Volunteer Support Officer

Job Application Form

Volunteer Support Officer, West Essex, £12.21

Employment Type

Part Time

Application Start Date

16-05-2025

Application End Date

30-05-2025

Location

West Essex

Description

Job Title: Volunteer Support Officer

Reporting to: Volunteer Coordinator

Location: Based in Uttlesford with occasional travel across the district and to Harlow

Hours: 12 Hours per week

Pay: £12.21 per hour

The organisation: Mind in West Essex is a local, independent mental health charity. We affiliate to Mind (the National Association for Mental Health) a charity with which we share common values and principles. Our vision is for West Essex to be a place where people talk openly and positively about mental health, and where everyone gets the support and respect needed to live well. Mind in West Essex welcomes applications from people with their own personal experience of mental ill health.

About the Role: Volunteers play a vital role in our organisation, bringing additional resource and more importantly they bring an added dimension to the organisation in that they choose to be involved for reasons other than financial gain. Because of this volunteers, are an extremely valuable asset and it is important to us that they are well looked after and supported so that their experience of volunteering is a positive one. As the Volunteer Support Officer, you will take a leading role in growing our befriending program. This position will be responsible for recruiting new volunteers, providing them with training, and matching them with individuals in need of support. You will be the key point of contact for both volunteers and service users, ensuring that every match is carefully considered and nurtured to create lasting and positive relationships. You will also be responsible for providing ongoing support to volunteers and monitoring the impact of these relationships on service users.

Roles and Responsibilities

Recruitment & On-boarding: ● Develop and implement strategies to recruit a diverse group of befriending volunteers. ● Review volunteer applications and contact volunteers to ensure suitability. ● Provide comprehensive onboarding, including volunteer training, confidentiality, safeguarding, and the program’s goals. ● Oversee ongoing data entry of volunteer information onto Lamplight and uploading relevant documents as required.

Matching Volunteers to Service Users: ● Ensure initial contact is made once a request for befriender is received ● Assess the needs of service users and match them with appropriate volunteers based on compatibility, shared interests, location and availability. ● Ensure that matches are meaningful and have the potential to create positive, long-term relationships. ● Signpost onwards or make appropriate referrals where it is identified that a service user needs additional or alternative support.

Ongoing Volunteer Support: ● Act as a point of contact for volunteers, providing guidance and support throughout their involvement in the program. ● Regularly check in and monitor ongoing befriending relationships to ensure it is positive and supportive, within appropriate and clear boundaries and any issues are dealt with appropriately. ● Organize and facilitate regular training sessions and feedback loops for volunteers.

Program Monitoring & Reporting: ● Track volunteer hours and match progress, ensuring that relationships are nurtured and maintained. ● Collect feedback from both volunteers and service users to assess the success and impact of the program. ● Provide reports and updates to the Volunteer Coordinator on the program’s progress.

Community Engagement: ● Promote the befriending program through social media, community events, and local partnerships to encourage more people to get involved. ● Foster a supportive and engaging volunteer community by organizing social events and recognition activities.

Maintain appropriate confidentiality for all persons using any Mind in West Essex Service at all times.

This role will be based in Uttlesford but occasional travel across West Essex will be required.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Volunteer Support Officer	Essential Criteria	Desirable Criteria
Knowledge
● An awareness of the important role that volunteers play in the community sector	*
● Empathy with and understanding of the needs of vulnerable people	*
● Experience
● Experience of working with volunteers or people within the community		*
● Skills and Abilities
● Good IT skills e.g. Microsoft Word/Excel, Google docs with the willingness to undertake training to use other systems	*
● Good interpersonal skills with a supportive & empathetic telephone manner	*
● Self-motivated with the ability to organise and manage own workload	*
● Ability to assess and understand the needs of both volunteers and service users.	*
● Empathy, patience, and a genuine commitment to creating positive, impactful relationships.	*
● Problem-solving skills to address any challenges that arise in the volunteer-service user relationship.	*
● Ability to record information accurately	*
● A genuine commitment to the values of Mind in West Essex	*
● Ability to work as part of a team and to work on your own initiative.	*

This Job Description will be subject to review in light of changing circumstances and is not intended to be rigid or exhaustive but should be regarded as providing guidelines within which an individual operates

Downloads

Volunteer-Support-Officer-JD.docx.pdf

Personal Information

Title

First Name*

Last Name*

Email*

Mobile Number*

Source

Your Education

Address Line 1

Address Line 2

City

State/County

Postcode

Country

Professional Information

Current Job Title

Availability Date

Notice Period

Referred By

Note

Right to Work. ( You must be able to provide proof at the interview stage please. This could be: British/Irish Passport Birth Certificate Certificate of Registration or Naturalisation as a British Citizen Work permit - share code)

Do you have a right to work in the UK? * Required

You will be required to provide proof at the interview stage, are you able to do this? * Required

Referees. ( Please give the names, email and postal address of two referees, who should not be related to you and one of whom should be your present or most recent employer (where applicable) the second should be a previous employer or place of education.

Present/recent employer: Name and Address: * Required

Present/recent employer: Company? * Required

Present/recent employer: Email and contact number? * Required

Second reference: Name and Address? * Required

Second reference: Company? * Required

Second reference: Email and contact number? * Required

Additional questions

Are you prepared for Mind in West Essex to carry out a DBS (disclosure barring check)? * Required

Do you have a current full driving license? * Required

Have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence? (As part of our Equity and Inclusion Policy, Mind in West Essex wishes to ensure that it does not discriminate against ex-offenders. However, we recognise for example those working with vulnerable adults and children or with handling sums of money, involve matters where an ex-offender might be in a potentially vulnerable position. Consideration of the person’s background therefore should be made. For this reason we will ask you to complete a declaration on application to any of our roles) * Required

If your answer was Yes, please give details of all dates and offences: NB. Offences which would be deemed as spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 need not be declared. * Required

Leisure

Please give us an indication of your leisure/sports/interests/pursuits and any suggestions you have about how they could relate to this role? * Required

Please give your reasons for applying for this position

Tell us how you think you meet each of the essential criteria on the job description for this position. Please include details of any voluntary work. * Required

Tell us how you think you meet each of the desirable criteria on the job description for this position. Please include details of any voluntary work. * Required

Have you any experience of mental health services and/or the voluntary sector? (If yes, please give details) * Required

Do you have any disability or health problems (including mental health) which would be helpful for us to know about, so we can provide equality of access? (If yes, please give details) * Required

Previous Employment or voluntary (please detail all relevant job history)

Name and Address? * Required

Job title & brief details of responsibilities? * Required

From- to? * Required

Reason for leaving? * Required

Current Employment

Name and Address? * Required

Job title & brief details of responsibilities? * Required

From- to? * Required

Present Salary? (please detail London Weighting if applicable) * Required

Reason for leaving? * Required

Notice required? * Required

Education and Training

Please give details of your education and experience, including subjects taken and, where appropriate, short courses. * Required

Vacancy

Position Applying for? * Required

Location/Base? * Required

Please state where the position was advertised? * Required

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Date of Birth*

Gender*

Ethnicity*

Sexual Orientation*

Religion*

Do you consider yourself to have a disability, impairment or condition?*

Optional, max 300 characters

Do you have caring responsibilities?*

Optional, max 300 characters

Do you look after or care for someone with long term physical or mental ill health caused by disability or age (not in a paid capacity)?*

Optional, max 300 characters

Other Attachment

Upload CV/Resume*

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