Remote Volunteer Roles

Ensure Barawak operates smoothly and meets its goals by overseeing our governance and performance reporting. As the lead, you'll organize important activities and track our progress, helping us stay aligned with our mission.

Introduction to the Governance, Secretariat & Performance Reporting Lead Role

Are you passionate about keeping things in order and making sure everyone's working together smoothly? As the lead of the Governance, Secretariat & Performance Reporting team, you'll be like the conductor of an orchestra, making sure every part of our charity hits the right notes at the right time. Your work helps us stay true to our mission, making sure we're doing things the right way and always getting better. You'll work closely with the folks who guide Barawak—our trustees and advisors—and you'll help our programme and verticals leaders shine by tracking how well their services are doing and giving them the information they need to make smart decisions.

Keep Us on Track: You'll be organising all the important meetings for our trustees and advisors, making agendas, and keeping actions and decisions logs, so we never miss a beat. You’ll make sure that everything we do follows our rules and the law.

Watch Our Progress: You'll keep an eye on our goals, collecting info on how many people we're helping, how our events are going, and how we're managing our money. Then you’ll put this all into monthly and annual reports that help us understand if we're on the right path. 

Help Us Improve: You'll present feedback from the people we serve and our team, gathered by the programme and vertical leads, to find ways we can do better. You're all about using what we learn to make sure Barawak keeps growing stronger and helping more people.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Governance and Compliance Oversight: Ensure that all activities within Barawak adhere to the highest standards of governance and compliance, as set by our trustees and in accordance with relevant regulations and laws. Develop and maintain a comprehensive set of policies and procedures that are the foundation of our operational excellence.

2. Secretariat Functions: Act as the primary point of contact for trustees and advisors, managing communications, preparing meeting agendas, and ensuring the accurate recording of actions and decisions. Your meticulous attention to detail and planning will ensure the smooth running of board meetings and the timely dissemination of information.

3. Performance Reporting: Lead the development and implementation of a robust performance reporting framework. You will work closely on behalf of the trustees, with the advisors, programme and vertical leads to establish and track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), providing insights and reports that drive strategic decisions and demonstrate our impact to stakeholders and the community we serve.

4. Cross-functional Coordination: Facilitate and report on the monthly programme reviews with the Board of Trustees, quarterly advisory meetings, and annual general meetings. Your role involves supporting the programme and verticals leads to synthesize information from the services and verticals to provide a cohesive picture of Barawak's progress and challenges.

5. Continuous Improvement: Champion the use of feedback mechanisms, including surveys and community input, to refine our programmes and initiatives. You will play a critical role in reviewing and adapting our strategies based on performance data, ensuring continuous improvement in our pursuit of excellence.

Person Specification:

• Skills: Strong organisational and leadership skills, excellent communication abilities, and adept at working in a collaborative environment. Eagar to learn new skills.

• Attributes: Deep understanding of the challenges faced by the Afro-Hebrew community in the UK. Commitment to Barawak's values of helping out, sticking together, and staying strong. Ability to work flexibly and respond to evolving community needs.

• Commitment: Passionate about making a tangible difference in the lives of individuals and families dealing with poverty. Innovative thinker with a focus on creating sustainable, long-term solutions.

Important: This advert is for a voluntary role, which is unpaid and not subject to reimbursement of expenses. Any agreement with the successful candidate is not intended to be a legally binding contract between us and may be cancelled at any time at the discretion of either party. By applying for the role, candidates agree that neither of us intend any employment relationship to be created either now or at any time in the future.

Are you a Clinical Supervisor interested in supporting counsellors and therapists?

Burning Nights CRPS Support has a highly skilled counselling and therapy team who provide counselling and psychotherapy to adults and children who have been affected by a debilitating pain condition, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). This team is expanding rapidly and we are now looking for a volunteer Clinical Supervisor to join this team ensuring we can continue the provision of our vital emotional support services to this community. We would ideally like to take on a Clinical Supervisor - one supporting the therapists who deal with adults.

All our Counselling and therapy team help to develop our growing mental health support service for patients, families and carers affected by Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). As a volunteer with the CRPS Counselling & Therapy Service, your skills and experience as a Clinical Supervisor will be providing support to therapists who offer therapy to vulnerable individuals, many of whom are isolated and in need of mental health support.

