Could you make a difference for members of the LGBT+ community in Edinburgh and beyond?

The Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive has grown out of Scotland’s first LGBT+ bookshops, Lavender Menace (1982-87) and West & Wilde (1987-97). They sold what we now call queer books – by, about or for LGBT+ people – at a time mainstream bookshops would not stock them. The bookshops also provided openly queer meeting places, where LGBT+ people were able to connect and felt affirmed and welcomed.

Bob Orr and Sigrid Nielsen, the owners of the original Lavender Menace Bookshop, in 2019 founded the Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive to keep this valuable LGBT+ book heritage alive and share it with the community. Through its amazing collection of books, the archive tells the story of queer people’s resistance, and the rise of what is now known as ‘queer pride’. These books told the stories of queer lives; they were written honestly and positively for the first time, and they changed lives.

This post represents a unique opportunity to work with Edinburgh’s Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive to develop an Oral History Project (OHP). The OHP will explore the impact and legacy of the Lavender Menace and West & Wilde Bookshops (1982-97), and more generally community experiences of reading LGBT+ books and magazines, and ways reading – now and in the past – has impacted on their identity. Stories and interpretation will be shared online as well as through a programme of events and a temporary exhibition.

The Oral History Project’s key activities are:

• Recruiting, supporting, training and coordinating volunteers to become involved in the OHP.
• Identifying OHP interview participants and devise ways to capture the individual and collective voices and stories of LGBT+ community members.
• Working with partners and stakeholders in the development and delivery of the project.
• Acting as the main point of contact for the volunteers and interviewees, to arrange and set up interviews, liaise with volunteers and interviewees.
• Ensuring policies, systems and processes are in place to collect, store and use all audio and visual material collected.
• Promoting the OHP and its programme of events, creating materials for use on social media, website and in the temporary exhibition, and ensuring the Archive’s profile is raised through these activities.

These activities build on the existing programme of events and projects under the responsibility of the Community Project Coordinator with the team of volunteers. The post holder will thus be able to tap into their experience, contacts and knowledge in taking this work forward.

Employee benefits package

• 35 days of leave (pro-rata including public holidays)
• Enhanced pension scheme
• Flexible working options
• Training and development opportunities

We are recruiting – come and join Scottish Families!

We are seeking a Helpline Support Worker (0.8 – 1.0 FTE) to support a number of national programmes and services, including Scottish Families Helpline, Click & Deliver Naloxone, and Bereavement Support services. The post operates as the first point of contact for family members (age 16+) affected by someone else’s alcohol or drug use, and others contacting our Helpline and associated services.

The role includes:

• Helpline & National Support: Providing empathetic support and accurate information, signposting enquiries, taking referrals and all associated administrative processes associated with Scottish Families’ national Helpline. The Helpline contact will be multi-channel (phone and online communication, including email and webchat).
• Bereavement Service Support: Conducting virtual assessments, delivering short-term bereavement support.
• Click and Deliver Naloxone service: Fulfilling Naloxone orders for family members (age 16+) and others resident in Scotland, ensuring data is captured accurately, and supporting overall programme delivery.
• Scottish Families’ Service Directory: Delivering an ongoing programme of content revision of Scottish Families’ National Service Directory to ensure all information is accurate and current, through actively liaising with support services across Scotland.
• Volunteers: Working in conjunction with the Befriending & Volunteering Assistant, supporting our volunteers in their role and handling any escalated complex calls.

The post is located at Edward House, Glasgow – Scottish Families’ national office. Note that staff work flexibly between home and office, but the post-holder is expected to work in the office at least two days a week. The postholder will be required to work some early evenings and occasional weekend hours to support planned Helpline coverage and event commitments. The post will be part of the Scottish Families’ staff team and be supervised by the Development Officer (National Support and Harm Reduction).

We are seeking applicants who are educated to HNC level or equivalent, with experience of providing support and information within a helpline or telephone capacity, and providing support in a health and social care setting. Applicants should have knowledge of issues for families affected by substance use, as well as the ability to listen to and support individuals from diverse demographics, and excellent IT skills, particularly use of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word and Excel). We are seeking applicants with the ability to identify and evaluate risk relating to safeguarding; an empathetic, non-judgemental approach; and the ability to work in a team and work independently.

This role involves leading a cross departmental approach to training and discipleship in relation to young people. This will involve working with a wide range of colleagues to ensure opportunities for intention discipleship continue to grow and develop in all aspects of SU Scotland's ministry.

We are looking for someone to join our Corporate Services team: the Finance Assistant is responsible for ensuring all financial processes are executed to an extremely high standard. The ideal candidate will bring experience of processing financial transactions using Sage or similar, and be a friendly and motivated self-starter with good communication skills.

Based in our Glasgow office, this is a part-time post of between 2-3 days. We are currently operating a hybrid working policy with a minimum of one day per week in the office. This position is a 24-month Fixed-Term Contract initially with the potential to become permanent.