Mental Health Volunteer Roles

Creative Support is a national social care and supported housing provider with charitable status. We offer high quality, personalised care and support services for younger adults and older people with a wide range of needs, including learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs and physical disabilities. We also deliver innovative preventative services for people at risk of homelessness and social exclusion. We support people to overcome challenges and live their best lives.

Creative Support is one of the largest not-for-profit providers of social care in the UK. We are proud to have been providing great services since 1991. We currently support over 6,000 people a year in 70 local authorities across England and employ around 5,000 dedicated staff. Creative Support has an annual turnover of over £160 million. We are registered as a provider of social housing, with a supported housing portfolio of over 1,000 homes. We own significant housing assets, all of which are dedicated to providing great homes for the people we support.

We have recently completed an extensive external governance review which concluded that ‘Creative Support is a high performing and effective organisation which is well led by the Board and the Executive.’ We are embarking on a new 3 year strategic plan to build on our success and further develop our activities.

We are now seeking to recruit new trustees to the Board. We are seeking well motivated people who have an enthusiasm for our work and can offer a commitment to our charitable purpose, person-centred values and to co-production with the people we support. We require trustees who can demonstrate vision, knowledge, skills and relevant experience. Prior experience in a trustee or governance role is not essential as we will provide personalised training as required.

We are particularly keen to attract applicants who have senior operational management experience in social care. We are also pleased to receive applications from people from other professional backgrounds or with personal or family experience of using support services and we welcome applications from people with transferable skills and experience gained in the charitable, public or private sectors.

You will contribute to the effective governance and oversight of our organisation and to developing our strategic direction. This will involve attending at least 6 evening Board meetings per annum (held bi-monthly), the Annual General Meeting and occasional planning days.

You will be expected to contribute to a committee relevant to your area of interest and expertise (currently these are Finance & Audit, Housing, People & Performance and Quality & Practice Development). Committee Meetings are also held bi-monthly. Board meetings are held in our Head Office in Stockport, situated close to the mainline train station, whilst committee meetings currently take place on-line.

You will be encouraged to attend events, visit services and to meet with our staff, our tenants and the people we support.

In return for your valuable time and expertise we can offer you the opportunity to enjoy a rewarding role and to contribute to the future success of a thriving national charitable social care organisation with a strong person-centred purpose and ethos.

Creative Support is an Investor in People ‘Gold’ employer and Stonewall Diversity Champion. We are a welcoming and inclusive organisation, committed to increasing the representation on the Board of people from BAME and LGBTQ+ groups and those with a disability. We have zero tolerance for racism and discrimination.

The role of trustee is a voluntary position for which we pay reasonable expenses. We also support trustees with induction and on-going training.

We can send you a copy of our most recent Annual Report & Accounts - available via the FCA Mutuals Website, type in Creative Support and search under ‘documents’. You will find all previous annual reports and accounts listed and these can be viewed or downloaded at no cost. 

Please note that Creative Support is a Community Benefit Society with charitable status registered with the FCA, not a company or registered charity so you will not be able to access information about Creative Support via Companies House or the Charity Commission.

Applications will be considered when they are received.

Our Mission

Creative Support promotes independence, inclusion, and wellbeing. We do this by working with the people we support, their families and others to meet individual needs and aspirations in a person-centred way. We provide high quality homes and support, enabling people to say:

· I live my best life in a place I call home

· I feel listened to, respected and valued

· I enjoy choices and rights and have control over my life

· I am supported to feel safe

· I am doing the things that matter to me

· I enjoy relationships with others

· I am connected to my community

· I am supported with my wellbeing

· I feel able to reach my full potential

We Care Values

Our We Care values underpin everything we do at Creative Support. We are:

Welcoming
Empowering

Compassionate

Aspirational

Respectful

Effective

The Listening Place is a volunteer-led charity aiming to transform how we support people who feel suicidal.  Our trained volunteers are part of a team delivering face-to-face, confidential, ongoing support to thousands of people each year.  They help create the warm and welcoming environment that encourages people struggling with suicidal thoughts and feelings to talk openly without being judged or given advice.   

Listening volunteers provide ongoing face-to-face support to visitors on regular, fortnightly 4-hour shifts during which they meet with up to 3 visitors (for up to 50 minutes each). No experience or qualifications are necessary.  We look for warmth, empathy and resilience in our volunteers and the ability to be non-judgemental and avoid giving advice.

In order to ensure continuity for our visitors we require a one-year minimum commitment from our LVs, as well as three months’ notice of intention to leave.