Depending on your qualifications, skills and experience, you will provide Supervisor support for counsellors or psychotherapists who provide counselling support or specialist services, such as general talking (person centred) therapies, integrative therapists, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for CRPS patients, their loved ones and carers. The service currently offers specialist support to anyone over the age of 5 who is affected by CRPS.

Key Tasks and Objectives

• Facilitate Clinical Supervision one to one and group sessions on a monthly or fortnightly basis (online)

• Administer this supervision from invitation through to record keeping

• Maintain appropriate clinical records of all work and to report, along with any concerns on individuals or their practice to the Chair of Trustees

• Commitment to ongoing supervision of supervision practice at Burning Nights CRPS Support as well as engaging in separate own personal supervision as/if appropriate

• Work flexibly as part of a small team as necessary to provide maximum coverage for supervision, such as in the event of emergencies

• Abide by all Burning Nights CRPS Support policies and procedures

• Adhere to BACP, BABCP (or other appropriate therapies governing body) Ethical Framework

Key Skills, Qualifications and Experience

Essential:

• Psychotherapy/Counselling qualification with a minimum of 2 years post qualification experience in a similar field

• Qualification in Clinical Supervision - ideally level 7 or above (could also suit experienced counsellors who require a placement during Clinical Supervision placement, or experienced counsellors wishing to gain experience in supervision)

• Accreditation/registration (or working at the level of or towards this qualification) as a Supervisor with BACP/HCPC/BAPT or equivalent

• Significant proven experience of supervising individual counsellors/psychotherapists from a range of training backgrounds 

• Appropriate and proven clinical experience of working with clients with a range of difficulties including complex medical health issues, loss and bereavement. Ideally experience of working with clients living with or affected by chronic pain or chronic conditions

• Willingness to engage in any Burning Nights CRPS Support training

• Understanding of issues regarding confidentiality and management of risk within a counselling service

• Good administrative skills

• Understanding of the voluntary sector

• Commitment to on-going engagement in personal supervision

• Knowledgeable of and committed to equalities’ provision

Desirable:

• Appropriate and proven clinical experience of working with clients living with or affected by chronic pain or chronic conditions

• Being able to supervise therapists who work in therapy such as CBT, ACT, EMDR etc

• Experience of working within a low-cost / free voluntary sector counselling setting

• Experience of working within the voluntary charity sector

Lead transformative sports initiatives and wellness programs that promote both mental and physical health. As the Sports and Wellness Programme Manager at Barawak, you will champion initiatives that empower our community to achieve holistic well-being.

Role Description

Introduction to the Sports and Wellness Programme at Barawak

Energize your service to the community with purpose at the forefront of Barawak's Sports and Wellness Programme, where we embrace the transformative power of physical activity and mental resilience. In direct alignment with our objective to nurture a community in peak health, this service line is a catalyst for change, advocating for holistic wellness and mental health. Our strategic vision is to launch groundbreaking sports and wellness initiatives that do more than just engage the body; they invigorate the mind and nourish the spirit.

Our mission through this service line is to offer a sanctuary of health and well-being that resonates with our broader vision of a community where every individual thrives. By integrating innovative sports programs and mental well-being activities, we're not only enhancing personal health but also fostering communal vitality. This initiative is a pledge to our community—a commitment to a future where wellness is woven into the fabric of our everyday lives, empowering the Afro-Hebrew community to soar to new heights of achievement and fulfillment.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Plan and execute the Sports and Wellness strategy and service line: Improve physical health and mental well-being through sports and related activities by launching novel sports and wellness initiatives that prioritize agility and holistic health.

• Forward-thinking initiatives: design and launch innovative sports and wellness initiatives that promote physical agility and holistic health within the community. These should include sessions for mental and physical well-being like football, exercise, and self-defence classes.

• Make discretionary referrals to subsidised counselling.

• Offer subsidised programmes for mental and physical wellbeing: champion mental health awareness by offering subsidised programs for mental and physical well-being, including access to wellbeing workshops.

2. Measure performance: Keep accurate count of thefrequency and attendance of sports, counselling and wellness sessions; and the self-reported improvement in participants' mental and physical health after sessions. Provide this data to the Governance Team and Trustees on request.

3. Collaboration with Verticals Teams: 

• Partnership Development & Collaboration Team: Coordinate with this team to identify and establishalliances and partnerships with local, regional and global organisations, businesses, councils, and thegovernment to acquire Sports and Wellness resources, speakers or information.

