Find opportunities

The Drymen walking group meet every week on a Thursday morning to go for a short, accessible walk, before winding up in a café for a cuppa and a blether. This simple activity has enormous health and social benefits for the walkers, as well as providing an opportunity to connect with and enjoy nature. We are looking for walk leaders to provide a friendly face on the walks and keep participants safe and happy throughout the walks. This is an opportunity for you to help out in a local community, and also to gain new skills, as well as staying active and making new friends on the walk. All our volunteers receive walk leader training, and are also offered other trainings throughout the year, as detailed below. Please get in touch if you are interested in joining us!

The Balloch walking group meet every Wednesday morning to go for a short, accessible walk, before winding up in a café for a cuppa and a blether. This simple activity has enormous health and social benefits for the walkers, as well as providing an opportunity to connect with and enjoy nature. We are looking for walk leaders to provide a friendly face on the walks and keep participants safe and happy throughout the walks. This is an opportunity for you to help out in a local community, and also to gain new skills, as well as staying active and making new friends on the walk. All our volunteers receive walk leader training, and are also offered other trainings throughout the year, as detailed below. Please get in touch if you are interested in joining us!

Would you like to support people who have served in the Armed Forces? You don’t need a military background, just the ability to listen, some basic I.T skills and good written and spoken English. If so, this could be the role for you. What is a caseworker? Caseworkers work with clients to figure out what type of help they need. Next, they find the right sources of support and arrange for clients to access it. This might be funds for special equipment for someone with a disability, adaptions to a property so an older client can remain at home or funds for a rental deposit. Caseworkers also sign-post clients onto specialist local services for advice on benefits, housing, mental health, debt, finding work etc. Why do we need you? Volunteer Caseworkers are the lifeblood of SSAFA, supporting a growing number of people in need of financial, practical and emotional support. Clients come from all backgrounds and age groups and may have served in WW2 or in a more recent conflict like Iraq or Afghanistan. Our trained volunteers listen without judgement to assess and provide tailored support to help people navigate life in and beyond military service. We need you to join your local SSAFA team to help us achieve this.

Families First work with children and young people aged 5-16 years with additional support needs, and their families, living in rural north east Fife. The volunteer role is to offer a supportive, consistent relationship that will offer companionship and new opportunities to the parents and carers who use the Family Support Service. You will support the adults for a couple of hours a week, to help them manage the challenges they face in life, by spending time with them, to talk and listen and to help them work out what would improve their lives. Volunteers can offer support on an individual basis, or you might help out in their various group activities such as Thursday Lunch Groups. Volunteering usually takes place during the day when the children are at school.

My Support Day is a charity based in South Lanarkshire that supports families affected by substance use. The Homework Club is a new project with the purpose of supporting such children and young children achieve more and grow in confidence with one-on-one and small group learning support. The Homework Club session will be followed by a whole family activity. The volunteer role is to support the children and young people with their learning, help to set up and put away before and after the club, and utilise your own skills and interests to help plan and run the activities. The atmosphere is very relaxed and informal, but reliability and enthusiasm are key to this role. The club will run every Thursday from 4-6:30pm in the Beacons in Blantyre so we are looking for people who can commit to 1.5-2.5 hours every week or fortnight. There will be lots of opportunities to work with partner organisations and access relevant training. This would be especially suited to someone with an interest in teaching, youth work, community/social work or a career in the third sector. A full induction will be provided when you start your role, and ongoing support including one-on-one meetings will be available to you. For any additional information or for help filling out the application form please get in touch via email or on the phone. Informal in-person chats and taster sessions can also be arranged. Please note we will soon be launching three more Homework Clubs across South Lanarkshire on different days so if this specific role doesn’t fit with your schedule please get in touch or keep an eye out on the My Support Day website/Twitter/Facebook/VASLAN when the details of the other clubs go up.

Home-Start is a local community network of trained volunteers and expert support helping families with young children through their challenging times. Many parents need help, friendship, and support when their children are young, perhaps because they are isolated with no family support; struggling with the emotional/physical demands of young children; experiencing post-natal depression; coping with their child's ill health or disability. As a home-visiting volunteer you will be matched with a local family who you will visit at home each week for 2-3 hours. They might be new to the area, have children with additional needs, have health issues, lack confidence. Taking the lead from the family you will support them with what will help them most on the day – getting out & about, going to appointments, help with shopping, talking & listening. By building up a supportive relationship you will help the parents gain confidence and make a difference in the children’s lives.

