Volunteer Befriender

Mentalhealth UK; England; On-site; GBP 10,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

Join an inspiring charity as a Befriending Volunteer, making a real difference in the lives of those with mental health issues. This role offers the chance to provide companionship and support, helping individuals reduce social isolation and build confidence. You'll receive training and supervision to ensure you feel confident in your role. This is a flexible, voluntary position ideal for those looking to contribute to their community while gaining valuable experience. If you're passionate about mental health and want to help others live happier, healthier lives, this opportunity is perfect for you.

Qualifications

• Must commit to at least 1 hour per week for volunteering.
• Ability to travel across Hertfordshire for meetings.

Responsibilities

• Meet with service users for 1-2-1 befriending.
• Support service users to build social networks.

Skills

Reliability

Flexibility

Job description

This is a voluntary , flexible, ideally a minimum of 1 hour per week vacancy that will close in 17 days at 23:59 BST .

Your role

Amazing, giving, and inspiring are just a few words we would use to describe our volunteers.

Our volunteers play an integral part in the services we provide and the people we support. If you are looking for a rewarding role where you will really make a difference whilst gaining experience along the way, then join us here at Rethink Mental Illness.

About the role

We are looking for Befriending Volunteers to support our befriending service in East Hertfordshire. You will provide 1-2-1 befriending for people who havea mental health issue.

You will be required to travel across Hertfordshire to meet with service users and carry out your role. Ideally, you will be able to dedicate a minimum of 1 hour per weekto volunteering. You must live in Hertfordshire and be able to travel to East Hertfordshire to take part in face-to-face befriending activities.

You will receive training and regular supervision to ensure you feel confident in your role. You can read more about the benefits of volunteering in the full advert on our website.

About the service

Our service provides support to people with a mental health issue, who are aged 18 and above, and are known to mental health services. We provide befriending support to people who live in the Hertfordshire towns of: Ware, Hertford, Hoddesdon, Broxbourne, Chestnut, Cuffley, Waltham Cross.

The aim of the befriending service is to:

• Reduce social isolation of service users
• Increase the confidence of service users to access community resources independently
• Provide meaningful activities and peer support for service users
• Help service users to live happier, healthier, independent lives
• Provide volunteering opportunities for people with mental health issues
• Reduce stigma and raise mental health awareness

What you will be doing as a Volunteer Befriender:

• Meet with service users in locations and times which meet their needs this could include going out for a walk or meeting for a coffee
• Support service users to access and build social and community networks
• Support service users to achieve realistic goals

What will make you a great fit for this role?

• You will be reliable and be able to commit 1 hour per weekto volunteering
• You will be flexible to meet the needs of the service users

We’re Rethink Mental Illness, a leading charity provider of mental health services in England. We support thousands of people through our groups, services, policy, campaigns and advice and information. Our work supports us in delivering on our mission:“A better life for everyone severely affected by mental illness.”

It is an exciting time to join our growing charity. We are on a transformation journey, one that supports the delivery of the organisation strategy – delivering Communities that Care. Supporting employees, managers and leaders through this change is a key priority for the People function. Just like its key that we attract diverse people to come and work for us.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

Diversity is important to us and we appreciate difference through difference, inclusiveness and belonging. It gives us a deeper understanding of the world, our society and the diverse communities we’re working with. By including everyone, we are able to draw on the unique experiences and expertise of our people to help shape and enrich our workplace and improve our services. One way we are doing is through our valued staff networks which play a critical and highly valued role in keeping us focused on creating a diverse, inclusive and engaged employer. We recognise and support staff networks for our Black, Asian and minority ethnic and our LGBTQIA+ colleagues. We are also proud to have been awarded Disability Confident Employer statusand are a signatory to the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter.

Becoming a truly anti-racist organisation

We have an ambition of become a truly anti-racist employer, campaigning organisation and service provider -and in our efforts to influence policy and wider societal factors impacting on mental health set out in ouranti-racist statement .We have designed a multi-year anti-racist programme of work contained in ourRace Equality Action Plan which demonstrate our intention to hold ourselves accountable and be judged on our progress on becoming a truly anti-racist organisation.

We therefore actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including applicants with lived experience, those who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (or questioning), Intersex and (asexual) (LGBTQIA+), people with a disability, and people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

What do we value?

Passion

We are passionate about leading the way to a better quality of life for everyone severely affected by mental illness.

Commitment

We work tirelessly to provide support for everyone severely affected by mental illness.

Hope

We offer hope of a better quality of life for all those severely affected by mental illness.

Expertise

We constantly use our expertise to provide practical and personal support for people who are severely affected by mental illness.

People who are severely affected by mental illness are at the heart of everything we do in our organisation – our membership, our governance and our workforce.

Equity

We believe that in a world where discrimination and disadvantage exist, treating people with equity is critical to ensure justice and fairness for all.

We are open and transparent in all our work with beneficiaries, supporters, partners and the public to achieve change for people severely affected by mental illness.

Why volunteer with Rethink?

We understand that people volunteer for many different reasons and whatever your reason is for volunteering we’ll be there to support you every step of the way. You will receive an induction to ensure you feel confident in your role as well as regular supervision. Other benefits of volunteering include:

"I was able to gain valuable experience in the mental health field which has helped me to kick-start my career. Overall, the befriending experience is definitely one I would recommend. It has helped me to expand on skills, to make a difference in people’s lives, and has opened up opportunities for me to progress in my career. "

"I am a lived experienced volunteer for Rethink. The thing I find amazing is that my lived experience which includes addiction, prison, and mental health all of which helped me get the role which makes me feel that all the suffering I've gone through has meant something and that makes me feel I'm respected. The reason I do this role is every time I help someone, I feel I'm one step away from the person I was to the person I'm meant to be, I'm very grateful to Rethink as they helped me to become the best version of myself."

Please be mindful that we may need to close adverts early if we receive a high volume of applications, we, therefore, encourage you to apply as soon as possible.