• Fundraising & Financial Management Team: Collaborate with this team to conduct fundraising activities and financial planning for the Sports and Wellness service line. Identify diverse revenue streams, such as grants, donations, corporate sponsorships, fundraising events for the Sports and Wellness service.

• Volunteer Engagement Team: Work with this team to recruit, train and manage volunteers to support the Sports and Wellness service delivery.

• Marketing Outreach & Advocacy: work with this team to enhance visibility of the Sports and Wellnessservice across social media, press, and community events. 

4. Governance Team Interaction: Provide regular updates and reports to the Governance, Secretariat & Performance Reporting team. Ensure programmealignment with Barawak policies, procedures, strategy and objectives. Collaborate on monitoring and evaluation efforts to assess Sports and Wellness service impact and effectiveness.

Person Specification:

• Skills: Strong organisational and leadership skills, excellent communication abilities, and adept at working in a collaborative environment. Eagar to learn new skills.

• Attributes: Deep understanding of the challenges faced by the Afro-Hebrew community in the UK. Commitment to Barawak's values of helping out, sticking together, and staying strong. Ability to work flexibly and respond to evolving community needs.

• Commitment: Passionate about making a tangible difference in the lives of individuals and families dealing with poverty. Innovative thinker with a focus on creating sustainable, long-term solutions.

Important: This advert is for a voluntary role, which is unpaid and not subject to reimbursement of expenses. Any agreement with the successful candidate is not intended to be a legally binding contract between us and may be cancelled at any time at the discretion of either party. By applying for the role, candidates agree that neither of us intend any employment relationship to be created either now or at any time in the future.

Amplify Barawak’s mission and enhance our public presence through strategic marketing and powerful advocacy. As the Marketing Outreach and Advocacy Vertical Lead, you’ll craft compelling narratives that engage and mobilize our community.
 

Understanding the Verticals at Barawak

Imagine Barawak as a living, thriving tree. Our verticals are like the main branches—each one strong and important, reaching out in its own direction but all connected to the same trunk, our community's mission. These four powerhouse teams each have a special job:

• The Fundraising and Financial Management vertical covers fundraising and money matters: This team is all about finding resources—like getting donations and grants—to keep our programmes strong and healthy.They will spend their time writing fantastic letters, sponsorship proposals and funding requests on behalf of Barawak as a whole, but also (supporting programme leads) to specific organisations for Barawak service lines.

• The Partnership Development and Collaboration vertical covers building bridges: They're the connectors, making friends with other groups, businesses, and everyone who can help us grow.

• The Volunteer Engagement vertical covers welcoming our helpers: This bunch is in charge of gathering our most valuable resource—people like you who want to volunteer and make a difference.

• The Marketing Outreach and Advocacy vertical covers spreading the word: They tell our story far and wide, making sure everyone knows what we're up to and how they can join in.

Each vertical team works in two distinct ways: the first way is for Barawak as a whole, and the second way is in support of each Barawak service, feeding our programmes, like roots bringing water and nutrients to the branches. Whether it's Poverty Relief, Education, Employment Support, Community Engagement or Sports and Wellness, these verticals give the support each programme needs to blossom and bear fruit. Working together, they make sure we're all pushing in the same direction—towards a future where our community stands tall and proud.

Introduction to the Marketing, Outreach, and Advocacy vertical Lead role:

The Marketing, Outreach, and Advocacy Lead is the driving force behind Barawak’s communication, its brand identity and public presence. This strategic role involves developing and implementing marketing and outreach initiatives to amplify Barawak's mission and to advocate for the Afro-Hebrew community. It requires collaboration with trustees and programme leads to ensure consistent messaging and effective advocacy.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Strategic Marketing and Outreach:

• Develop and execute a comprehensive marketing and outreach strategy that promotes Barawak’s mission, programs, and events.

• Utilize a multi-channel approach, including social media, local press, and community events, to raise awareness and engage diverse audiences.

2. Advocacy Campaigns:

• Craft and lead advocacy campaigns that support Barawak’s strategic objectives and service lines, ensuring the community's voice is heard on critical issues.

• Build relationships with media outlets and influencers to enhance Barawak’s visibility and impact.

3. Support to Trustees:

• Provide the Board of Trustees with strategic marketing insights and advocacy support, enabling informed decision-making.

• Ensure trustees are kept informed of marketing and advocacy efforts and outcomes, aligning with Barawak’s governance and strategic plans.

