and being able to work with them on their goals for up to four sessions so they can prioritise what is happening in their lives. Although this is not a counselling role, having an understanding of counselling skills will be an asset.
You will be provided opportunities to learn how to offer support, signposting and information on the assessment processes across West Yorkshire, support parents through wait times, support understanding on what to expect, someone to listen and offer ideas and connect to their local community.
This role will offer support, help work through the system, provide listening support and signposting whilst families are on waiting lists to prevent crisis and things getting worse.
We want to recruit Navigators that are reflective of the communities they work in, considering culture, language and the diverse population and communities we will be working in.

As a Navigator you will:

• Have strong listening skills and ability to offer emotional support.
• Learn how to provide pre-diagnosis peer support - this includes
• Introduce those parents who have experienced the pre-assessment process and support to help improve service experience.
• Prevent potential crisis and family life becoming difficult by supporting wellbeing or the family.
• Involve parents/carers in improving service delivery.
• Have relevant information and signposting to local community support

In your role you will be:

• Compassionate, approachable, person centred, solution focused and creative about supporting children, young people and their families.
• Non-judgemental / respectful
• Honest and transparent
• Supportive in your approach
• Treat parents/carers as equals
• Value lived experience, be a good listener when parents are distressed, offering to be there when parent need to be heard.
• Wanting to make things better for every child and young person and their families
• Passionate that people reach their potential and have the best life they want.
• Providing pre-assessment support to parents and carers
• Hold knowledge or willing to learn of local information and ability to signpost parents and carers to local support available to them, this can also include introducing them to services and support them to access services.

Due to the geographical area that you need to cover, being able to drive and having access to a car is essential in the role.
If you would like to discuss the role, please contact our Team Manager (Interim) Zoe Earp to arrange a conversation - zoe.earp@barnardos.org.uk
When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.
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
Pay & Reward Framework
We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo’s values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.
For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo’s and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.
Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo’s pay framework can be found upon application.
Benefits