• Volunteer Role Description

  Post title:               Activity Volunteer (specialist ward for deaf adults)

  Band:                     Unpaid

  Hours:                    Minimum 3 hours per week, for 6 months minimum

  Day:                       Any day (Monday-Friday)

  Base:                      In-patient services, Springfield Hospital

  Responsible to:     Involvement Volunteer Coordinator

  Managerially

  accountable to:      Ward Manager

   

   

  How Activity Volunteers make a difference

  By supporting group activities on our psychiatric wards, you will help people to remain occupationally active and promote resilience, recovery, and hope.

  Bluebell is a specialist ward for deaf adults with mental illness and mental health problems. The multi-disciplinary team consists of deaf and hearing staff who can all use BSL (British Sign Language).

   

  Things you will do as an Activity Volunteer:

  • Connect and build relationships with service users (for example by sitting together and starting conversations / playing a game / getting to know them).
  • Encourage service users to participate in group or individual activities; if they decline, respect their decision but be curious about why.
  • Support service users to think about activities that are meaningful to them (an example would be to help them complete an interest checklist).
  • Assist staff with setting up material and props for an activity and tidying things away at the end.
  • Support people in group, for example by giving positive feedback about their work / effort / etc.
  • When confident, with support from the Occupational Therapy Team risk assess, plan and lead an activity that you especially enjoy / are good at.

   

  Skills and abilities that make you right for the post:

  • Being a Native British Sign Language (BSL) user or Learning BSL (Level 2 or Level 3 BSL)
  • Enthusiasm about working with people with mental health difficulties.
  • Reliability, being consistent and someone on whom others can count.
  • Having a hobby / passion / skill that you would like to share with others.
  • Being able to take initiative and work independently within the boundaries of your role as a volunteer.
  • Relating positively to others (staff and Service Users) and being receptive and responsive to feedback.
  • Resilience whilst volunteering with people who are acutely unwell.
  • Commitment to completing and keeping up to date all mandatory training.
  • Commitment to participating in supervision, including a one off individual Reflective Practice session, and the monthly Volunteer Support and Development group meetings.
  • Being a sympathetic and supportive listener, and a good communicator.
  • Upholding the values of SWLSTG: being respectful, open, collaborative, compassionate, consistent.

   

  What being an Activity volunteer will bring you:

  • Invaluable firsthand experience of working in psychiatric wards.
  • The knowledge, skills, and insights of working with mental health experts, both staff and service users.
  • A reference for future volunteering / study / employment if you volunteer with us for 6 months or more.
  • Access to many comprehensive and validated training packages (remote and face to face).
  • Opportunities to join the Staff Bank (after 60 hours of volunteering).
  • Provision of a Trust IT account for the duration of your placement, and access to the content of our intranet page including vacancies.
  • The reimbursement of travel expenses in accordance with our policy.
  • A role in busting stigma and challenging superseded views of mental illnesses.
  • Playing an active part in supporting our NHS.

Please apply via this link –

Vacancies – Website