Who are we: AILN initially grew from a group of disabled people who wanted to see a change in the way that community care services were offered to people. When Direct Payments (DP) were first introduced in 2003, they were keen to promote this as an option for independent living. AILN have been providing high quality Self-Directed Support (SDS) advice and information to the people of Ayrshire for over 17 years. AILN is a peer-led, not-for-profit company limited by guarantee with charitable status. This is an exciting time to join AILN as a volunteer as we have been successful in securing 3 years of funding for a Dementia Befriending Service from the Community lottery fund. Our aim is to provide companionship to the person living with dementia and thus in turn provides respite for the unpaid carer. Purpose of the post • To provide 1-1 befriending companionship to people living with early-stage dementia. This will either be accompanying the befriendee on a walk, shopping trip, activity in the community, providing companionship in the persons home, playing scrabble etc or having a chat over the phone • To think and act responsibly and follow guidance or instructions relating to Health & Safety, equality, and diversity • To support the Befriending Coordinator by completing a feedback form after each visit with the befreindee Key duties and responsibilities: • Have a clear understanding of the aims and objectives of AILN services and activities • To successfully complete essential training for the post • Make regular weekly/fortnightly visits, telephone calls at an agreed time suitable to the person • Provide companionship and company to the person living with dementia. • Spend time chatting and getting to know the person, talking with about their current and past life experiences • Provide feedback to the Befriending Coordinator around the conversations and how the meet ups are going • Provide immediate feedback to the Coordinator or Service Manager on any issues or concerns that you become aware of Person Specification Essential Skills & Abilities: • Good telephone, verbal, and written communication skills • A good listener • Enjoy meeting new people and having conversations • Enjoy learning more about someone and their interests in their past and life history • Consistency and reliability • Understanding the need for confidentiality • Ability to work on own initiative • Empathic and understanding of the needs of those living with dementia and the demands/challenges faced by the unpaid carer. • Ability to communicate with people in a sensitive and person-centred manner, including people who require support, carers, other professionals, and members of the public • Must carry out duties of this role with due regard to equal opportunities and non-discriminatory practice Desirable Experience: • Experience/knowledge of working/living with someone living dementia • Previous experience of volunteering • Hobbies/interest to share, discuss • As the project develops, the ability to work flexibly to suit the changing needs of the organisation i.e., weekend/evenings • I.T skills Other: Volunteers are advised to volunteer 2 hours a week (befriending time and filling in of feedback sheet). Befriending should be carried out by prior arrangement (volunteers able to choose hours flexibly, perhaps very occasional evening and/or weekends to suit the needs of the befriendee). What we provide: • Ongoing support, guidance, and regular supervision by the coordinator of the service • Receive formal recognition for your volunteering contribution and/or a reference which reflects positive contributions associated with your volunteering • Specialised role training to develop skills and confidence in the role • Reimbursement of agreed expenses directly related to the volunteering role • Access to the Scotland Wellbeing Hub www.wellbeinghub.scot • Feel valued, supported, and respected

Do you want to help support children and young people aged 5-18 years with additional support needs living in Angus? Angus Special Playscheme provides holiday playschemes for children and young people aged 5-18 years with additional support needs living in Angus. Our volunteers play a valued role in the work of the organisation. Our main opportunity is as a Playscheme Volunteer which can be summed up as "supporting the children who attend our schemes to ensure they are safe and enjoy their time there", Duties are varied but may include: • To ensure the children you are matched with are safe. • To complete at the end of the day a ‘my day sheet’ with the guidance of the Playleader as necessary for each child you were matched with that day. • To report to the Playleader/Depute Playleader any issues with the children or any negative behaviours. • To ensure first aid treatment is sought as needed for the children you are matched with. • To work in accordance with the National Care Standards, Early Education and Childcare up to the age of 16 • Encourage and support individual children to participate in the planned programme of activities • Assist the Playleader in being responsible for and ensuring that adequate precautions are taken to safeguard children and minimise risks • Develop a stable friendly and trusting relationship with the children • Ensure high standards of cleanliness and hygiene are maintained by yourself and the children at all times • Ensure all aspects of play promote equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practices • Work as part of a team The Playschemes run during the Easter, Summer and Autumn holidays but there may be opportunities to volunteer outside of these times and within different roles.

The volunteer producer will operate and maintain the recording equipment in our small studio to record the volunteer readers who come in to record excerpts from the local newspapers, books, magazines etc. The recordings are copied to USBs which are then sent out to our sight impaired membership. When the service users have finished with them, they return the USBs to us so that we can delete the old recordings and replace them with new ones. We need volunteers with relevant skills/expertise in audio software such as Audacity/Windows 10, who can work on a digital audio recording system for our Talking Newspapers Service for the Blind. Volunteers are needed to help us maintain and keep this vital recording equipment in good running order.

As a CHSS Community Connector you can support CHSS any time or anywhere, giving as much or as little time to the tasks as you wish. As long as you have access to a smartphone, tablet or computer you can get involved. You will be liking and sharing posts on social media to help us spread our word, completing on-line surveys, signing campaigns or petitions, and more. As little as 5 minutes of your time per week could help us ensure no life is half lived in Scotland! Tasks will include: - Liking and sharing posts on social media to help us spread our work - Completing online surveys - Signing campaigns or petitions