Mental wellbeing facilitator volunteer roles

About Hot Seats

Hot Seats is a structured group role play programme created in 2016. Over 5,000 participants have taken part across 300+ groups in prisons, probation services, community sentences and residential and community recovery settings.

Hot Seat certified facilitators use group role plays to assign roles to our inner dialogue. There are six Hot Seats built around six pre-identified themes. Facilitators apply a unique anonymity protocol that means all role plays are done using characters. No participants reveal any personal stories or history. This allows participants to explore real issues — such as addiction, offending behaviour, family breakdown and recovery — without the work becoming emotionally charged or triggering. This makes it safe, accessible and effective in settings where trust can be hard to build.

Host organisations subscribe to Hot Seats and nominate a staff member or volunteer to become certified to deliver groups. Both the facilitators and hosts receive full back office support from Hot Seats. Facilitators need not have any specific experience as full training is provided. All that is required is a desire to help affect positive change for participants, a space big enough to accommodate 7–12 people and a weekly two-hour gap on a timetable of activities.

About the Role

We are looking for volunteers to match with hosts — these include prisons, probation services and residential or community rehab settings. You do not need any specific experience. All you need is a willingness to follow a structured programme and be motivated to support people in justice and recovery settings.

As a volunteer facilitator you will:

• Deliver weekly Hot Seats two-hour group sessions using a provided session plan
• Create a safe, respectful space for participants to engage with the programme
• Work within a nominated host organisation
• Submit a summary sheet to our back office after each session

What You Will Get

• Full Hot Seats facilitator training and certification
• Ongoing support from the Hot Seats team
• A meaningful volunteering role with real impact on people in recovery and justice settings
• Experience that is directly relevant to careers in criminal justice, social work, probation, youth work, addiction services and related fields

Who We Are Looking For

• People with an interest in criminal justice, recovery, rehabilitation or social care
• Reliable — able to commit to a regular weekly session of 2–3 hours
• Willing to undergo relevant DBS/PVG checks if required
• No prior experience required — full training provided

How to Apply

In the first instance, respond to this ad and we will send you program outline

After reading, if you are interested we will match you to a host. Please send a short expression of interest (a few sentences about why you are interested) 

Programme Support Volunteer

Mind of the Student
Ad ID: MOTS PSV 2026 01

About Us

Mind of the Student is a youth mental health charity that works with schools, young people, and families to support emotional wellbeing and improve mental health awareness.

Our programmes include EmpowerU, Empowering Young Minds, school mental health workshops, Mind of the Parent, and Ambassador Training. Through these projects, we aim to create safe spaces where young people feel heard, supported, and empowered.

The Role

We are looking for Programme Support Volunteers to support our delivery team during workshops, school sessions, and community programmes.

This is a supportive role where volunteers work alongside a Project Lead or Lead Facilitator to help sessions run smoothly. Volunteers will not be expected to deliver content, but will play an important part in supporting students, helping manage group activities, maintaining appropriate ratios, and contributing to a positive environment during sessions.

This role would suit someone interested in mental health, youth work, education, psychology, counselling, or anyone looking to gain experience working with young people.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities may include:

• Supporting Lead Facilitators during sessions and workshops
• Helping create a safe, welcoming, and engaging environment
• Encouraging student participation and engagement
• Providing general pastoral support to young people where appropriate
• Supporting behaviour management alongside staff
• Assisting with setting up and packing away resources
• Helping monitor student wellbeing during sessions
• Escalating any safeguarding or wellbeing concerns to senior staff
• Supporting the general organisation and smooth running of programmes

What We’re Looking For

We are looking for people who:

• Are passionate about supporting young people
• Have an interest in mental health and wellbeing
• Are approachable, reliable, and professional
• Feel comfortable working in school or youth settings
• Work well as part of a team
• Are willing to learn and take part in training

Previous experience is not essential.

We especially welcome applications from students or individuals looking for placements or practical experience within mental health, education, counselling, psychology, youth work, or related sectors.

Requirements

Applicants must:

• Be based within a 20 mile radius of Havering, Islington, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Newham, Croydon, or Southend on Sea
• Be willing to undergo an Enhanced DBS check
• Be able to commit to between 0 and 8 hours per week
• Share the values and mission of Mind of the Student

What We Offer

• Full training provided
• Regular supervision and support
• Travel expenses covered
• Flexible volunteering opportunities
• Valuable experience within school and mental health settings
• Opportunities to support meaningful programmes that make a difference to young people

Hours

Flexible hours available:
0 to 8 hours per week

Most sessions take place during school hours, with occasional evening workshops or events.

Safeguarding

Mind of the Student is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All volunteers are expected to share this commitment.

