Volunteers are the main stay of our organisation and play an integral part of our management and provision of our services. Below are a range of volunteering opportunities within the organisation -

Switchboard and support volunteer
Sexual health volunteer
Administration / core volunteer
Trustee and management volunteer

There are many things you can gain from volunteering such as new skills, new friendships, and a sense of helping others and loads of fun as well as this here are a few things you can expect from derbyshireFRIEND (df).

Training

df has an introductory training programme developing your skills in supportive listening. Training also continues throughout your volunteering experience to improve knowledge and skills.

Supervision and support

df supports all its volunteers with regular support and supervision meetings. Also volunteers in all areas of our work are never expected to work alone.

Socials

We hold regular volunteer socials every few months, giving the chance for volunteers to relax and get to know each other.

df is a democratic organisation and as such the thoughts and opinions of volunteers are key to how we work. As such volunteers are regularly asked for their opinions and encouraged to join the management team of the organisation.

Fun

Although the work of df is a serious one, we hope that all volunteers will enjoy the work they do as we strive to make the atmosphere relaxed and fun.

What we're looking for

There is only one thing we expect from our volunteers and that is commitment. It doesn't matter if you come every week or just the minimum for each month, to be able to provide our services we need to know that when a volunteer says they will do a shift that they will be here. We hope that volunteers will stay with us for a long time, but we do appreciate and always accommodate volunteers' needs with volunteers moving on or requiring breaks from volunteering (Although we do accommodate breaks of up to six months, volunteers taking longer than they are required to under go a refresher course).

If all this sounds interesting then all you need to do is follow these easy next steps:

Step 1
Fill in our online application form or download a copy of our application form (Word document).

Step 2
Submit / Send in your application form.

Step 3
Phone to make an appointment to come and visit us (If you haven't already done so).

Step 4
Shadow Work. (This is can be done either prior to training or during the training period).

Step 5
Training.

Step 6
Start of official volunteering.