Volunteer Befriender

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 Volunteer Befrienders to support our Gloucestershire Mental Health Service. Volunteers will be based in the locality in which they live to be able to undertake face to face befriending activities. There are six localities within Gloucestershire. Stroud, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, Forest of Dean and the Cotswolds.   

As a Volunteer Befriender, you may be required to travel across the locality to meet with service users and carry out your role. Ideally, you will be able to commit a minimum of 3 hours per week to volunteering.  

There will also be opportunities for you to support staff who deliver wellbeing and recovery workshops to service users e.g. managing anxiety or confidence and self-esteem, if this is something you would like to get involved with. 

You will be supported by locality Team Leader and team who will provide regular supervision to ensure you feel confident in your role. You can read more about the benefits of volunteering on the full advert on our website. 

About the service 

Our Gloucestershire Mental Health service provides support to people aged 18 and above, who live in the county or are registered with a Gloucestershire GP but live outside the county boundaries and who have a mental illness. 

The aim of the Befriending Service is to; 

• Reduce social isolation of service users 

• Increase the confidence of service users in accessing 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

• Meeting with service users in locations and times which meet their needs (including evenings and weekends as and when appropriate) 

• Provide emotional support based on your own lived experience 

• Support service users to access and build social and community networks and activities 

• Act as a community connector to local services 

What will make you a great fit for this role? 

• You will have lived experience of mental illness, either as a carer or as a person who has experience your own mental health need 

• You will have good communication skills 

• You will be flexible in order to meet the needs of the service users 

Who are we? 

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.” 

We welcome applications from everyone, applicants with lived experience, those who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ ), people with a disability, or those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are actively encouraged to apply. We are proud to have also been awarded Disability Confident employer status. We have an ambition of becoming an anti-racist organisation and we recognise there is more to do in ensuring our recruitment is fair and inclusive, which is why we are recruiting new roles in helping us to achieve this.