This role is subject to an Enhanced DBS check and safer recruitment procedures.

Role summary

Community Bereavement Cafés are welcoming and open spaces for people to talk about their grief.  Facilitators help run and facilitate the cafes.

A standard DBS check will be required for this role.

Main duties of this role may include any of the following:

· Help prepare the venue for the café set up – positioning chairs, preparing refreshments, making the seating welcoming and conducive to a positive experience.

· Welcome people as they arrive.

· Provide name labels to ensure people are known by name.

· Identify newcomers and assist them to settle in – making introductions and offering a helping hand to begin with. Being sure to withdraw yourself from the group when it feels right to allow peer support to take over and blossom.

· Offer and make drinks, clear cups etc.

· Facilitate a session in the Cafe after receiving bereavement training.

· Give notice before the café is due to end so that people can draw their conversations to a close.

· Occasionally, at the end, distribute feedback forms to participants to complete anonymously.

· When everyone has left, put the room back to how it was before the café started.

· Escalate any concerns or worries about attendees to the Cafe lead.

·Uphold strict confidentiality and maintain professional boundaries at all times.

Training & supervision

· Training provided in understanding grief and bereavement, communication and active listening skills, facilitating group spaces, safeguarding, boundaries, referral pathways, cafe operations and practical logistics.

· Monthly supervision/support.

· Ongoing training as required.

Experience & qualifications required

· Having excellent communication and listening skills.

· Ability to join in conversation and contribute appropriately.

· Happy chatting in a group or individually.

· Allowing others to speak and give them space to do that.

· Being comfortable discussing bereavement, death, dying and loss.

· Ability to judge the correct moment to leave a conversation, and have the confidence and skills to do that.

· Ability to effectively facilitate groups – creating a supportive environment in which everyone feels able and welcome to contribute, and in which no one person dominates to the detriment of others.

· Friendly and approachable.

· Empathic · Calm · Non-judgemental.

· Flexible in approach · Emotional intelligence, and alertness while facilitating.

· Being able to read situations and act appropriately.

· Reliable and punctual.

· Understand, and maintain the boundaries of your role.

· Well-developed coping strategies and resilience in discussing difficult feelings and bereavement.

· Able to respect, and maintain, people’s confidentiality.

· Able to ask for help and advice when situations arise that are beyond your own knowledge, capabilities, or comfort levels.

· To be self-reflective and make full use of supervision.

We are recruiting for a volunteer who would like to play a role in helping others to express themselves through writing. Would you like to support others to use their imagination to portray a message?

Creative writing is a great way to express yourself using your own creativity and imagination through story telling or poetry. It is an opportunity to reflect on your own experiences and put it down on paper. Creative writing has been shown to improve emotional and mental well-being. Through creative writing, we can gain insight into our emotions, develop self-expression and communication skills, cultivate empathy and understanding of others, boost our imagination and creativity.

What you will be doing

• To prepare creative writing sessions, involving individuals in the planning process where possible
• Inspire and motivate individuals to develop and expand their capacity to think creatively, improve their ability to put their thoughts and feelings into writing and allowing others to find their voice
• Encourage individuals to continue independent activities
• Keep a record of attendees, provide feedback and report any concerns to the staff team

The skills you need

• Experience of creative writing either in a professional, educational or personal level
• Able to collaborate with individuals to plan creative writing sessions
• A calm and patient manner
• Ability to provide a supportive and inclusive atmosphere that encourages learning and participation
• Good communication skills

What's in it for you

• Supporting You - You will have a dedicated volunteer supervisor to support you in your role; Quarterly volunteer forums with the central Volunteering team and volunteers across Hestia; References for job applications.
• Developing You - You will gain knowledge and insight into issues that impact Domestic Abuse, Modern Slavery and Mental Health; You will have access to our extensive Learning and Development Programme; 40% of our departed volunteers secured a paid role at Hestia last year!
• Valuing You - Valuing You - We hold annual Volunteer Awards, outings, celebration, and social events for our volunteers to get together and have some fun; We reimburse travel expenses and up to £5 for lunch for your volunteering.

Causeway Education  are partnering with the Sweaty Betty Foundation to deliver workshops to girls in secondary schools about the importance of physical activity.

Our collaboration involves bringing role models from the community (across a variety of sectors and professions) into schools with us to deliver classroom-based workshops that act both as a careers education and also a motivation for staying physically active. For example, our role models might talk about how physical activity (however big or small, in whatever shape that looks like for them) has helped with their mental wellbeing or skill development in resilience, confidence, problem-solving that has allowed them to get where they are today in their careers. It is taking a holistic approach to viewing physical activity beyond appearance, to show teenage girls how being physically active can benefit them moving forward.

