Are you looking for a fantastic opportunity in an exciting and rewarding role making a difference to children’s lives?

The Lucy Faithfull Foundation is a UK-wide charity that exists to prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation. We’re bold, we’re pioneering, we’re growing and we want your help.

Our Edinburgh based team – formerly known as Stop It Now Scotland – covers the whole of the country. Our practitioners have extensive backgrounds in child protection and sex offender rehabilitation. We provide individual and groupwork to around 150 adults and adolescents every year who present a sexual risk of harm to children who cannot access statutory service. We work with around 100 partners, family members and members of wider networks around these individuals. We use what we learn from our work to develop and deliver resources, information and training for professionals and the public, so that they can better protect children from harm and prevent abuse before it happens.

About you and the role

We are recruiting a practitioner to join our multi-disciplinary team in Edinburgh to lead our work with children, young people and young adults up to the age of 21.

You will head up our flagship project working with high schools in Edinburgh promoting the prevention of harmful sexual behaviour in an educational context. This includes running workshops for parents on how they can promote positive and healthy relational and sexual development. It will include helping teachers respond sensitively and effectively to early concerns about children’s sexual behaviour. And it will involve working with young people themselves to help develop a curriculum that actively promotes prevention of sexual harm. You will work with our research team to help establish evaluation methods for all aspects of this project and to develop a scaleable model of prevention that can be rolled out across all schools, better protecting children from harm. You will work closely with our UK based Schools Project Manager who will support all aspects of this project.

You will also have a small caseload, working with young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviour online. You will contribute to training, consultation and policy work in relation to tackling youth perpetrated sexual abuse. It’s a wide ranging and exciting role, and we will be able to support and train the successful candidate in all aspects of our work. You will be supported by our UK based young people’s team.

Our ideal candidate will be a dynamic practitioner with a proven ability to drive projects to achieve required outcomes. You will be professional, proactive and outcome-focused with exceptional communication and engagement skills and an ability to develop partnership ways of working with professionals and agencies. The role requires expert knowledge in relation to working with children who have displayed harmful sexual behaviour and significant experience with supporting and advising leaders, child care professionals, young people and parents. You will have an impeccable understanding of child protection policies and principles and evidence of working with safeguarding partners to keep children safe from harm. A track record of providing consultancy and training to other professionals is desirable.

You will be able to demonstrate confidence in translating the charity’s mission into direct child protection practice and equipping other professionals in tackling child sexual abuse.

Key attributes we are seeking include:

• Deliver assessment and interventions for children, young people and families in relation to harmful sexual behaviour
• Vision and operational capabilities to co-ordinate and deliver on a substantial project focussing on the prevention of harmful sexual behaviour in education settings
• Leadership and management skills in producing successful outcomes
• Impeccable knowledge of safeguarding principles, policies and practices
• Proven track record of working in and/or with education providers
• Collaborative and supportive ethos, enabling effective working with team members and leaders across the charity
• Flexibility and passion to work alongside internal and external colleagues to ensure quality work is delivered efficiently
• Excellent engagement skills and experience of working professionally with professionals (including school staff), young people and parents
• Confidence in providing expert consultancy to internal and external professionals concerning best practices for working with children
• Ability to provide confidential advice to callers, including education leaders and staff
• Effective record keeping in line with the charity’s policy and practice
• Stakeholder engagement and excellent communication skills to promote the mission and values of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

This is a highly rewarding role making a genuine difference to children’s lives. It involves working within a friendly, supportive and hardworking team which is committed to keeping children safe from sexual harm.

Why Lucy Faithfull Foundation? We’ll offer you…

• An opportunity to make a positive difference to the lives of children who have the right to live free from sexual abuse and exploitation
• Access to continuous professional development
• A competitive salary and access to a pension scheme
• Access to a hybrid working scheme with a minimum of 2 days in the office
• Full time staff receive 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays (rising to 30 days following 5 years’ service and in line with our leave year January-December)
• A dedicated employee assistance programme
• Access to Benenden medical cover and Employee discounts
• Free eye tests, discounted gym membership and employee discount savings