Support Us Volunteer for us Support Service Volunteers - Register your interest for 2024 training! Our fantastic team of Support Service Volunteers provide valuable non-judgemental support people who are or have been affected by self harm. This support is given via helpline, text, email, letter writing and webchat. Our volunteers make it possible to continue running our services and make an incredible difference to the the people in need who contact us. Please feel free to register your interest now and we will contact you nearer the time of training to arrange an informal chat about volunteering with us. As our support services are temporarily suspended, we cannot currently confirm when our next run of training will take place, but we strongly encourage you to apply and will reserve your details for when our services are resumed sometime in Autumn/Winter 2023. Click here to register your interest to be a volunteer! "TESS (text and email support service) means giving women and girls a safe space to mention the things they can't yet talk to people close to them about. And for me it means knowing I'm doing something worthwhile and constantly reviewing the way that I communicate with and support the people around me." - Support Service Volunteer Why volunteer? Be part of a service offering meaningful support to people of all ages across the UK affected by self injury Participate in an extensive training programme delivered by staff with a wealth of experience and expertise in self injury and related issues Develop valuable skills and knowledge in active listening, self injury, trauma, mental health, and many more topics A great chance to meet supportive, like-minded peers on shift and at volunteer days where you'll also get additional relevant training Get monthly confidential supervision sessions as part of volunteering with us, ensuring that you're always supported in the work you're doing What it’s like being a volunteer? When you first join our team, you’ll take part in our 5-day training course. The training is a great opportunity to meet new people and learn the valuable skills you’ll take with you into the work. Our training course covers listening skills, self injury, supporting suicidal callers, understanding the impact of trauma and abuse, mental health awareness, and reflective practice. During your volunteering shifts, you’ll answer calls, texts, webchats, or respond to letters or emails from people across the UK and offer them confidential emotional support. The work can be challenging but highly rewarding. You’ll come along to our volunteer days throughout the year where you have a chance to get some additional training, reflective team practice, and socialise with the whole volunteer team. Each month, you’ll come along to a free individual supervision session with one of our service coordinators. Here, you’ll have a safe and confidential space to reflect on the work and it’s impact on you, and talk through any issues. Who can volunteer? We are looking for people to join our wonderful team who are passionate about supporting people affected by self injury and creating a safe, non-judgemental space where people can get emotional support with anything that they’re going through. We welcome volunteers of all backgrounds and life experiences. You may have your own experiences of self injury or mental ill health or be keen to learn more about how to support others through these experiences. You don’t need previous helpline or counselling experience, just an open mind, a commitment to the role, and a willingness to learn. We ask all our volunteers to commit to volunteering on the service one night per week for 1 year after the training ends. All our services run from our offices in central Bristol, so ideally, you’ll live locally or be able to travel in easily. Before you start volunteering with us, we’ll do an Enhanced DBS check. Join our wonderful team We always welcome applications to join our next round of training. With our Support Services being currently suspended, we aren't running training currently, but will be looking to recruit new volunteers when we have a confirmed reopening timeframe in mind. Take a look at our Volunteer Role Description and if you think that this could be the role for you, we'd love to hear from you! To register your interest, please fill out the short form below and a member of the team will get back to you to let you know the next training dates and to ask you to fill out a short application form. Click here to register your interest to be a volunteer! If you have any questions, check the FAQ below or get in touch by emailing [email protected]. You can also sign up to our mailing list and follow us on social media to find out when our next opportunities will be available. FAQS Where are you based? Our services run from our office in central Bristol so you’ll need to be able to access us there to join our Support Services team. Unfortunately, our current office is not wheelchair accessible but please don’t hesitate to contact us if this would impact you and we can explore what other opportunities we have within the organisation. Do you have any remote volunteering opportunities? As part of the work we are doing behind the scenes on our services, we hope to have some remote volunteering opportunities available soon. Please register your interest using this form and one of the team will get back to you to let you know what opportunities are available or will be coming up soon. When will I be volunteering? Our shifts usually run from 6.30pm-9.30pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings, although these services are currently suspended. When we know more about our reopening we will be able to confirm our weekly shift pattern, which may change. We ask you to come to one of these evenings each week. Training, volunteer days, and individual supervision all take place outside these hours. I’ve used your support services before, can I apply to become a volunteer? Absolutely. We welcome all experiences in our team and many of our volunteer and staff team have their own experiences of self injury or distress. If you’ve used our service in the past, you are more than welcome to join us. All we ask is that you’ve been out of touch with our service for at least 6 months and that you feel in a place where you’re emotionally safe and able to offer support to others. If you want to talk this through and explore whether this is the right role for you, you can get in touch with our staff team before you apply and we’ll be happy to speak to you about it. What do your training days look like? Our training course consists of 5 sessions which you'll be asked to attend. Usually we run these sessions during the daytime, with lunch and comfort breaks throughout the days. We will have plenty of tea, coffee, and biscuits to keep us going throughout each day, but will ask that you bring along your own lunch. As we expand our services, some of this training might be available online for our remote volunteers. The training is a mix of teaching, group work, pairs exercises, and personal reflection, and we ask that you bring yourself and your own experiences into it. During each of the days, you’ll get the opportunity to put the listening skills you’re learning into practice, so you feel prepared to start supporting our callers. The training course looks like: Day 1: Introduction listening skills and understanding self injury Day 2: Further listening skills and deepening our understanding of self injury Day 3: Understanding the impact of trauma and abuse Day 4: Mental health awareness, diversity, and supporting suicidal callers Day 5: Reflective practice and team working. What kind of support do you offer your volunteers? The wellbeing of all our staff and volunteers is something we work hard to promote, and we understand that while the work here can be very rewarding, it can also be emotionally challenging. During your shifts, you’ll be supported by an on-shift coordinator as well as your peers. Once a month, you’ll be able to come along to an individual supervision session where you can explore the work and get support. We also have opportunities for whole team or group supervision and reflective practice where volunteers come together to talk about the service and support each other outside of shift days. I have a different question about volunteering If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team by emailing [email protected] or calling our office 0117 927 9600. Manage Cookie Preferences
