New Beginnings Peer Support’s overarching aim is to provide a foundation from which women can launch themselves towards new life goals despite ongoing challenges. We have witnessed many of those we support struggling to find a working role that fits within their lives, the lives of their dependents, their current skill set or their current ability to work. Taking all of this into consideration and the success of our application to be a Rise2Thrive keyworker and intervention partner we have developed the role described in detail below.

We wish for this to be an opportunity to discover whether working in this field is suitable for you, whether committing to a part-time position is viable, to understand gaps you may have within your CV, to provide an updated CV entry and references going forward. Ultimately to achieve this within a supportive environment that holds knowledge of your circumstances and is a safe space for you to flourish.

Developed as part of our client to volunteer pathway, the Lead Volunteer role is a fantastic way to get insight into the voluntary service sector, gaining important skills to add to your CV, learning and collaborating alongside a small team making a big difference in the lives of domestic abuse survivors. The role includes the opportunity to choose an area of focus relevant to the individual’s CV development.

Created as a pre-employment opportunity, the Lead Volunteer role had been developed to act as a stepping stone for the individual’s next career goal. The Lead Volunteer will contribute 22.5 hours a week in this position. The intention is for the role to be taken for 6-12 months with CPD and/or external education to be completed within the 22.5 hours. The successful individual will be mentored to achieve progressive steps towards employment and transition into a paid role, either externally or internally. Currently, mentoring will be in line with the Rise2Thrive programme. Hours contributed will be spread between the office, outreach activities, including community events and professional development training/education.

The lead volunteer experience includes:

• Experience an onboarding process including interview
• Receive an induction, relevant training and the support to carry out your role
• Be an integral part of a team that makes a difference to individuals, partner organisations and the wider community across North Yorkshire
• Meet new people and nurture connections through cross-sector networking
• Use and develop your employability skills
• Access to Continuing Professional Development to improve your knowledge, understanding and awareness
• Platform to voice your peer perspective

The responsibilities include:

• Support communication between Volunteer Co-ordinator and volunteers
• Liasing regularly with Volunteer Co-ordinator through phone calls and meetings
• Supporting volunteer recruitment and induction
• Ensuring volunteers have their schedules for the week
• Matching clients with volunteers for befriender service (to be launched later this year)
• Checking in with clients and volunteers after first befriender visitation (once service is launched)
• Acting as a point of contact for volunteers working in the community
• Hosting a weekly volunteer drop-in session to foster team relations, receive feedback, discuss ideas and check-in on volunteer wellbeing
• Recording information on CharityLog and Google Docs, considering GDPR at all times
• Attending clinical supervision once per month in addition to monthly volunteer supervision sessions with line manager.
• Attending events as a representative of New Beginnings Peer Support
• Supporting New Beginnings Peer Support events
• Attending internal and external training
• Attending team meetings
• Agreed out of pocket expenses (reimbursed within our guidelines)
• Experience an onboarding process including interview
• Receive an induction, relevant training and the support to carry out your role
• Be an integral part of a team that makes a difference to individuals, partner organisations and the wider community across North Yorkshire
• Meet new people and nurture connections through cross-sector networking
• Use and develop your employability skills
• Access to Continuing Professional Development to improve your knowledge, understanding and awareness
• Platform to voice your peer perspective