4. Programme-Specific Outreach:

• Tailor marketing and advocacy efforts to support the unique goals of each Barawak programme, from Poverty Relief to Sports and Wellness.

• Collaborate with programme leads to highlight success stories, key initiatives, and opportunities for community involvement.

5. Brand Management:

• Oversee Barawak’s brand identity and messaging across all platforms, ensuring consistency and alignment with organizational values.

• Develop marketing materials and campaigns that resonate with the community and stakeholders.

6. Performance Analysis:

• Monitor and analyze the effectiveness of marketing and advocacy initiatives, using data-driven insights to refine strategies.

Qualifications and Skills:

• Experience in marketing, public relations, or advocacy within the nonprofit sector.

• Strong creative and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to develop compelling narratives.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with proficiency across various media platforms.

• A collaborative spirit, adept at working with diverse teams and community groups.

In the role of Marketing, Outreach, and Advocacy Lead, you will be the storyteller and voice of Barawak, shaping the way the world sees and understands our mission and the community we serve.

Important: This advert is for a voluntary role, which is unpaid and not subject to reimbursement of expenses. Any agreement with the successful candidate is not intended to be a legally binding contract between us and may be cancelled at any time at the discretion of either party. By applying for the role, candidates agree that neither of us intend any employment relationship to be created either now or at any time in the future.

Transform lives through education by coordinating impactful workshops and mentoring programs. As the Education and Skill Development Programme Manager at Barawak, you'll foster economic empowerment and skills advancement within our community.

Introduction to the Education and Skill Development Programme at Barawak

At the heart of Barawak's mission to empower and uplift the Afro-Hebrew community is our Education and Skill Development Programme. This vital service line is a direct response to our core objective of fostering economic empowerment through education and skill enhancement. By providing access to aspirational, transformative and essential learning resources, practical workshops, and mentorship opportunities, this programme aims to unlock the full potential of our community members. This programme is integral to achieving our vision of a thriving Afro-Hebrew community with access to opportunities that empower them to overcome socio-economic challenges. By offering workshops on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, job skills, mentoring, and work experience opportunities, as well as sponsoring educational resources like school supplies and private tuition, we directly support our mission to uplift those in need. This programme not only aligns with Barawak's objective to foster economic empowerment but also embodies our commitment to providing the tools and knowledge necessary for personal and community growth and success.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Plan and execute the Education & Skill Development strategy and service line:

• Workshop Coordination: Organize quarterly workshops on key topics such as financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and job skills, ensuring these sessions are informative and engaging for the community.

• Mentoring and Work Experience: Facilitate biannual mentoring events, pairing community members with experienced mentors. Arrange work experience opportunities to enhance vocational skills and job readiness.

• Resource Distribution: Oversee the annual sponsorship of educational resources, such as school supplies and private tuition, to support the educational development of community members.

2. Measure performance: Keep accurate count of the number of workshops held; the participant satisfaction rates; and the number of educational resources sponsored. Provide this data to the Governance Team and Trustees on request.

3. Collaboration with Verticals Teams: 

• Partnership Development & Collaboration Team: Coordinate with this team to identify and establish alliances and partnerships with local, regional and global organisations, businesses, councils, and thegovernment to acquire education and skill development resources, speakers or information.

• Fundraising & Financial Management Team: Collaborate with this team to conduct fundraising activities and financial planning for the Education and Skill Development service line. Identify diverse revenue streams, such as grants, donations, corporate sponsorships, fundraising events for the Education and Skill Development service.

• Volunteer Engagement Team: Work with this team to recruit, train and manage volunteers to support the Education and Skill Development service delivery.

• Marketing Outreach & Advocacy: work with this team to enhance visibility of the Education and Skill Development service across social media, press, andcommunity events. 

4. Governance Team Interaction: Provide regular updates and reports to the Governance, Secretariat & Performance Reporting team. Ensure programmealignment with Barawak policies, procedures, strategyand objectives. Collaborate on monitoring and evaluation efforts to assess Education and Skill Developmentservice impact and effectiveness.

Person Specification:

• Skills: Strong organisational and leadership skills, excellent communication abilities, and adept at working in a collaborative environment. Eagar to learn new skills.

• Attributes: Deep understanding of the challenges faced by the Afro-Hebrew community in the UK. Commitment to Barawak's values of helping out, sticking together, and staying strong. Ability to work flexibly and respond to evolving community needs.

