Volunteering Opportunities

Why should you be a Healthwatch Community Engagement and Outreach volunteer?
If you like talking and listening to people, this is the right role for you. We have a vital role to play in ensuring people in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) are engaged, listened to and provided with an avenue to tell us their views and opinions.
By people sharing their experiences with us we can bring these to health and care providers and decision makers in B&NES to influence services to make them better. You will be an essential part of our team in ensuring people’s voices are collected and heard in the right places. We need your help to be the best that we can be.

What will the role involve?
• Working with Healthwatch volunteers and staff team to reach out into different communities to get people’s views on health and social care services
• Planning engagement activities with other volunteers and staff members
• Engaging people using online platforms e.g. Zoom, Microsoft Teams and/or via phone
• Keeping a record of people’s experiences and promptly pass these to Healthwatch staff members
• Holding engagement and information stands in community areas such as hospitals, GP Surgeries and dentists
• Talking to and gathering views of the public and reporting this back to us
• Helping us conduct surveys and consultations with local people
Personal specification/requirements
• Effective communication skills and ability to ask questions and listen well to engage with people
• Enjoys meeting with and talking to members of the public
• Empathy towards people
• Passionate about improving local health and social care services
• Able to separate own experiences from other people’s issues and to faithfully present the views of the people they represent
• Able to work as a team with other volunteers and staff
• Experience of using Microsoft Office, including Word
• Access to the internet/email
• Be comfortable volunteering from home and using online meeting platforms e.g. Zoom or Microsoft Teams (training can be provided in the latter)
• Respectful of confidentiality

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
A DBS check will be required as part of this role
How we will support you?
As well our volunteering handbook, you will have regular contact with a member of the Healthwatch team to provide you with support and guidance throughout. You’ll receive full training including induction to Healthwatch and be part of a team who’ll make sure your volunteering experience is positive.

How much time is involved?
Our volunteering roles are flexible and fit around your schedule. Ideally, our local Healthwatch Volunteers would be able to make a regular commitment to the role on a weekly or monthly basis, but this role can also be ad-hoc to suit your lifestyle.
We will always work closely with you to ensure your volunteering role fits with your other personal and social commitments

As a set-up volunteer you'll help out for two hours either on a Monday morning in Southdown, or a Thursday morning in the city centre. (Hours can be discussed to be flexible). You'll help receive our food deliveries, restock and set up our pantry ready for our members to shop in the afternoon. This role would suit anyone who is happy with practical tasks such as lifting boxes, restocking food shelves, and setting up our cafe with tea and coffee supplies. You'll always have the help and direction of a team leader, and you'll work in a team of about two other volunteers.

As a sessional volunteer you'll be helping out for around three hours on a Monday afternoon in Southdown, or a Thursday afternoon in the city centre. You'll be welcoming our pantry members as they arrive at the pantry, registering new members, signing in existing members and helping people to choose their shopping. You might also have a chat with members over tea and coffee, and you'll help with packing away equipment once the session is over - restocking cupboards, loading the dishwasher, wiping down surfaces and putting tables away. You'll always have the help of a team leader, and you'll work in a team of about five other volunteers.

As a laundry room assistant, you will support our staff and animals by washing towels, blankets and animal bedding. In addition to this, you will sort through the donated bedding and towels we receive and decide what items we can keep, what can be recycled and what we need to throw away, endeavouring to waste as little as possible. You will also be ensuring that the laundry room is always kept clean and tidy and checking that machines are in proper working order.

Your activities will include:

• Cleaning and drying any laundry that is generated during the daily running of the centre
• Folding and storing clean laundry which will include bedding and towels, toys and vet beds from our recovery suite
• Sorting donated bedding and towels, deciding which can be used, recycled or disposed of
• Keeping the laundry room tidy
• Reporting any issues with the washing machines or tumble dryers to our site maintenance team

About You

This can sometimes be a messy task, so a willingness to get your hands dirty is essential as you will sometimes be cleaning soiled blankets, towels and vet beds used in our recovery suite. There is a manual handling element of the role, so this should be considered upon application.

You don’t need to have any prior experience, you will be given full onsite training on how to use our machines and where everything goes.

Our free activities for carers can be in-person, online and over the phone, locations can vary from the comfort of your own home to our office in Bath, community venues, local sites and attractions. You are a friendly and sociable person that enjoys being around people. For this role, you will have excellent listening skills and will be able to empathise with others. You thrive working as part of a team and will ensure everyone is included and feels valued. If you'd like to support online activities, you will be confident in using electronic devices and online platforms like Zoom.

There are lots of amazing reasons to volunteer for a charity. You might feel like you want to give back to your local community, meet new people or gain a new skill. You can do all this and more at The Carers' Centre.

Volunteers are vital to our work in helping unpaid carers, we pledge to provide you with ongoing support throughout your time with us as a volunteer, you will be provided with a full induction and by joining us you will be making a difference to the lives of unpaid carers.

