Redcar and Cleveland Mind is always looking for new volunteers to work in our organisation so if you are interested in joining our team read on……….

Who can be a volunteer?

Anyone who is interested in gaining experience of working in a mental health setting would be welcome to apply - especially people who have themselves experienced mental distress or have an interest in mental health issues.

We are looking for lots of different skills – what we are interested in is finding out where people’s strengths and interests lie and then matching them to the needs of the organisation. It should be a win win situation for all of us!

What do volunteers do?

There are lots of different roles within the organisation. All the roles are important and we work as team. Below are some of the roles undertaken by volunteers:

• Group facilitators – see our programme for the type of groups we offer. Facilitators ensure the smooth running of groups making them an opportunity for service users to learn new skills make new friends and have fun.
• Drop-in volunteers – working with day service staff to provide a welcoming place for service users. We don’t offer counselling within the service but volunteers are there to offer a listening ear in a safe and friendly setting.
• Administrative staff – variety of office based tasks filing, photocopying etc. This is an important role to ensure the smooth running of the organisation
• Executive Committee Members (trustees) – to manage the organisation and as such involved in employment of workers, budget matters, policy, strategic direction etc. Some executive members take on special roles such as complaints officers. Every year Executive members are elected at our Annual General Meeting.
• Information volunteers – responsible for working with information workers to keep our resource up to date and well stocked. They also staff stalls at information events and maintain our online Good Mind Guide Directory.

What might you get from being a volunteer?

• People volunteer for many reasons. Some people use volunteering as a stepping stone for getting back into paid work. Others have some spare time and want to be part of team which is working to improve mental health. Many of our volunteers have been service users themselves and so have first hand experience of the issues involved.
• Training.  Every person who becomes a volunteer receives a thorough induction so they have a good understanding of the organisation and our policies and values. There are also opportunities for many other types of training with all expenses paid.
• Support. We work in a supportive environment. In addition to volunteer support meetings held every three months, one to one support is always available from the paid workers
• A new network of friends and colleagues. As a volunteer you will be part of a team of over 30 paid and unpaid workers and will have opportunities to meet socially. Just because you’re a worker doesn’t mean you can’t have fun.

A word from two of our volunteers:

"When we decided to become support workers, we realised the best way forward was through the Voluntary Sector. We contacted RCVDA who advised us to talk to Redcar & Cleveland Mind.  We enquired at their main office at Dove House to see if there were any vacancies for volunteers - that was four years ago.  Since then we have taken NVQ Level 2 and nearly completed Level 3 in Health & Social Care with Redcar & Cleveland College.  We have also participated in various other training through Mind.  Whilst volunteers we secured a paid work placement with the Wise Group, helping us to continue at Mind for six months.  Since then we have been employed temporarily with Mind.  We totally recommend volunteering work as the way forward to gaining experience and employment".        Trina & Diane

How do I become a volunteer?

If you are interested in volunteering you complete an application form which includes two references. You will be invited to an informal interview to meet with a paid worker and a service user. This is an opportunity for you to learn more about us and for us to find out what role would suit you best.

Once we have followed up your references we can agree a start date. All volunteers will need to complete a Criminal Records Bureau form.

What Next?

If you are still interested print a copy of our volunteer application form. Or if you would like to talk to someone give us a call on 01642 296052 or drop-in at one of our day service venues.