• Commitment: Passionate about making a tangible difference in the lives of individuals and families dealing with poverty. Innovative thinker with a focus on creating sustainable, long-term solutions.

Important: This advert is for a voluntary role, which is unpaid and not subject to reimbursement of expenses. Any agreement with the successful candidate is not intended to be a legally binding contract between us and may be cancelled at any time at the discretion of either party. By applying for the role, candidates agree that neither of us intend any employment relationship to be created either now or at any time in the future.

Tender works first and foremost with young people, meaning our work is always varied and constantly evolving. We are therefore lucky to receive the support and guidance from our Youth Board, who meet monthly to develop Tender’s activities and direction, and explore innovative ways of engaging young people in a way that stays relevant to them. 
 

What is the Tender Youth Board?
 

Tender’s Youth Board is an advisory group that supports the on-going development and delivery of Tender’s work. As a youth-based organisation, the board play a vital role in guiding how we engage young people in conversations around healthy relationships, domestic abuse and sexual violence, and promote the issue to wider society. We do this by getting young people to work closely with members from every department of the Tender team and its Board of Trustees. 
 

The Youth Board support Tender’s work by:  
 

• Developing and delivering awareness raising campaigns and blogs 
• Contributing ideas for projects and resources  
• Reviewing Tender’s activities that are used in workshops with young people 
• Discussing current events and policy happening in the Violence Against Women and Girls sector 
• Contributing to Tender’s recruitment processes 
• Reviewing bids that Tender submit to funders for new work 

Time Expectations 
 

We ask our Youth Board members for a commitment to volunteering for a minimum of 6 hours every three months. The ways members can engage are listed below: 
 

• Meetings will be typically held twice a month on Wednesday, 5:50 – 6:30pm. It is important that you can attend the majority of these online meetings. 
• Twice per year, in March and October, a meeting is held in person at Tender’s London office – travel and food expenses are covered. 
• Volunteering time at public events to promote Tender’s cause, such as panels or fresher’s fairs. 
• Carrying out other tasks that come up outside meetings, such as blog writing, or being on steering groups for specific projects.  
• Engaging with flexible work experience opportunities in various teams across the charity. 

At Tender we also understand that schedules can change, and other responsibilities can get in the way of volunteering sometimes, so if you are unable to meet this requirement, we can have a chat with you and look at next steps together. For some, this might mean arranging other volunteering tasks that can be completed remotely or making a flexible arrangement.  
 

How we support you 
 

Three members of the Tender team support the Youth Board by running the interactive and creative meetings, and planning  the year’s activities. They will be available during your time on the Youth Board to ensure you get the most out of volunteering with us. 
 

At Tender we believe in the importance of giving back to those who volunteer their time with us. You will be given a full induction to the Youth Board so that you understand our work and your role as a Youth Board member. As an active member of the youth board, you will be offered opportunities and rewards, such as:  
 

• Free masterclasses from external organisations (topics have included: working with children and young people, facilitation, drama, domestic and sexual violence prevention, and more!) 
• Free training sessions  
• Free tickets to theatre productions, exhibitions and other public events 
• Opportunities to build your CV through campaigning, masterclasses, events and work experience. 

To make sure we’re supporting our Youth Board members, we carry out a survey of new members to better understand what you wish to gain from the Youth Board, and endeavour to offer opportunities to develop in ways that will support your future plans and ambitions. This could even include working at Tender – a number of our employees started their journeys at Tender on the Youth Board! 

Join Transition Network as a new Trustee

Do you have wisdom, a fresh perspective, time and energy that you want to place in service to an innovative organisation?

Transition Network is a charity registered in England and Wales that works internationally to support the Transition movement.  We are looking for new trustees from a diversity of backgrounds and lived experiences who can help guide our strategy and join an ongoing experiment in shared governance. We are seeking to recruit several new trustees, including generalists as well as a new trustee Treasurer.

Traumaform CIC is a West Wales based non-profit organization specializing in therapies for trauma-related issues such as Complex Trauma and PTSD.

We are looking for compassionate, enthusiastic and committed people with a range of skills to support our organization in its ongoing development.

You will have the opportunity to make decisions that will impact people’s lives and make a real difference to those suffering from the effects of trauma.

Trustees are ultimately responsible for leading our non-profit organisation and deciding how it is run. They play a very important role in helping to develop Traumaform’s work.

Why volunteer as a trustee for Traumaform?

