CARING FOR THOSE WHO CARE
How can you help?
As a volunteer you will be an extremely valued and important member of our team, helping us to increase the range of services we offer. You could:
Be a Respite Sitter
Regularly visit and sit with the cared for, enabling the carer to have a valuable break from their caring role, with peace of mind. Have a chat and provide support. There is no requirement to provide personal care or practical duties.
Be a Carer Supporter
Regularly visit or telephone someone who due to their caring role has become socially isolated or has lost their social support networks. Have a chat, provide support and a break from the caring role. Or assist with re-entering the community and becoming socially active again.
Be a Fundraiser
As a charity, we rely on fundraising. You can help us to provide our vital service by organising fundraising events or helping on a fundraising committee.
Be a Driver or help with Social Events
We organise regular social events, outings and trips for both adult and young carers. You could help with organising and running the events or providing support to carers wishing to attend. We often need drivers to help with providing lifts to carers, helping them to attend events, support groups or essential appointments.
Provide Counselling
As a professionally qualified counsellor, you could meet an increasing and important need by providing counselling to our service users. Student placements are also available to trainee counsellors.
We are always keen to consider alternative services we could provide, so if you wish to share your time and skills but are uncertain if any of our volunteer roles are for you, please do not hesitate to contact our Volunteer Co-ordinator for an informal chat.
What are the benefits to you?
Volunteering can make a real difference to your life, not only will you gain satisfaction from making a difference in your community and helping to change someone's life, you can:
Meet new people and socialise
Learn new things and enjoy a new challenge
Improve your confidence and have fun
Learn new skills and update your existing skills
Gain practical work experience
Enhance your CV and improve your job prospects
Know you have made a difference
How do we support you?
We provide a high level of support to our volunteers to ensure they have a positive and enjoyable experience, including:
A basic induction and training programme
Ongoing support, plus regular one to one support and supervision
Group support meetings - meet other volunteers and gain peer support
Social events to enjoy with other volunteers
On-going training and personal development
Provision of placements to students on applicable courses
Who makes a good Volunteer?
You don’t need any special skills or experience to be a volunteer. We will fully train and support you to ensure you are able to start volunteering with confidence.
People who make good volunteers often share some of the following qualities:
Friendly & approachable
Reliable & trustworthy
A good listener
Caring
Enthusiastic
Willing to train
Have some spare time to share
When can you start?
We are very pleased to hear from potential volunteers at any time. Please call or email us if you are keen to volunteer, or if you simply want to have a chat about whether volunteering is for you.
We try to run our training courses at least twice a year, or more if we have a lot of volunteer applications, so you will hopefully be able to start volunteering with us very soon.
Thank you for your interest in volunteering with us…
To find out more please contact our Volunteer Coordinator:
volunteering@carlislecarers.co.uk
Tel: 01228 542156
Please be advised:
Before you can begin volunteering with us we will need to ask for references from two people who know you well and arrange the necessary CRB & ISA checks. We appreciate this is a lengthy process but as some of the people we work with are vulnerable, these procedures are necessary. Please be reassured all your details will be treated with strict confidence.
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