About the role
Our community hub offers a safe, inclusive space where clients and community members can come and relax, socialise, and get some practical and emotional support from our staff and volunteers where it’s needed.
Our space is open to anyone over 18, but has a bit more focus on supporting wellbeing and mental health.
Some of our clients and community members face barriers to accessing our community activities – some of which include feeling anxious to participate or come in alone, or requiring physical assistance to get to the hub. We would like to reduce these barriers, and support people to overcome these barriers and social isolation.
By becoming a Community Connector, you will support people to get involved with our community activities.
Key role responsibilities include:
- Building relationships with clients
- Providing practical support to attendees (phone calls, meeting them and assisting them to come along to our activities and get home)
- Providing emotional support to attendees (talking, listening)
- Being present and supportive during community activities, to support clients to feel comfortable in the community space.
About you
You don’t need any previous experience or knowledge to volunteer in this role. We’re simply looking for people who love working with people, who align with our values and who, most importantly, are open to learning.
Commitment
Minimum of 6 months.
Availability
Monday-Friday, between 9am-5pm. You can be flexible with what hours you do, as community members will require support for different community activities throughout the day.
Support and Learning
You’ll receive support from our Community Programme Team. If you’ve got the skills and know-how to run your project, we’ll help you get it off the ground.
As with all our volunteer opportunities, volunteers will be invited to a selection workshop and induction day which provides the opportunity to:
- Meet & connect with the team, and possibly other volunteers!
- Learn more about Likewise, our Community Programme and other support/services we offer across the organisation
- Hear more about our current range of volunteering opportunities. Note: these may differ based on current resource capacity and community needs.
- Learn more about our overarching values and our approach, and engage in exercises to illustrate the various ways this can be applied in your role + areas where it can be challenging and where to lean on for support
- Engage in bite-size training sessions on our Safeguarding and Boundarying guidelines – as well as a summary of the volunteer working agreement and what to expect!
These workshops do not occur at set dates throughout the year, and timings may depend on the amount of volunteering applications received as we aim as much as possible for this to be a rich group experience. Applicants can expect to receive communications from our team with either an estimated timeframe, updates on possible dates to confirm attendance, and/or if alternatively an individual workshop is the best option!
In terms of support – all volunteers are encouraged and can expect to be supported by our existing and close-knit team of volunteers, placement students, staff, and of course – our community. We are a human-centred and relationship focused organisation that try our best to take good care of each other, and as such make room for mutual and responsive support across our approach.
If there’s anything you’d like to ask or let us know before applying, please email community@likewise.org.uk or call us on 020 7278 4437.
