ABOUT US

Changing Lives is a nationwide charity helping people facing the most challenging of circumstances to make positive change - for good. We believe that everyone deserves a safe home, a rewarding job and a life free from addiction or abuse. We know that given the right support, anyone can change their life for the better.
Our services across the country help thousands of people each year who are experiencing a wide range of complicated challenges, including homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction, unemployment, involvement with the criminal justice system, sexual exploitation and domestic abuse. By focusing on their strengths, potential and opportunities, we support the people we work with to overcome their problems and live safe, successful, independent lives.
Our charity is powered by over 600 passionate colleagues who bring a diverse and inclusive environment for our colleagues to grow. We are proud to say that many have actual lived experience of the challenges faced by those we support. We are looking for committed and compassionate professionals to join our team, who share our enthusiasm for changing lives.

ABOUT THE JOB

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Project Lead to join our Women and Children’s Services. The successful candidate will manage and oversee Ridley Villas, Help Through Crisis and the Women’s Health and Recovery Worker, supporting staff to deliver excellent standards of trauma informed care.
You will need to be able to self-motivate and work on your own initiative to ensure contractual requirements are being met. This role includes line management, budget oversight and reporting responsibility, both within Changing Lives and also to the Commissioners. The successful candidate will be expected to develop relationships with a diverse range of partners and work towards continued development and promotion of current services.
Ridley Villas is a psychologically informed accommodation service for women on a medicated assisted recovery pathway and those in recovery from addiction and their children, where there is a risk of the child/children going into care. Ridley Villas works in close partnership with Children’s Social Care, supporting families to work through a programme of support.
The focus of this service is to support women who are in recovery from addiction, but the service works with women holistically, recognising that addiction is a very common response to experiences of trauma and abuse. Ridley Villas offers five self-contained units, known as the ‘hub’, and two dispersed units, which are flats in the Newcastle area for families who can manage more independently. Families in the dispersed units access the programme of support at the ‘hub’ and all families have an allocated caseworker who offers tailored support. Based in Newcastle Ridley Villas supports families from Newcastle and Gateshead and is jointly funded by both Local Authorities.

The two primary aims of Ridley Villas are as follows;

• Provide a nurturing, trauma responsive environment so women can develop secure, safe attachments with their children and live healthy, safe lives together. The long-term aim is that women are no longer required to report to Social Services and continue to care for and love their child/children independently.
• The second key priority area is to work with women to address underlying trauma and addiction issues, through our trauma programmes and working in close partnership with specialist organisations.

Help Through Crisis (HTC) project is a partnership between Changing Lives, Northeast Law Centre and Connected Voice Advocacy. The project has been funded through the National Lottery Community Fund’s Help Through Crisis programme since June 2016, and provides information, advice and practical assistance to families in Newcastle experiencing crisis and hardship who would not ordinarily engage with support services.

The project aims to help families

• Resolve their underlying issues with triaging and specialist welfare rights and debt advice delivered by the Northeast Law Centre (NELC), which leads the project, with advocacy support delivered by Connected Voice Advocacy (CVA) and wider holistic support, delivered by Changing Lives (CL).
• Increase their personal capacity to seek help and support in preventing future crises in the long-term, assisting them to gain timely support in the short to midterm.

The Women’s Health and Recovery Worker forms part of the women’s recovery support offer at Ridley Villas and across the City of Newcastle. It is a pivotal role in shaping and setting up a specialist service to run a programme for a women and girls’ drug and alcohol service bringing together health, wellbeing, and community services to better support women and girls in a safe space, ensuring that it is effectively evaluated
We are looking for a dynamic Project Lead who will lead and be responsible for the day-to-day management of the teams described above and for ensuring the provision of a high quality and pro-active front-line services to people with multiple unmet need and disadvantage.
We will be looking to interview on Friday 22nd August 2025.

Please refer the Job description for details