We are looking for women who are interested in speaking with girls about how physical activity has helped them with mental wellbeing, education and career goals and developing skills. The workshops last between 1.5 to 2 hours and are co-facilitated with a member of our team. Your role as a volunteer role model is to join the facilitator in assisting with activities that help re-frame the girls thinking around physical activity and encourage them to set a pledge in an area they are interested in exploring.

No previous experience required and a 1:1 introductory training call provided. No time commitment - you can do as many or as little workshops as you like, and we liaise with the school against your availability, location etc. Travel expenses are reimbursed. If you are passionate about getting teenage girls active, and feel you can share your own journey and experiences with physical activity, this would be great for you.

There are opportunities for volunteers across Greater London and Greater Manchester. 

Join the Body & Soul team in our Children and Young People Programme to support young people from displaced communities. 

Across the UK, migrants, refugees, and people seeking asylum are facing increasingly difficult conditions due to increased hostility, threats, fear, and an increasing sense of a lack of belonging. The growing anti-immigration rhetoric is creating fear and heightened challenges for our members from those communities, who are trying to rebuild their lives while dealing with isolation, uncertainty, trauma, and HIV. 

In such times, it feels more important than ever to support these communities with a united approach. No one should feel unwelcomed, especially when they have endured repeated trauma, including but not limited to trafficking, war, and gender-based violence, alongside systematic injustice, poverty, insecure housing, racial discrimination, and stigma. Everyone should feel a strong sense of belonging, love, compassion, and community, and we hold that at our core. 

Our Life Beyond program offers therapeutic and community support to those with these experiences who have or are affected by HIV. Grounded in a deep cultural understanding of the lived experiences of our diverse community, our program equips members with the resources and support needed to navigate the dual challenges of living with HIV and being displaced in the UK. We offer a safe, non-judgemental community that nurtures belonging, resilience building, and mental and physical wellbeing.

Acknowledging the importance of a whole-family approach and early intervention, we offer our Children and Young People program. Here, we support those from displaced communities and young people navigating the impact of intergenerational and racial trauma. We aim to create an inviting space that reinforces their skills and strengths, supporting them to navigate their lives with a strong sense of self-identity, resilience, connections, and a sense of belonging. 

How do we do this? 

We run a creative, community-based programme to support children and young people facing complex challenges, including mental and physical health, family transitions, marginalization, and social isolation. These sessions involve, but are not limited to, arts, drama, physical activities, music, and much more, to foster resilience, life skills, personal identity, and social connection, both in-person and online. 

About Body & Soul 

Body & Soul is an organization dedicated to revolutionizing suicide prevention from the ground up, healing mind, body and soul within a therapeutic community that nurtures resilience, restores hope and liberates all from the grip of trauma and adversity. Our community provides people of all ages with a wide range of innovative and creative programmes that support physical, mental and emotional health and well-being.We have developed a ‘whole person’ model of care rooted in a strengths-based approach that nurtures connection, healing and growth. 

The roles available: 

1. Young Adventurers (0–3 years) – Monthly Tuesdays

1. Adventurers (3-9) – Monthly Tuesdays 

1. BaSe (9-12) – Monthly Tuesdays 

What You’ll Do 

• Lead/support engaging, age-appropriate sessions for children and young people. 

• Foster a safe, inclusive, and positive group environment. 

• Use relational approaches to manage challenging behaviour and set clear boundaries. 

• Support emotional, social, and creative development through interactive activities. 

• Collaborate with co-facilitators and program staff to deliver therapeutic sessions and projects. 

• Contribute to program evaluation and continuous improvement. 

• Work within a team of sessional staff and volunteers 

Who We’re Looking For 

• Recent experience of supporting children or young people (classroom, youth, or play settings). 

• Experience with racially/culturally diverse communities

• Confident, relational approach; able to build rapport and trust quickly. 

• Skilled in responding to challenging behaviour and promoting positive group dynamics. 

• Creative, flexible, and committed to inclusion, equity, and wellbeing. 

• Passionate about Body & Soul’s aims

Desirable but not mandatory 

• Experience in any arts, drama, media, or physical activity-based workshops and/or interventions. 

• Familiarity with emotional resilience, mental health, or attachment-focused programs. 

• Familiar with trauma-informed approaches to emotional regulation. 

Why Join Us? 

• Make a tangible difference in the lives of vulnerable children and young people. 

• Work in a supportive, inclusive, and creative team environment. 

• Flexible, collaborative working approach. 

• Experience a full introduction & training program, responding to the needs and interests of our volunteers. 

• Opportunities for training and professional development. 

• Ongoing support from our team, our Head of Volunteering, and from a large community of other volunteers.