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 Peer Support Groups we can offer to adults in the Leeds Metropolitan District.
Our Facilitators always work in pairs so 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, maintaining indivdual and group safety, time keeping, attendance and administration.
The adults we support may already be 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.
This is a voluntary role so no contract of employment or other obligation will be established between us.
We hope you will feel committed to volunteer for at least a year after your training is completed.
We anticipate Peer Support Plus Volunteers will commit at least 20 hours every 4 months, equivalent to facilitating 24 Support Group sessions a year. The 20 hours includes: time spent on formal Facitiator training which we expect to arrange and pay for; informal ad-hoc mentoring by an experienced Facilitator; and periodic formal supervision 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. There are 52 sessions of each Group every year so, ideally, to maintain Group continuity, we would welcome volunteers who are willing and available to co-Facilitate most of a Group’s sessions, and can usually give reasonable notice of planned absences.
We don’t expect you to be out of pocket if you travel to 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.
Please read our Facilitator Role Description which you can also download from within ‘Volunteers and Role Descriptions‘ at https://www.peersupportplus.org/documents/
Tasks and responsibilities
- Facilitating Meetings
- Arriving punctually at meetings.
- Actively listening and summarising.
- Reporting any safeguarding concerns.
Skills acquired
Communication, Decision Making, Interpersonal, Mental Health, Self Awareness, Time Management.
If you are interested in exploring the possibility of volunteering as a Peer Support Group Facilitator, please Contact Gill, Email charity.admin@peersupportplus.org to arrange an informal chat.
We look forward to hearing from you.
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