Remote Volunteer Family Support Worker National Helpline

Coram Family Lives was formed over forty years ago by volunteers with the aim of ensuring that all parents had somewhere to turn before they reach crisis point. We know that the right support at the right time makes all the difference. Family Lives provides targeted early intervention and crisis support to families who are struggling.

Our Mission: We build better family lives together. Our Vision: Families should have access to active support and understanding. Our Values: Trustworthy, Compassionate and Collaborative

Purpose of the role: To be part of a flexible team providing empathic, caring and informed support to families, carers and others who use our services. Our volunteers take calls from parents and carers on a wide range of subjects, whether that might be issues around separation and divorce, isolation, depression, bullying and abuse, dealing with behavioural problems, etc. You can find out more about our services on our website. We are a national service with home-based call takers county wide and a call centre in Old Hatfield Hertfordshire.

Once trained volunteers sign up for a weekly 4-hour shift comprising 3 hours ‘online’ followed by a debrief session with your supervisor which can last around half to one hour.

We recruit volunteers with a range of backgrounds and experiences though we ask that volunteers have experience of parenting or working with children and young people, are good listeners and have a willingness to learn. Being remote it will be very important that you have a PC/laptop, plug in headset with microphone, good Wi-Fi and a private place to work from home. You need to be a UK resident.

Our volunteers often tell us how rewarding their time with us is. You'll be part of a compassionate community and feel a real sense of pride for what you do. You'll meet new people, gain valuable experience, and develop your skillset. We're passionate about helping people to reach their full potential, so we'll offer you full training suitable for the role, supervision from a named member of staff, including help setting personal development goals, and opportunities to increase skills and input into practice via regular Practice Development Groups. As well as formal training, volunteers can benefit from: Increased experience in listening and supporting families Working as part of a passionate team Experience in the voluntary/social care sector Increased confidence Increased skills and experience for future employment Motivation Sense of achievement New experiences Working with a diverse range of people Sense of fulfilment from helping people

Our training programme is excellent and will give you the opportunity to develop the skills needed to offer empathic support and guidance to callers whatever their circumstances; all shifts are overseen by a regular shift supervisor who provides ongoing remote support. We ask our volunteers to make a commitment of 1 year (with time off for holidays), obviously we understand that circumstances sometimes make that an impossibility but can be helpful to know at the outset that is the general expectation. We have remote call taker training sessions that run over five sessions and is done remotely connecting you via a Microsoft Teams link.

Please note that all roles offered are subject to a satisfactory DBS being obtained, you will receive details of documentation required prior to your training and this must all be in no later than the second session of your training.

Please contact us via email for a voluntary role description and application on [email protected]

What skills do I need?

• We recruit volunteers with a range of backgrounds and experiences 
• Volunteers should have experience of parenting or working with children and young people
• Be a good listener and have a willingness to learn
• Being remote it will be very important that you have a PC/laptop, plug in headset with microphone and good Wi-Fi
• You must have a private place to work from home
• You need to be a UK resident

Location

This opportunity can be carried out whilst working from home.