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Whatever your experience or interest, as little as one day a month can make a difference.
“I’ve really enjoyed meeting different people on the team, and working with new people each time. Chatting with some of the women we meet has been brilliant and it’s been lovely to see that some of the women really value the practical support we give them.”
One25’s outreach service is often how women first make contact with us, meeting us on our fully equipped outreach van. Three volunteers go out on the van at night and meet women’s basic needs by providing nutritious food, warm clothing, condoms, harm reduction, safety alarms etc. They provide the chance to talk and get advice in a safe space and encourage women to get more in-depth help by visiting our health hub or seeing a caseworker. Volunteers need to be available for at least one shift each month for at least a year. Shifts are 8.45pm to midnight on Monday to Thursday and Sunday nights and 8.45pm to 1.30am on Friday and Saturday nights. This front-line role is for women only, aged 20 years or above.
One25’s outreach service is often how women first make contact with us, meeting us on our fully equipped outreach van. Three volunteers go out on the van at night and meet women’s basic needs by providing nutritious food, warm clothing, condoms, harm reduction, safety alarms etc. They provide the chance to talk and get advice in a safe space and encourage women to get more in-depth help by visiting our health hub or seeing a caseworker. Volunteers need to be available for at least one shift each month for at least a year. Shifts are 8.45pm to midnight on Monday to Thursday and Sunday nights and 8.45pm to 1.30am on Friday and Saturday nights.
Volunteer drivers have at least 15 hours experience of driving a van or similar sized vehicle and a full, clean driving licence. This front-line role is for women only, aged 25 years or above.
Our support volunteers are based in One25’s Health Hub, which is a space where women can come and access health care, food provision, signposting and other support. Volunteers offer a listening ear, helping us to create and maintain a safe and welcoming space. They also help us prepare the food bags, make hot drinks, and support our care coordinator with facilitating the space. The volunteer shifts are Mon-Weds from 12pm until 4pm. Volunteers need to be available for at least one shift each month for at least a year. This front-line role is for women only, aged 20 years or above.
Volunteers with office, IT, administrative and organisational skills assist our fun and friendly team and use their skills to make a difference to some of the most vulnerable women in our city. Jobs could include dealing with email enquiries, updating our database, supporting a specific service or piece of work, helping sort our donations and providing general administrative support where it is most needed.
Our Board of Trustees serves as the governing body to everything One25 does. Our Trustees discuss and make decisions on our activities, take responsibility for shaping One25 and ensure we are well run and reach our goals for the benefit of the women who we support. Read more on our Trustees information page.
This is the process that we follow:
Apply. We will advertise for volunteers on our website and social media. Potential volunteers are invited to submit an application form which is an opportunity for you to tell us about yourself and what skills you have to offer.
We particularly encourage applications from people of minoritized ethnicities, as these groups are underrepresented in our workforce.
Interview. This is an informal interview for us to get to know you personally and ensure we find the right role for you.
Induction. If you’re applying for a front line role, you will then be invited to a full-day induction training. Here you will get to meet other volunteers and staff and learn more about their roles and key learning needed to start as a volunteer.
Your first day as a One25 volunteer!
We are looking for volunteers who are comfortable driving an Iveco Daily (manual) to deliver our evening outreach. This volunteer will also be responsible for taking case notes for the team and looking after the safety of the vehicle. The volunteer will also be responsible for speaking with the women and best practice/trauma informed.
We are looking for volunteers to join our accelerated pathway to becoming a Van Team Leader. This pilot project will be for people who have professional experience in the following areas: Domestic abuse, sexual violence, drug and alcohol, homelessness, social care, physical health, mental health and prison service.
Please read our Volunteer Policy and Equality and Diversity Policy below.
If you have questions not answered here, please email iwanttovolunteer@one25.org.uk.
20 years old or over for van and drop-in volunteers. 18 years old or over for office, fundraising and other volunteers who do not work directly with service users.
Men are very welcome as office or fundraising volunteers. Because of the nature of our services we do not employ men as staff or volunteers to work directly with service users.
Volunteering to help with our events or fundraising challenges might be an option: see our website, Facebook and Twitter. For outreach or drop-in volunteers we ask for a minimum commitment of one year: DBS checking, references, induction and training make short-term volunteering ineffective.
I am afraid that we do not offer volunteer roles that require these skills at One25. We have therapists in place already, and due to the needs of our service users we do not offer placements to practitioners or students of massage or other physical therapies.
We are not able to provide counselling/psychotherapy student placements. We do not have a BACP registered supervisor here, and we do not have the staff capacity to provide appropriate placements / supervision for counselling students.
We do not take referrals of volunteers. Volunteers can apply independently, and should not themselves be dependent on support services.
We welcome volunteers who can positively use their past experiences to empathise with our service users and so would talk with you about this individually to make sure you are best supported and it’s the right time and voluntary role for you.
Yes we welcome volunteers of all faiths and none. All we ask is that you understand, respect and practise our values of unconditional love, justice, compassion, truthfulness and a willingness to see things through.
In frontline volunteering situations such as the van we are careful to sensitively build up a trusting relationship based on their own identified needs. This means that direct prayer or conversations about faith must be initiated by the woman herself. Should a spiritual discussion arise then we ask volunteers to appropriately encourage her to talk about her beliefs. The desire to help is often most appropriately expressed by silent prayer.
Please speak to a member of One25 staff about this. Our policy is that we do not recruit volunteers who work in their professional capacity with the same women who come to One25’s services. This is because it may lead to a conflict of interests for the volunteers and be confusing for our service users.