Hope Against Suicide is a non-profit organisation committed to providing crucial listening, signposting, and advocacy support to anyone grappling with mental health issues. We aim to be a lifeline for those at risk of taking devastating actions. Our three key aims are to get the community talking again, improve mental health, and prevent suicide. We strive for a healthier, more compassionate community where hope can be found, and a reduction in deaths by suicide, one of the leading causes of death worldwide.

We are launching a new Listening Hub in Bristol’s busy shopping centre. This walk-in service will support individuals with mental health issues, their families, and local workers. It complements our Mental Health Responders, enhancing outreach and community support. To run this program, we are looking for a new team of dedicated volunteers that want to support the cause of suicide prevention and raising mental health awareness.

Key Responsibilities

In a Listening Hub setting, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Officer plays a crucial role in providing compassionate and professional support to individuals seeking assistance with mental health challenges. During your shifts, your tasks will be a combination of the following:

• Providing support to those facing mental health challenges
• Allowing any visitors to share their personal experiences and feel supported / listened to
• Lead conversations with an emphasis on active listening and empathy
• Supporting an open, non-judgmental space open to all
• Optional: Facilitating regular community sessions that provide a relaxed and open space for meeting new people and sharing personal experiences. These can be based on any activity (e.g. crafts, sports).
• You will be expected to donate around 3 hours of your time either per week or fortnightly and to attend a Mental Health First Aid and Suicide First Aid training. Your shifts will be arranged to fit around your other commitments.

What you will gain from this role

• Supporting your local community and contributing to the cause of suicide prevention
• Qualifications in Mental Health First Aid and Suicide First Aid (funded after a three-month probationary period)
• Gaining experience in the charity and mental health sector
• Improving skills in Active Listening, adaptability, communication, empathy and resilience
• Becoming part of the friendly community of Hope Against Suicide volunteers

Required Personal Attributes

We do not require any specific skills or types of education. Anyone who is over 18 years old can volunteer, regardless of background or level of experience. You will be given all required training and supported throughout your volunteering journey. Still, we ask volunteers to identify with the following personal traits:

• Empathetic and compassionate with a genuine desire to help others.
• Resilient and able to remain calm under pressure.
• Open-minded and willing to learn
• Culturally sensitive and inclusive in approach.

We especially encourage applications from those who have personal experiences with mental health challenges, although this is not a requirement.

Are you a parent, grandparent or have experience of caring for children?

Do you have 2-3 hours per week to spare? Use your experience to support a family facing challenging times.

Our Home-Visiting Service supports families who are experiencing difficulties or suffering stress and who have at least one child under the age of five years.

Our aims are:

To increase the confidence and independence of the family by:

Offering support, friendship and practical assistance

Visiting families in their own homes and in their community, where the dignity and identity of each adult and child can be respected and protected

Reassuring parents that difficulties in bringing up children is not unusual and encouraging them to enjoy family life.

Developing a relationship with the family in which time can be shared and understanding can be developed. This approach is flexible to take account of different needs.

Encouraging parents’ strengths and emotional wellbeing – for the ultimate benefit of their children.

Encouraging families to widen their network of relationships, and to effectively use the support and services available within the community.

Amazing, giving, inspiring and awesome are just a few of the words we would use to describe our volunteers.

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 Café Assistants to support our John Hall Wellness Gardens in Leek. You will be based at our new Café and, ideally, you will be able to commit 4 hours per week to volunteering.

You will receive training and regular supervision to ensure you feel confident in your role. 

About the service

John Hall Gardens is a Community Education Garden & Café green space for the community of Leek, local schools, colleges, and social enterprises. With the aim of enabling the local community to work/learn and socialise with people with mental and physical health support needs. This includes adults of all ages and children and young people.

Assisting the Café Supervisor and your fellow volunteers, you will play an integral part of John Hall Wellness Garden’s future, by helping to deliver a café experience for the general public, Friends of the Garden, and guests.  If you think you can make a difference and commit some time on a regular on-going basis, we would love to hear from you!

This is a great opportunity to develop your current existing skills, learn new skills and network with other volunteers. We welcome anyone wishing to gain experience or have an interest in going into the hospitality sector.

What you will be doing as a Volunteer Café​ Assistant

You will have the opportunity to assist with food preparation, presentation, cleaning and serving/selling high quality food and beverages.

Under the guidance of the Café Supervisor, you, together with other volunteers will ensure that the Café is compliant with all relevant health and safety legislation and pursuing an outstanding performance and food hygiene rating.

