Volunteering with Us for our services
We are always looking for new volunteer Support Workers to help us to staff our support telephone lines. There are also opportunities for volunteers to move on to provide face to face support to our clients.
We are looking for non-judgemental men and women with empathy and warmth for people who have experienced sexual violence to join our committed and friendly team. You don't need to be a counsellor or have any special qualifications, knowledge or experience because we shall provide full training.
We have two intakes of new volunteer Support Workers each year: in April and October. Our next intake and training session will take place in October 2010. There are three foundation training days on Saturdays 23rd and 30th October and 6th November. If you are unable to attend all these days, it would be better to wait until the April 2011 intake.
We operate support lines for male and female survivors of rape, domestic violence and childhood sexual abuse who would like someone to talk to. Our help lines are often the first point of contact for clients who wish to access our services.
Currently the helpline for women is open for 2 hours on Tuesday evenings and 2 hours during the day on Fridays; the helpline for men is open for 2 hours on Thursday evenings. Later this year, we are looking to extend these opening times. The helpline for women is staffed by female volunteers; the helpline for men is staffed by male and female volunteers.
You would be asked to commit to one 2-hour duty per fortnight on the helpline(s), though if you can do more, then so much the better. In addition, you will be asked to attend a 2 hour group supervision once per month and to be available for occasional further training throughout your time with us.
We are based in Thorpe Road, right opposite the train station.
If you are interested (or think you might be and want to talk to us about it), please contact our administrator on 01603 622406, preferably on a monday or thursday morning to ask any questions and to apply. Please leave a message on the answering machine if we are not able to take your call, and we will get back to you. Alternatively, you can email our training officer: joe@seva-uk.org for information and to apply.