We will, of course, reimburse any out-of-pocket expenses to support you in your role.

You are a friendly and approachable person with excellent communication skills, that can build positive relationships with young people, staff and other volunteers. It is not essential to have previous experience of working with children and young people but it would be beneficial if you have been involved in youth work, schools or clubs. We offer a range of activities throughout the year at various locations so a basic level of physical fitness and the ability to travel to local transport pick-up locations would be required.

There are lots of amazing reasons to volunteer for a charity. You might feel like you want to give back to your local community, meet new people or gain a new skill. You can do all this and more at The Carers' Centre.

Volunteers are vital to our work in helping unpaid carers, we pledge to provide you with ongoing support throughout your time with us as a volunteer, you will be provided with a full induction and by joining us you will be making a difference to the lives of unpaid carers.

We will, of course, reimburse any out-of-pocket expenses to support you in your role.

Volunteers are encouraged to contact local schools, nurseries, holiday clubs and childcare organisations to host an interactive session, lasting roughly 30 minutes.

You will be sent all teaching resources to support the session, which includes a PowerPoint presentation, a T-shirt, a mouth model, posters/leaflets/stickers and a toothbrush and toothpaste tube for every child seen.

V Code is a project that sits within V Team, the largest volunteering group at The SU Bath. This project aims to support young girls to learn more about studying and working in STEM careers. In collaboration with Mighty Girls, we are running a coding workshop for local secondary school aged students, encouraging them to consider a career in tech and STEM subjects by teaching them how to code and offering talks from Women in STEM careers.

What you would need to commit to:

Around 3 hours a week (especially during January/early February)
Have an interest or experience in STEM/Tech subjects
Interested and able to handle budgeting, managing inventory and volunteers
Confident using social media including LinkedIn
Able to attend bi-weekly meetings with Marsha from Mighty Girls
 

The Access Project supports pupils from under-resourced backgrounds to access top universities. We are looking for undergraduates, postgraduates, staff, and alumni who would be able to tutor a young person aged 14-16, online, one hour a week in term-time Autumn 2024- Summer 2025 to support them with their academic studies. 

•Support a young person in a subject of your choice to achieve the GCSE grades they deserve and to fulfil their potential. 

•Build transferable skills, experience and knowledge through ongoing training and development as part of the role. 

•Students supported by The Access Project typically achieve a grade higher at GCSE and are twice more likely than their peers to progress to a top-third ranked university. 

No prior teaching or tutoring experience necessary, we provide a full comprehensive training and induction to help you build the confidence to be the best volunteer you can be. 

Interested? You’ll need to: 

· Either be currently studying for an undergraduate degree or have an undergraduate degree/equivalent professional qualification. 

· Either have an A Level subject or an undergraduate degree in a subject you wish to tutor at GCSE level. 

· Be able to spare one hour a week in school term time over the next academic year to tutor (starting Sept/Oct 2024), plus 30 mins a week preparation time. 

· Be prepared to undertake an enhanced DBS check (criminal records check) and provide two references (personal or professional). 

How does it work? 

1. Sign up at www.theaccessproject.org.uk/volunteer 

2. Sign up to any of our 2.5 hour training sessions over the summer, there are various dates so you can find one that suits you: During this session you’ll learn everything you need to know for your weekly one1 hour tutoring sessions. 

3. You’ll complete a DBS check (criminal records check) and an online safeguarding course. 

4. We’ll match you with a student who is looking for support in your subject. In particular, we are seeing high demand from our students for support with sciences and maths. Volunteers who are able to support in either of these subjects would be particularly welcome. There are also many opportunities for volunteer tutors in other subjects including humanities and languages. 

More information and sign up at: https://www.theaccessproject.org.uk/volunteer 

We look to reignite confidence and self-worth in young people, giving them the life skills and opportunities to move onwards and upwards in the world

By putting our hearts and souls into stopping challenged young people feeling judged, crushed or underestimated, we get them on the road to feeling self-assured, hopeful and happy. Every year, we turn around thousands of young people’s lives by being active in their communities, schools, or at our home at the Rec. We want an army of generous people who’ll stand by our side, pledging monthly support to drive positive change, right here in our community. Together, we will make a difference on our doorstep

Almost 10,000 young people in and around Bath are officially classed as vulnerable. These youngsters, mainly from disadvantaged families, feel marginalised and judged. They’re labelled ‘bad’, ‘disruptive’ and ‘difficult’. The system has let them down and they’ve kicked against it. At Bath Rugby Foundation, we’re here to break this cycle. Once and for all. We use classroom learning, along with all kinds of sport and activities, to stimulate and build confidence. We mentor and nurture trust. We teach life skills to foster independence, sociability and to build positive relationships with adults. Young people who once felt helpless get back their hope and aspirations. They are able to tear off the labels society has slapped on them. To face the world with renewed selfworth and confidence

We don’t need governments to change or policies to change. We can be the change.

Bath Rugby Foundation is entirely funded through sponsorships, fundraising and donations.