Support & Advocacy Practitioner

Support and Advocacy Practitioner

Kairos Women Working Together is looking for a Support and Advocacy Practitioner to join our specialist women's organisation in Coventry.

Since 1999, Kairos has walked alongside women facing multiple intersecting disadvantage and therefore subject to, or at risk of, sexual exploitation. Through support, advocacy and community, we work with women to increase options and opportunities, strengthen voice and agency, and empower them to create the futures they want for themselves.

This is an exciting time to join Kairos. We are growing our work through our Women's Hub, strengthening our specialist support offer, and developing our role as a place of safety, advocacy, community and change for women in Coventry.

About the role

This is a frontline practitioner role providing women-centred, trauma-informed and holistic support through both the New Chance Project and Kairos' wider specialist services.

You will work alongside women facing multiple disadvantages, including trauma, abuse, poor mental health, substance use, homelessness, poverty, sexual exploitation and involvement with the criminal justice system. A key aspect of the role will be delivering the New Chance Project, supporting women referred by West Midlands Police as an alternative to prosecution for low-level offences. The project aims to address the underlying causes of offending, reduce future harm, and increase opportunities for women to achieve positive and sustainable outcomes.

You will manage a caseload of women, providing one-to-one support, advocacy and case management tailored to individual needs and aspirations. Working collaboratively with women, you will develop support plans, coordinate access to specialist services, and provide practical support around housing, debt, physical and mental health, welfare benefits, safety planning, and recovery from trauma and abuse.

The role includes contributing to safeguarding and risk management processes, supporting drop-ins and outreach activities, facilitating group work, and building effective partnerships with statutory and voluntary sector agencies. You will advocate on behalf of women, helping them navigate complex systems and access the resources, opportunities and services they need to move forward.

Building trusting relationships is central to this role. You will work in a way that promotes choice, agency and empowerment, recognising women's strengths while supporting them to overcome barriers and achieve their goals.

The work is meaningful, challenging and deeply relational. The women we support are often experiencing significant trauma, risk, exclusion, crisis and harm. This requires emotional resilience, professional curiosity, sound judgement, strong boundaries and the ability to remain grounded when situations are complex or uncertain.

At the same time, this work is full of hope, purpose and possibility. You will see first-hand the difference that trusted relationships, specialist advocacy, women-only spaces and long-term support can make in women's lives.

Kairos is rooted in feminist values and an understanding of how power, inequality, and men's violence against women and girls shape women's experiences. Our work is practical and relational, but it is also committed to challenging the systems, attitudes and injustices that create and sustain harm.

Who We Are Looking For

We are looking for someone who shares our values of Hope, Compassion, Empowerment, Solidarity, Voice and Justice.

We are not only interested in formal qualifications or traditional career routes. Relevant experience may come from paid employment, volunteering, community organising, activism, study, caring responsibilities, personal learning or lived experience.

Most importantly, you will be able to build trust and rapport, communicate with empathy and respect, maintain professional boundaries, manage complexity, advocate effectively, and reflect critically on your practice. You will be committed to working in a way that is consistent with Kairos' values and ethos.

We do not expect anyone to arrive knowing everything. Kairos is a learning organisation and invests in the development and wellbeing of its staff through regular line management, reflective supervision, external clinical supervision, training and professional development opportunities.

Diversity, Accessibility and Lived Experience

The voices of women with lived experience are central to everything we do. We actively value and encourage lived experience throughout the organisation, including amongst our volunteers, staff, leadership team and Board of Trustees.

We want Kairos to reflect the diversity of the women we support and particularly welcome applications from Black, minoritised and migrant women; disabled women; lesbian and bisexual women; and working-class women.

You will be welcomed, supported and respected within a culture that values authenticity, honesty, collaboration and sisterhood.

We are committed to making our recruitment process as accessible as possible. If you require information in an alternative format, reasonable adjustments, or additional support to participate in the recruitment process, please contact us.

Role details

• Job title: Support and Advocacy Practitioner
• Salary: £29,779 per annum
• Hours: 37 hours per week
• Contract: Permanent
• Location: Kairos Women's Hub, The Old Grammar School, 31 Silver Street, Coventry, CV1 1HP
• Reporting to: Operations & Delivery Manager
• Working pattern: Hub and community based, with occasional hybrid working. The role includes some evening work, currently Wednesdays, as part of our outreach and drop-in rota. Very occasional weekend work may be required for events or fundraising activity.
• Annual leave: 25 days, rising by one day for each year of service up to 30 days, plus bank holidays.
• Wellbeing offer: One paid wellbeing hour each week, paid wellbeing break between Christmas and New Year, access to Employee Assistance Programme, external clinical supervision, team wellbeing activities and optional Blue Light Card scheme.

This post is open to female applicants only as an occupational requirement under Schedule 9, Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010. This is due to the nature of the role and Kairos' work as a specialist women-only organisation supporting women subject to, or at risk of, men's violence, abuse and sexual exploitation.

An enhanced DBS check will be required. The role also requires a full driving licence and access to a vehicle with business insurance, as practitioners may need to travel across Coventry and transport women as part of their support. Mileage is reimbursed.

How to apply

Please apply by submitting your CV and a covering letter.

Your covering letter should explain why you are interested in the role and how your experience, knowledge, skills, values and aptitude meet the person specification in the recruitment pack.

Please give clear examples from your paid work, volunteering, community work, activism, study, caring responsibilities, personal learning or lived experience where relevant.

We do not expect you to meet every desirable criterion. If you connect with Kairos' mission and can show that you have the values, insight and potential needed for this work, we would welcome your application.

Closing date: 27 November 2026 at 11:55pm
Please read the full recruitment pack before applying.