Why volunteer? Be part of a service offering meaningful support to people of all ages across the UK affected by self injury Participate in an extensive training programme delivered by staff with a wealth of experience and expertise in self injury and related issues Develop valuable skills and knowledge in active listening, self injury, trauma, mental health, and many more topics A great chance to meet supportive, like-minded peers on shift and at volunteer days where you'll also get additional relevant training Get monthly confidential supervision sessions as part of volunteering with us, ensuring that you're always supported in the work you're doing What it’s like being a volunteer? When you first join our team, you’ll take part in our 5-day training course. The training is a great opportunity to meet new people and learn the valuable skills you’ll take with you into the work. Our training course covers listening skills, self injury, supporting suicidal callers, understanding the impact of trauma and abuse, mental health awareness, and reflective practice. During your volunteering shifts, you’ll answer calls, texts, webchats, or respond to letters or emails from people across the UK and offer them confidential emotional support. The work can be challenging but highly rewarding. You’ll come along to our volunteer days throughout the year where you have a chance to get some additional training, reflective team practice, and socialise with the whole volunteer team. Each month, you’ll come along to a free individual supervision session with one of our service coordinators. Here, you’ll have a safe and confidential space to reflect on the work and it’s impact on you, and talk through any issues. Who can volunteer? We are looking for people to join our wonderful team who are passionate about supporting people affected by self injury and creating a safe, non-judgemental space where people can get emotional support with anything that they’re going through. We welcome volunteers of all backgrounds and life experiences. You may have your own experiences of self injury or mental ill health or be keen to learn more about how to support others through these experiences. You don’t need previous helpline or counselling experience, just an open mind, a commitment to the role, and a willingness to learn. We ask all our volunteers to commit to volunteering on the service one night per week for 1 year after the training ends. All our services run from our offices in central Bristol, so ideally, you’ll live locally or be able to travel in easily. Before you start volunteering with us, we’ll do an Enhanced DBS check. Join our wonderful team We always welcome applications to join our next round of training. With our Support Services being currently suspended, we aren't running training currently, but will be looking to recruit new volunteers when we have a confirmed reopening timeframe in mind. Take a look at our Volunteer Role Description and if you think that this could be the role for you, we'd love to hear from you! To register your interest, please fill out the short form below and a member of the team will get back to you to let you know the next training dates and to ask you to fill out a short application form. Click here to register your interest to be a volunteer! If you have any questions, check the FAQ below or get in touch by emailing [email protected]. You can also sign up to our mailing list and follow us on social media to find out when our next opportunities will be available. FAQS Where are you based? Our services run from our office in central Bristol so you’ll need to be able to access us there to join our Support Services team. Unfortunately, our current office is not wheelchair accessible but please don’t hesitate to contact us if this would impact you and we can explore what other opportunities we have within the organisation. Do you have any remote volunteering opportunities? As part of the work we are doing behind the scenes on our services, we hope to have some remote volunteering opportunities available soon. Please register your interest using this form and one of the team will get back to you to let you know what opportunities are available or will be coming up soon. When will I be volunteering? Our shifts usually run from 6.30pm-9.30pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings, although these services are currently suspended. When we know more about our reopening we will be able to confirm our weekly shift pattern, which may change. We ask you to come to one of these evenings each week. Training, volunteer days, and individual supervision all take place outside these hours. I’ve used your support services before, can I apply to become a volunteer? Absolutely. We welcome all experiences in our team and many of our volunteer and staff team have their own experiences of self injury or distress. If you’ve used our service in the past, you are more than welcome to join us. All we ask is that you’ve been out of touch with our service for at least 6 months and that you feel in a place where you’re emotionally safe and able to offer support to others. If you want to talk this through and explore whether this is the right role for you, you can get in touch with our staff team before you apply and we’ll be happy to speak to you about it. What do your training days look like? Our training course consists of 5 sessions which you'll be asked to attend. Usually we run these sessions during the daytime, with lunch and comfort breaks throughout the days. We will have plenty of tea, coffee, and biscuits to keep us going throughout each day, but will ask that you bring along your own lunch. As we expand our services, some of this training might be available online for our remote volunteers. The training is a mix of teaching, group work, pairs exercises, and personal reflection, and we ask that you bring yourself and your own experiences into it. During each of the days, you’ll get the opportunity to put the listening skills you’re learning into practice, so you feel prepared to start supporting our callers. The training course looks like: Day 1: Introduction listening skills and understanding self injury Day 2: Further listening skills and deepening our understanding of self injury Day 3: Understanding the impact of trauma and abuse Day 4: Mental health awareness, diversity, and supporting suicidal callers Day 5: Reflective practice and team working. What kind of support do you offer your volunteers? The wellbeing of all our staff and volunteers is something we work hard to promote, and we understand that while the work here can be very rewarding, it can also be emotionally challenging. During your shifts, you’ll be supported by an on-shift coordinator as well as your peers. Once a month, you’ll be able to come along to an individual supervision session where you can explore the work and get support. We also have opportunities for whole team or group supervision and reflective practice where volunteers come together to talk about the service and support each other outside of shift days. I have a different question about volunteering If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team by emailing [email protected] or calling our office 0117 927 9600.