Training officer volunteer volunteer roles in Bristol

We are looking for our next Chair of Trustees – someone who will work closely with our Executive Team and Board to guide the organisation through what is both a challenging and genuinely exciting time. The funding environment is tough. The political context is difficult. And yet the need for what we do has never been greater.

This is an unpaid voluntary role. Reasonable out-of-pocket expenses will be reimbursed in accordance with our Volunteer Expenses Policy.

The successful candidate will lead a vibrant, well-established, national charity as it navigates the next chapter of its story.

Main tasks

• Developing and setting our future strategy, alongside the Executive Team and other Trustees
• Helping shape and deliver our future, identifying opportunities in an evolving landscape
• Leading the Board of Trustees, including regular 1:1s and providing space for reflection
• Acting as a 'critical friend' to our Executive Team, as well as formal line management to the CEO (and COO in their absence)
• Acting as an ambassador for the charity – raising awareness of what we do and engaging potential supporters and other key stakeholders
• Responsibility, along with the other trustees, for the governance of the charity
• Contributing to the ongoing strategy of the charity, in line with our charitable objectives
• Participating in board meetings and sub-committees in an inclusive and thoughtful way

Please download our Chair Application Pack for more information.

Job description

As Clinical Lead, you will provide professional oversight, guidance, and liaison for all cultural and emotional therapy initiatives within the organisation. You will work closely with membership, engagement, and programme teams. This role blends strategic leadership, operational management, and community-facing support to build safe, transformative, and accessible therapy systems.

Experience Qualification and Requirements

Essential / Highly Valued Experience

• Professional qualification and current registration in Clinical Psychology, Counselling Psychology, Psychotherapy, Counselling, or a closely related discipline (e.g. HCPC, BACP, UKCP, BABCP, or equivalent)
• Demonstrable experience providing trauma-informed therapeutic support, with strong understanding of how trauma, culture, identity, and systemic factors affect emotional wellbeing
• Sound knowledge of safeguarding frameworks, risk management, and ethical practice within clinical, voluntary, and community-based settings
• Working understanding of GDPR and data protection principles, particularly relating to confidential health and safeguarding information
• Experience supervising, mentoring, or providing reflective practice to clinical practitioners, facilitators, or volunteers (including non-clinical staff delivering emotional support)
• Ability to assess risk, respond calmly to complex or sensitive situations, and provide clear, proportionate clinical guidance
• Strong organisational skills, balancing strategic oversight with operational input in a volunteer or resource-limited environment
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to explain clinical concepts to non-clinical audiences and work collaboratively across teams
• High levels of professional integrity, emotional intelligence, cultural humility, and commitment to inclusive, ethical care

Main Responsibilities/ Key Duties

• Provide strategic and hands-on clinical oversight to ensure the effective delivery of culturally informed emotional and therapeutic services. Ensure that programmes are safe, ethical, inclusive, and responsive to the diverse needs of members.
• Oversee the planning, delivery, and evaluation of emotional wellbeing and therapeutic services, ensuring that interventions are culturally appropriate, trauma-informed, and aligned with the organisation’s mission and values. This includes supporting programme design, session structures, referral pathways, and evaluation frameworks to promote positive member outcomes.
• Liaise closely with therapists, facilitators, programme leads, and safeguarding officers to ensure consistent alignment with clinical governance, ethical frameworks, safeguarding policies, and professional standards. Provide expert consultation on complex considerations.
• Support the recruitment, onboarding, training, and supervision of therapy facilitators and volunteers. Advising on role suitability, contributing to training content, offering reflective supervision, and promoting best practice in boundaries, self-care, and ethical decision-making.
• Review and approve therapy protocols, session guidelines, risk assessments, and safeguarding procedures, ensuring they are clinically sound, culturally sensitive, and proportionate to the needs and risks of the service users. Ensure that all therapeutic activity complies with relevant professional regulatory standards, safeguarding legislation, and data protection requirements, including GDPR.
• Monitor member wellbeing outcomes, qualitative feedback, and service impact data to inform continuous improvement, learning, and programme development. This includes identifying trends, risks, or unmet needs and advising on appropriate service adaptations.
• As the primary clinical point of contact, the role holder will provide professional oversight for complex cases, escalations, or member concerns that require clinical judgement, risk management, or safeguarding intervention, working collaboratively with internal teams and external professionals where required.

The Lifescape Project is a quickly growing UK-registered charity whose mission is to protect and restore wild, natural landscapes. We use the skills and expertise of our multi-disciplinary team (spanning science, law, economics, technology and culture) to develop projects that pursue this mission.

We use the approach of combining disciplines to design and deliver our work because the biodiversity crisis is driven and impacted by social, economic, legal and other complex factors. It is increasingly recognised that the urgent transformative change needed for a sustainable future on our planet is most effectively achieved through this approach. The Lifescape Project has a unique ability to apply these diverse areas of expertise to our mission whilst maintaining the agility of a smaller organisation in delivering our work.