In addition, there will be further opportunities to support activity groups in the café, special events and input into event and menu planning.

The main tasks volunteer café assistants will support with are:

• Support Café staff, other volunteers and trainees in the smooth day to day running of the Café.
• Carry out basic catering tasks including food preparation, cleaning and serving food to customers.
• Operate the coffee machine (full training will be provided).
• Handle cash or card transactions and operate the till.
• Work with the Café Supervisor to ensure relevant paperwork is completed and checks are carried out ensuring compliance against relevant food safety and health and safety policies and procedures.
• Ensure kitchen area and Café are clean and tidy (including equipment, walls, floors, tables, work surfaces), and waste is discarded safely.
• Provide good customer service, dealing with visitors and customers in a friendly and polite manner.

What will make you a great fit for this role?

• Eagerness to learn and train in all aspects of the café catering operation
• Cheerful nature, good interpersonal skills, can communicate confidently with a range of people of all ages
• Good customer care service skills

Although this is not essential - you may also have:

• Basic food safety knowledge or HACCP. Further training, will be provided including allergens
• Experience in food handling and basic preparation of foods

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.

Alike is a charity with one simple mission: To end the loneliness and isolation that people impacted by cancer experience. We exist to empower our community to make meaningful connections through seamless digital experiences which help people find their sense of belonging. We were created for people impacted by cancer, by people with cancer.

Driven by our mission and inspired by the start-up mentality, we operate with agility and pace. In 2021, we launched our ground-breaking iOS and Android app as a space exclusively for the cancer community to connect. Now we’re looking to scale nationwide, and we need your help to do it. Alike is the only non-for-profit organisation providing a large scale, tailored peer support platform across all ages and diagnoses, whether someone’s facing a sleepless night or a lonely weekend.

We're looking for 1 legal trustee to join our scaling charity! We are particularly interested in people who have a background or experience in UK law, such as IP law or data protection. Read more about what we are looking for in more detail below. If this doesn't sound exactly like you but you feel you have something to give, we'd still love to hear from you. ​

Our Trustees:

Our board of trustees is essential to Alike’s mission. Working as a team, they take shared responsibility for maintaining alignment between our vision, strategy and day-to-day operations. Just as importantly, they support and challenge the executive team, driving Alike’s growth, inspiring new approaches, and helping us scale. Their perspective, insights, passion and collective experience is crucial to our mission as we continue combating loneliness and isolation throughout the cancer community.

Your Responsibilities:

Joining our board of trustees is a commitment to Alike’s mission as well as our products. We need our trustees to not just believe in our potential, but to authentically champion it. Our ideal trustee can clearly envision Alike taking a leading role in combating isolation in the cancer community - and in making a lasting, positive change. We’re looking for active, engaged and experienced trustees to join our existing board during this thrilling period of growth and innovation.

Beyond that, you would be required to collaborate on certain statutory duties (listed below), and to provide advice and guidance throughout Alike’s new initiatives. The power of our board lies in a diversity of viewpoints, so your unique combination of specialist knowledge, skills and experiences is key to success in this role.

We would expect you to contribute this set of skills to the board’s shared responsibility: making sound decisions for the charity’s direction. This would include - but by no means be limited to - scrutinising board papers, leading meetings, chairing discussions and taking an active role in board meetings.

Time Commitment:

• Regular board meetings (6 per year, 3 in-person meetings, 3 virtual)
• Additional time for sub-committee work and strategic planning
• Flexible availability for brief ad-hoc advisory calls or meetings
• Attendance at our Annual General Meeting in central London

Skills and Experience:

• An understanding and acceptance of the legal duties and responsibilities of trusteeship
• An understanding of the challenges faced by those living with cancer and the impact of emerging technology in addressing these challenges
• Excellent communication skills and a collaborative working style
• Strategic and critical thinking skills - a problem-solver with a lateral thinking style
• Strong financial literacy 
• An understanding of the tenets of employment law and GDPR compliance at scale 

We need trustees with a diverse range of skills, experience and knowledge, and would love to hear from people who could bring the following:

• Experience in UK law, ideally in employment law, data protection or intellectual property

If you’re interested in joining Alike on our mission to bring comfort, support and community to the millions of people impacted by cancer across the UK, then we would love to hear from you.

You might not necessarily tick every single box - and that’s okay: if you’ve got the passion and you feel confident that this role is for you, please do get in touch anyway. You may still be the perfect fit.