Volunteering as a trustee can be very rewarding. It’s a fantastic way to contribute to other people’s well-being – to ‘give something back’ – but also to develop your own skills in a number of areas:

- Leadership

- Negotiating

- Strategic planning

- Organisation

- Networking

We particularly encourage applications from people who reflect those supported by Traumaform. For example, if you have lived experience of trauma, have mental health needs, or are perhaps a parent, relative or carer for somebody with mental health needs, we would love to hear from you.

Previous experience as a trustee is not necessary as training will be provided.

Traumaform Trustee Role Description

We are looking for people whose values align closely with those expressed in our mission statement, who are keen to take our work forwards by helping to guide the development of our organisation and provide strategic input.

This is a voluntary position, expenses will be paid, and Governance training will be provided. As trustee you will be attending our board meetings 5-6 times a year, which may be in person but can also be online.

Desirable:

One or more of the below:

- Accounting/financial experience

- A legal background

- An educational background

- Business management experience and skills

- Knowledge and experience of community engagement

- Lived experience of trauma and/or mental health

- Awareness and understanding of trauma

- Some understanding of symptoms of PTSD and Complex PTSD and their co-occurring disorders

Essential:

- A desire to make a difference

- Demonstrating passion for Traumaform’s work

- Compassion for those suffering from the effects of trauma

- Commitment to attend board meetings either online or in-person

- Ability to work as part of a team

- A flexible, open approach

- An empathic and non-judgmental attitude

- Contributing to Traumaform’s development through innovative and creative ideas

If you can spare the time, if you want to gain experience, if you want to contribute to community benefit, or expand your horizon and feel you have something to offer Traumaform as a trustee, you are welcome to get in touch.

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law.

The closing date for applications is Monday 11th November 2024 at 5pm.

Interviews will be held on Zoom between Wednesday 13th November – Wednesday 21st November 2024.

The first board meeting will be held on Sunday 24th November 2024. It is important that you can attend this meeting – if you wish to apply but are unable to attend, please make this clear when applying.

Trustees wanted: We are looking for four new trustees of the Social Research Association (SRA), to join a lively and positive governing group and help to guide an organisation passionately focused on the advancement of knowledge and professional best practice in the social research for the benefit of the public good.  With a new Chair of the Board and a new Chief Executive these are exciting times as we head towards our 50th anniversary in 2028. We are currently developing a new strategy to guide the expansion of activities and reach across all our social research communities. Of particular focus is our efforts to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of all aspects of the SRA’s activities and we are keen to make further progress in this area.

Who is the SRA? We promote high standards of social research through training courses, events, publications and other resources. SRA membership is open to all, and our 1,600+ members represent many sectors, research methods and approaches.

Who are we looking for? We welcome applications from across the social research community. In addition, so that the trustee body is effective, we would also like to hear applicants with expertise in Human Resources, marketing and communications or finance. We are keen to receive applications from all backgrounds, regions and career stages. You do not have to have prior trustee experience to apply. The SRA will provide an induction and are introducing a buddy system for new trustees and support trustee’s skills development through training.

What’s in it for you?  Being a trustee is rewarding and brings many benefits, especially to your professional development.  You will gain invaluable experience of strategy, governance and leadership, boosting your CV in the process.  You will work with other trustees, the Chair and Chief Executive to take decisions about the future of our organisation.  Through your membership of our Board, smaller sub-committees and working groups you will be focused on strategic issues facing our organisation and gain valuable experience of being a non-executive director to set strategy, to influence and negotiate and to understand and manage risk. You will promote transparency, accountability and fairness.  Above all you will have the satisfaction of contributing to our mission to improve knowledge and best practice in social research for the benefit of public good.

What does it involve? Trustees meet virtually six times a year, and you’ll be expected to attend these meetings, as well as our annual general meeting (usually another virtual meeting held in January). Board meetings focus on strategic rather than operational issues. Trustees are unpaid volunteers, whose positions are re-nominated every three years, to a maximum of six years. Expenses for meetings are reimbursed, where appropriate. Each trustee contributes their knowledge and experience to help the board reach sound decisions. This will involve scrutinising board papers, leading discussions, focusing on key issues, and providing views and advice on new initiatives or other issues. You’ll need to be aware of / learn about your legal responsibilities, and the need to act in accordance with Charity Commission guidance.

Family Lives was formed over forty years ago by volunteers with the aim of ensuring that all parents had somewhere to turn before they reach crisis point.

