Chair of the Trustee Board

What will you be doing?

Sydenham Garden is a unique wellbeing centre utilising its gardens, nature reserve and activity rooms to help people in their recovery from mental and physical ill-health in Lewisham.

Above all, the Chair understands and champions the ethos and values of Sydenham Garden. The recovery journey of the people we support, whom we call co-workers, is at the heart of everything we do, and the Chair is a visible ambassador for that vision, both within the Board and externally. The Chair leads an effective Board, ensuring it provides strategic direction, accountability and inclusive decision-making, with meetings that are well prepared, well managed and productive. Working closely with the Vice-Chairs, Committee Chairs and Co-Directors, the Chair fosters strong relationships across the organisation, provides support and constructive challenge to the leadership team, and represents Sydenham Garden with funders, partners and the wider community.

What are we looking for?

We’re not looking for a perfect match on paper – we’re looking for someone who shares our values, believes in Sydenham Garden’s mission and can bring kindness, good judgement and steady leadership to our Board. Previous experience as a Chair isn’t essential; what matters most is your ability to build strong relationships, provide thoughtful strategic leadership and support and constructively challenge our Co-Directors as a trusted critical friend.

You’ll bring experience of leadership, governance or people management, together with an understanding of effective governance (and this could be from a Trustee, Charity Senior Leadership, NED or Governor role). An understanding of, or connection with, the London Borough of Lewisham and the communities we serve would be an advantage, as would knowledge of the mental health, health and wellbeing or local government landscape and the wider challenges facing charities, including funding and commissioning, but none of these are essential.

Above all, we’re looking for someone who is kind, empathetic, fair and inclusive, with the ability to bring people together and ensure every voice is heard. You’ll help the Board make well-informed decisions, stay focused on Sydenham Garden’s long-term direction and ensure that agreed priorities are followed through, while leaving the day-to-day running of the organisation to the executive team.

Our Commitment to Addressing Social Inequality

At Sydenham Garden, we value diversity and believe that a broad range of voices and experiences strengthens our Board, our decision-making and the work we do. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Board that reflects the communities we serve, and particularly welcome applications from people with lived experience of mental health challenges, disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, and people from Black, Asian and other minoritised ethnic communities.

We recognise the impact of inequality and discrimination on people’s lives and are committed to embedding equity, diversity and inclusion throughout Sydenham Garden. We want everyone to feel respected, valued and able to contribute, and we are committed to making reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process to ensure everyone can participate fully.

Reach Volunteering's TrusteeWorks team are supporting Sydenham Garden with their Chair recruitment and applications will be received by Reach Volunteering. To apply, please send a CV with a covering letter stating why you wish to join the organisation and how your skills and experience would add value to our Board. Please add anything else that you think is relevant to your application. The deadline for applications is by 5pm on Friday the 11th of September.