Policy and campaigns coordinator volunteer roles

Guardian Light Foundation (Social Enterprise)
Remote / Hybrid / In-person (depending on location)
Flexible hours – approximately 20 hours per month
This is a voluntary position (unpaid)

About Guardian Light Foundation

Guardian Light Foundation is a social enterprise dedicated to helping children, teenagers, and single-parent families affected by homelessness, abuse, and financial hardship.
Our mission is to create safe spaces and brighter futures through education, emotional support, skill-building, and empowerment programs.

We are building a compassionate team of professionals and volunteers who believe every child and family deserves stability, dignity, and hope.

About the Role

We are seeking a Volunteer Counsellor to provide compassionate, confidential, and professional emotional support to children, teenagers, and parents in need.

This role is ideal for a qualified counsellor, trainee therapist, or psychology professional seeking to make a real difference while gaining valuable experience in the charity and community support sector.

You’ll work alongside our multidisciplinary team to provide one-to-one and group sessions that help service users build resilience, self-esteem, and emotional well-being.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide confidential emotional support and active listening to clients affected by trauma, abuse, or family hardship.

• Conduct initial assessments to understand client needs and determine appropriate support pathways.

• Deliver one-to-one or group counselling sessions (online or in-person).

• Maintain accurate and confidential client records, in line with GDPR and safeguarding policies.

• Work collaboratively with the wider Guardian Light Foundation team (including social workers, program coordinators, and legal advisors).

• Identify and escalate safeguarding concerns following the organisation’s procedures.

• Participate in regular supervision meetings and ongoing professional development.

• Support awareness campaigns, community outreach, and mental health education initiatives when possible.

Essential Requirements

• Recognised qualification or training in Counselling, Psychology, or a related field (students and trainees are also welcome).

• Empathetic, non-judgmental, and trustworthy.

• Strong understanding of confidentiality, safeguarding, and professional boundaries.

• Excellent communication and active listening skills.

• Ability to work independently and as part of a supportive team.

• A genuine passion for helping children, teenagers, and families facing hardship.

Desirable Skills

• Experience supporting survivors of abuse, neglect, or trauma.

• Knowledge of family dynamics, youth issues, or homelessness.

• Familiarity with online counselling tools and data confidentiality best practices.

• Membership or trainee membership of BACP, UKCP, or equivalent (preferred but not required).

What We Offer

Although this is a voluntary position, Guardian Light Foundation offers meaningful benefits, including:

• The opportunity to make a real, lasting impact in the lives of vulnerable individuals.

• Free training and ongoing supervision.

• Experience and professional references to support future employment or career advancement.

• Flexible hours – we work around your schedule.

• The chance to join a caring, inclusive, and inspiring community of professionals and volunteers.

Commitment

• Minimum of 6 months commitment preferred.

• Approximately 5–10 hours per week (flexible scheduling).

• Must attend an online induction and safeguarding briefing before starting.

How to Apply

If you have a heart for helping others and a passion for emotional wellbeing, we would love to hear from you.

Please apply with your CV and a brief cover letter outlining:

• Why you want to volunteer with Guardian Light Foundation

• Your relevant skills or experience

• Your availability

 Important Notice:

This is a voluntary (unpaid) position. There is no financial compensation for this role. Travel or approved expenses may be reimbursed where applicable.

Fundraising events helper

Our vision for volunteering

Volunteering is and always will be at the heart of Cats Protection. It is joyful and inclusive. As a charity, working in partnership, together we transform the lives of cats, people and communities.

The difference you will make to cats and people

As a charity we can continue to help cats and kittens in need thanks to the donations we receive at fundraising events from generous members of the public. Our fundraising event helpers have the exciting and varied role of helping at local fundraising events - such as cakes sales, barn dances, quiz nights – and everything in between!

You can expect us to

• make you feel welcome, included and respected in line with our values and behaviours
• support you in having a positive and impactful experience at Cats Protection
• cover agreed out-of-pocket expenses in line with our Expenses Policy
• provide you with access to learning, development and engagement opportunities

What we need from you

You’ll be:

· help set up and/or man stalls at events

· help on collection days like supermarket collections events or street collections

· help at fundraising events such as quiz nights, cake sales and dances

· promoting a professional image of Cats Protection at events

Time expectation

This role is really flexible! You could choose to volunteer at one event for a couple of hours or attend multiple fundraising events.

We’ll keep you up to date with upcoming local events where volunteers are needed. You’ll then be able to choose which events you’d like to volunteer at and how many hours you’d like to give. However much time you can give, your contribution will help raise much needed funds to continue the work of Cats Protection.

You may be just the volunteer we’ve been looking for!

We are committed to building a diverse, compassionate and inclusive organisation where everyone can be themselves and do their best. We are courageous and compassionate in our purpose of helping people see the world through cats’ eyes. Together, we can make a difference. Together, we are all for cats. Join the UK’s leading cat welfare charity and help make a better life for cats, because life is better with cats.

Inspiring, supportive, and committed - just a few of the words we’d use to describe our volunteers. 

At Rethink Mental Illness, volunteers are at the heart of what we do. They play a vital role in supporting our services and making a real difference in people’s lives. If you’re looking for a rewarding role where you can have a positive impact while developing your own skills and experience, we’d love you to join us. 

About the role

We are looking for Volunteer Befrienders to support our Brent Mental Health service in the London Borough of Brent. 

As a Volunteer Befriender, you will be required to travel across Brent to meet with service users and carry out your role. Ideally, you will be able to commit a minimum of 2 hours per week to volunteering. 

You will be supported by Befriending Volunteer Coordinators 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 Brent Mental Health service provides support to people aged 18 and above, who live in the Borough of Brent, and who have a mental illness and are known to the local NHS trust Central and North West London (CNWL).

The Befriending Service aims 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)
• Provide befriending support to a maximum of 2 service users at any one time
• 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 good communication skills
• You will be flexible to meet the needs of the service users

How to apply 

To apply, simply click the “apply now” button on the advert on our website and complete a short interest form. 

If you would like to express an interest in this opportunity, please complete an application as soon as possible, as the advert may close early if we receive a high level of interest.

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.”    

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 status and 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 our anti-racist statement . We have designed a multi-year anti-racist programme of work contained in our Race 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.