Remote Family Support Volunteer – Live Chat

We know that the right support at the right time makes all the difference. Family Lives provides targeted early intervention and crisis support to families who are struggling.

Organisational values:

Mission: We build better family lives together.

Vision: Families should have access to active support and understanding. 

Values: Trustworthy, Compassionate and Collaborative

Purpose of the role: To be part of a flexible team providing empathic, caring and informed support to families, carers and others who use our services.

Live chat: is a free confidential service that is accessed via our website. Service users are offered emotional support, information and advice and guidance on a broad range of family issues.

Supervised by: The Shift Supervisor

 Activities: The volunteer will be fully supervised, supported and trained to provide the following activities:

·Provide emotional support to family members via our live chat service

·Use the Family Lives support model and tools to provide an empathic responses

·Ensure that all service users receive a high quality experience

·Sign post users to other agencies for information and additional support

·Complete conversation data records

·Alert the shift supervisor to any difficult situations

General: Volunteers should be willing to:

·Attend the relevant volunteer training

·Maintain confidentiality and adhere to the other policies and procedures of the organisation

·Participate in regular support, supervision meetings and learning sessions as agreed

For home based volunteers only:

·Volunteers will need a Laptop/PC, plug in headset with microphone, fast broadband and a private place to work from home

·Volunteers need to be IT/PC literate and confident troubleshooting should they have technical difficulties

 Time: We would be looking for volunteers to commit to one four-hour shift per week, plus attending training and supervision.

Location: working remotely from home

 You need to be a UK resident

Supervision and Support:

·Supervision during shifts

·Debrief after every shift

·1 to 1 supervision every 6 months

·Staff available outside of shift within office hours

·Annual review

The Benefits of Volunteering:

·Satisfaction in making a real and lasting difference to families who are struggling

·An opportunity to develop experience for CV and references. Family Lives is committed to helping volunteers develop their own learning and development, gaining new skills, knowledge or work experience

·Being part of a team of Family Lives volunteers and staff

·Personal development

·Opportunities to meet and interact with a wide range of people

·Out of pocket expenses reimbursed to a maximum of £10 per session if working from a centre

·Flexible hours

Volunteer Person Specification. We are looking for individuals who:

·Have experience of parenting/being in a parenting role or demonstrable experience of working with parents or children e.g. in their work, previous volunteering or a previous role

·Have an ability to respond empathically to emotional content

·Good written and verbal communication

·Have good keyboard skills and IT skills, with a minimum of 50 wpm

·Can demonstrate a willingness to question their own attitudes e.g. toward different forms of parenting

·Have a fluent, descriptive and expressive use of English

·Can remain open minded and non-judgemental

·Willing to commit to work within Family Lives’ policies, in particular our Confidentiality Policy and Risk of Harm Procedures

·Willing to commit to attending regular supervision and support sessions

·Willing to work as part of a team

·Willing to commit to a mutually agreed period or ideally a 12 months commitment to the organisation.

Typing Task Prior to Application for Live Chat

Prior to you submitting your application for a Live Chat Volunteer, we will require you to do a speed test, we ask for a minimum speed of 50 words per minute. 

Please take a screen shot and send it across with your application

You can have up to 3 attempts and decide which result you would like to forward as part of your application

Typing task

Go to the website typingtest

You are required to take the one minute typing test recording all of the results (speed, number of errors and adjusted speed).

We have remote voluntary call taker training groups the dates are below are you would need to be able to attend all 5 Modules from the training group.

November training dates:

Module 1 – Monday 4th November

Module 2 – Wednesday 6th November

Module 3 – Monday 11th November

Module 4 – Wednesday 13th November

Module 5 – Monday 18th November

10am to 2pm

Please note that all roles offered are subject to a satisfactory DBS being obtained, you will receive details of documentation required prior to your training and this must all be in no later than the second session of your training.

Family Lives operate a free confidential helpline for anyone experiencing difficulties in their family or relationship.

Our volunteers take calls from parents and carers on a wide range of subjects, whether that might be issues around separation and divorce, isolation, depression, bullying and abuse, dealing with behavioural problems, etc. You can find out more about our services on our website.

We are a national service with home-based call takers county wide and we also have a call centre in Old Hatfield Hertfordshire. Once trained volunteers sign up for a weekly 4-hour shift comprising 3 hours ‘online’ followed by a debrief session with your supervisor which can lasts around half to one hour. 