Working in pursuit of our 2020-2026 strategy, the Lifescape Project has seen rapid growth in its impact, team and revenue since commencing work in 2020. Our annual revenue has increased from £265,000 in FY 2020/2021 to £1.3m in FY 2025/2026, with further growth expected in the current FY. Our team has grown from just one to a team which will number 23 at the time of the new trustees joining.

Our trustees play a vital role in making sure that the Lifescape Project ("Lifescape") achieves its purpose. Trustees oversee the management and administration of the charity. They also ensure that Lifescape has a clear strategy and that our work and goals are in line with our vision: We want to live in a world rich in wild landscapes, providing a sustainable future for life on earth. 

Just as importantly, trustees support and challenge the executive team to enable Lifescape to grow and thrive, to achieve our mission of catalysing the creation, restoration and protection of wild landscapes by through building and employing our expertise in science, technology, law, economics, and culture. 

Duties include: 

• Support and provide advice on Lifescape’s purpose, vision, goals and activities.

• Approve operational strategies and policies, and monitor and evaluate their implementation. 

• Oversee Lifescape’s financial plans and budgets and monitor and evaluate progress.

• Review and approve Lifescape’s financial statements. 

• Keep abreast of changes in Lifescape's operating environment, and ensure that key risks are identified, monitored and controlled effectively. 

• Provide support and challenge to Lifescape’s CEO . 

• Contribute to regular reviews of Lifescape's own governance. Attend Board meetings, prepared to contribute to discussions. 

• Apply your expertise and knowledge and make use of your professional networks to contribute to the promotion of Lifescape's objects and aims, and to enhance the charity’s reputation.. 

As a small charity, there are times when trustees need to be actively involved beyond Board meetings. This may include assisting with recruitment, developing internal policies, ad-hoc reviews of strategic decisions or providing guidance to the executive team on specific subject areas within your expertise.

What we are looking for 

We are looking for people willing to bring energy, enthusiasm and commitment to the role. 

Prior experience of working or volunteering for, or acting as trustee of, an NGO would be an advantage but is not required. We will provide a full induction and training.

For this round of trustee recruitment, we welcome interest from all candidates who believe they have something to offer. We are particularly interested in candidates with experience in the following areas:

• Planning and delivering conservation or rewilding programmes in Europe, or in Eastern or Southern Africa; or having relevant professional networks in those geographies. 

• Environmental economics / natural capital accounting. 

• Major donor or grant fundraising for charities.

• Strategic communications.

Personal skills and qualities 

• Ability to think creatively and strategically, exercise good, independent judgement and work effectively as a board member. 

• Effective communication skills and willingness to participate actively in discussion.

• A strong personal commitment to our mission to protect and restore wild landscapes globally.

• A strong personal commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. 

• Commitment to Nolan’s seven principles of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. 

We are happy to consider trustees based in any geographic location.

We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds and perspectives, and are keen to broaden the diversity of thinking on our board. Prior experience of serving on a board is not required, and you don't need to meet every single requirement listed in order to apply. 

Our top priority is finding someone who is as passionate about Lifescape's mission and vision as we are and has time to commit to it 

Terms of appointment 

Terms of office 

• Trustees are appointed for a three-year term of office, subject to renewal at a designated board meeting. 

• This is a voluntary position, but reasonable expenses are reimbursed. 

Time commitment 

• Trustees attend quarterly board meetings which last approximately two hours. These are usually scheduled towards the end of the UK working day (e.g. 5pm – 7pm) but timings can be varied if required.

• Board meetings are usually held virtually, with one in-person meeting a year (see below).

• An agenda and pack of supporting materials will be circulated in advance of the meeting. We would normally recommend allowing at least an hour to read these and prepare for the meeting.

• In addition, we may call ad hoc meetings of the board as needed, e.g. to discuss strategy or where an urgent board approval is required.

• Lifescape is a remote organisation and relies on periodic in-person meetings to bring team members together. The trustees are asked to attend an annual offsite, which may be held in the UK or abroad. Travel, accommodation and meals are paid for and organised by Lifescape. The length of the annual offsite varies depending on location but is usually four days, requiring trustees to spend at least three nights away from home. 

Committee membership

• The board delegates certain functions to committees. We currently have a Governance Committee and a Finance & HR Committee. There may be new committees in future. These committees meet approximately once a month, and the timing of the meetings is flexible to suit the availability of participants.

• If you would like to see the Terms of Reference for either committee, then please let us know. We would be delighted if new trustees were keen to get involved in our committee work. 

How to apply 

To apply, please send your CV (max two pages) and a statement of no more than 500 words explaining your interest in and suitability for the role.

Applications close at the end of 31st July 2026, although we may close applications earlier if we receive a sufficient number of qualified candidates before this date. 

There will be at least one interview for candidates who pass the first stage of review. 

If you have any questions about the role or the application process, please contact us. If you require any information in a different format, please let us know.