Role models wanted: sign up to Stonewall LGBT and Bi role models programmes

Friday, 30 June 2017

Role models have a critical role to play in creating inclusive environments and advancing fair treatment for LGBT people at work, at home and in their communities. 

The Stonewall one-day LGBT Role Models programme gives individuals the opportunity to explore what it means to be a role model and the space to identify how they are going to create an inclusive environment for everyone. The programme is aimed at LGBT staff at all career levels, and offers:

• Insight and understanding of what it means to be yourself
• An understanding of what it means to be an LGBT role model
• Practical ways to step up as an LGBT role model
• Active listening skills and techniques for having good quality conversations
• Increased motivation and confidence to become a visible and influential role model
• A network of other LGBT peers from across a range of sectors and communities

Stonewall has also recently introduced a programme especially aimed at the bi community, the Bi Workplace Role Models Programme.

Feedback from staff who attended the LGBT programme in 2016 was extremely positive, including:

“The Stonewall Role Models Programme gave me the opportunity to meet and talk to other LGBT professionals from a wide range of backgrounds, and opened my eyes to the importance of being an open and visible role model in the University. I came out of it empowered to be myself in the workplace and to support my colleagues in their self-expression and identity”.

“It was a real eye opener to meet people from a range of employers and hear how important it was for the success of their business to encourage employees to bring their ‘full self’ to work. I came away with a very clear understanding of what it means to be a role model through thinking about my own role models and also the potential for role models to contribute to organisational change”.

The University will centrally fund up to 6 places on these Role Model Programmes over the next 12 months, with the request that the School or Service covers the cost of travel to the event for the participants.

How to apply

Individuals who are interested in one or other of these programme are encouraged to make a short expression of interest approximately half a page in length, explaining:

• What skills and knowledge you would hope to gain by attending the programme 
• How you anticipate you will apply your learning from the programme

Please send your application to Yasmin Ahmed by Friday 4 August 2017.