We recruit volunteers with a range of backgrounds and experiences though we ask that volunteers have experience of parenting or working with children and young people, are good listeners and have a willingness to learn. Being remote it will be very important that you have a PC/laptop, plug in headset with microphone, good Wi-Fi and a private place to work from home. 

You need to be a UK resident.

Our training programme is excellent and will give you the opportunity to develop the skills needed to offer empathic support and guidance to callers whatever their circumstances; all shifts are overseen by a regular shift supervisor who provides ongoing remote support. We ask our volunteers to make a commitment of 1 year (with time off for holidays), obviously we understand that circumstances sometimes make that an impossibility but can be helpful to know at the outset that is the general expectation. 

We have call taker training sessions that run over five sessions and is done remotely connecting you via a Microsoft Teams link.

You would need to be able to attend all five sessions from one of these remote training groups and be available on four occasions to listen into calls, this can be organised remotely.

Remote Call Taker Training Dates:

November training dates:

Module 1 – Monday 4th November

Module 2 – Wednesday 6th November

Module 3 – Monday 11th November

Module 4 – Wednesday 13th November

Module 5 – Monday 18th November

10am to 2pm

Please note that all roles offered are subject to a satisfactory DBS being obtained, you will receive details of documentation required prior to your training and this must all be in no later than the second session of your training.

Working hands-on to deliver inpatient surgical care to our patients, the Ward Nurses work around the clock to see that each and every patient receives the care and attention they deserve.

• Administer holistic patient care to assigned patients and expect to care for both adults and children on a 20 bed open ward

• Employ recent surgical experience in providing pre- and post-operative care to patients receiving maxillofacial, reconstructive plastic, general, obstetric fistula repair, gynecological or orthopedic surgery. Experience in one of these surgical specialties preferred

• Partner with local Day Crew translators to provide culturally sensitive and compassionate care to patients

• Coordinate patient care with the specialty Team Leaders, Charge Nurses, Hospitalist Physicians and Surgeons

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are looking for volunteers, preferably with experience of community engagement and networking, to:

· Research and develop a database of local authority websites

· Research and develop a database of other charities and support organisations, who may support individuals affected by leukodystrophy

· Request for Alex TLC to be added as a support organisation to the above resource lists

· Improve awareness of the charity and leukodystrophy within local authorities, other charities, and support organisations

· Research ways that we can improve our outreach to yet-to-reach groups within the community

This is a wonderful opportunity to develop your existing skills within a unique arena, learn about the difficulties facing those with rare disease, and give vital and tangible support to sufferers of leukodystrophy.

We need help to give hope and support to people affected by leukodystrophy – could you be that help?

ABOUT YOU

Candidates should be able to demonstrate the following:

· at least 2 years working or volunteering experience

· an interest in Alex TLC and the work that we do

· basic understanding of the complexities of leukodystrophy

· excellent written skills

· excellent communication skills

· excellent computer skills, particularly Microsoft Word and Excel

· excellent organisational and administrative skills

Alex TLC are flexible and the role can be home based or at our Peckham, London SE15 office. Unfortunately we are unable to consider applications from outside of the UK. 

Alex, The Leukodystrophy Charity (Alex TLC) is a small, independent rare disease charity competing for essential resources within an extremely competitive arena.

Like many other small charities, we have grown organically from an informal support group to the recognised voice for leukodystrophy patients and their families. In order to fulfil our charitable objectives we need to increase and sustain our corporate income levels.

Could you spare a few hours a week to help us?

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are looking for volunteers, preferably with corporate fundraising experience to:

• research the corporate giving landscape and the interests of potential donors

• identify potential corporate donors and partners whose corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals align with our mission and values

• approach local and national businesses in person and over the telephone to inform them of the work of Alex TLC

• keep a record of all approaches

Time Commitment

• This role is flexible and can easily fit round your other commitments. 

Location of Volunteering

• Homebased

ABOUT YOU

• an interest in Alex TLC and the work that we do

• access to a computer/laptop with an internet connection, and a printer

• basic understanding of the complexities of leukodystrophy

• excellent written skills

• excellent organisational and administrative skills

Benefits to you:

• Meeting and working with new people

• The ability to volunteer around your own commitments

• Learning new skills whilst having fun!

• Adding to your CV

• Helping those affected by leukodystrophies

Unfortunately, we cannot accept applications from outside the UK.