We offer free Peer Support Groups to adults in the Leeds Metropolitan District who want to learn to better manage their mental health.
2024/25 is our fifth year of offering weekly Peer-facilitated Support Groups in-person and by Zoom.
All of our Trustees, Facilitators and Administrators are volunteers. We are ordinary everyday people. Most of us continue to actively manage our own mental health. We are living proof, if that were needed, that Peer Support works.
We are aiming to recruit four or more volunteer Facilitators to help us maintain existing Support Groups, and increase from two to three the number of weekly Peer-facilitated Support Groups we can offer.
Our Facilitators always work in pairs. You would never be expected to Facilitate alone.
Do you have Lived Experience of managing your own mental health? This is a pre-requisite because all our Facilitators participate in Peer Support Groups as equals – while taking care of meeting process, individual and group safety, time management and attendance.
The adults we support may already be vulnerable, or may become vulnerable while we are supporting them. We have no way of knowing who might be considered vulnerable at any time so all of our Facilitators must complete an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. We will arrange and pay for the DBS check to be done before formal training can begin.
We hope you will feel committed to volunteer with us or at least a year after your training is completed.
There are usually 50 sessions of each Support Group a year. Ideally, to maintain continuity, we want to attract volunteers who are available to co-facilitate at least 50% of a Support Group’s sessions each year and can usually give reasonable notice of planned absences.
We anticipate Volunteer Facilitators will commit at least 25 hours every 4 months, equivalent to facilitating 25 two-hour Support Group sessions annually. The 25 hours includes time spent on Facilitator training – which we expect to arrange and pay for, as well as informal mentoring by an experienced Facilitator and formal supervision/learning and development meetings with our Delivery Team Lead – to help ensure the volunteering relationship is working well for you and for the beneficiaries of Peer Support Plus CIO.
We don’t expect you to be out of pocket if you travel to train or volunteer for us, or incur other costs directly related to the role. Facilitators are able to claim and be reimbursed reasonable pre-authorised and receipted expenses.
Tasks and responsibilities
- Arriving reliably and punctually at Peer Support Group meetings.
- Co-facilitating Peer Support Groups.
- Actively listening, summarising and negotiating.
- Flagging any safeguarding or other concerns to our Safeguarding/Delivery Team Lead.
- Reporting attendance to our Administrator.
- Mentoring Trainee Facilitators.
The Facilitator role description is available to download from within ‘Volunteers and Role Descriptions‘ on the Documents page of our website https://www.peersupportplus.org/documents/.
Skills developed
Communication, Decision Making, Interpersonal, Mental Health, Self Awareness, Time Management, Mentoring.
Next Steps
To learn more about Peer Support Plus CIO please browse our website peersupportplus.org.
This is a voluntary role so no contract of employment or other obligation will be established between us.
Volunteering as a Facilitator would not bar you from being a beneficiary of the charity.
If you are inspired to explore the possibility of volunteering with us, please email Lisa Bamford our Chair of Trustees chair@peersupportplus.org or leave a message at 07434 614 829 mentioning your name and telephone number. Lisa will try to call you for an informal chat at a time that suits you.
Volunteer as our Secretary Trustee – Peer Support Plus CIO