Interim Director (Maternity Cover)

Sydenham Garden is seeking an interim Director (maternity cover) on a 12-month contract to lead our organisation, delivering adult mental health and dementia services in our beautiful garden setting in south-east London. 

Why we need you

Sydenham Garden is a unique wellbeing centre in Lewisham in South-East London. We utilise our gardens, nature reserve and activity rooms to help people living with and recovering from mental and physical ill-health. Our current Director has been in post since 2021 and will be taking 12 months maternity leave from October.  We're seeking an interim Director (maternity cover) to lead and manage our staff team of 15 and volunteer team of 60, delivering creative, horticultural and nature-based therapeutic activities for our co-workers (the name we give our primary beneficiaries).

Why you should join us

We’re a friendly team who are passionate about creating a supportive and inclusive community for people living with mental and physical ill-health. You’ll be part of a supportive team of staff and volunteers, and benefit from spending time in our beautiful gardens and nature reserve.

What we’re looking for

You’ll be an experienced leader with a passion for supporting teams to deliver high-quality services for people living with physical and mental ill-health. You’ll be confident working with a wide range of people and building positive relationships. You’ll be able to think strategically and balance competing priorities while being willing to play a team role and get stuck into different activities.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Sydenham Garden is committed to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). We want to build a diverse and inclusive staff, volunteer and trustee team where everyone feels that they belong and that reflects the profile of the communities we serve. Therefore, we will welcome and consider applications from candidates of all backgrounds and protected characteristics, and we particularly encourage applications from people of African or Caribbean heritage to ensure our staff team represents the communities we serve.