Involve Volunteering Project

Involve Volunteering Project exists as a partnership between Swansea Council for Voluntary Service and the City & County of Swansea Social Services Department. We recruit, vet and train Volunteers to work with vulnerable children, young people, adults and families. In January 2009, we celebrated our 21st Birthday - 21 years of providing support to people in Swansea.

For general enquiries, email: Involve (involve@scvs.org.uk) or contact Involve on 01792 457299.

Volunteers have a supportive role as a Befriender (someone who provides social support in an informal way) to a wide variety of individuals or families, and also in day centres and other groups. The volunteers role is to compliment the work of paid staff, helping to reduce isolation and loneliness, build community links and improve the self-esteem of the Service User.

Once placed, Volunteers may take their Service User out to do an activity together (e.g swimming, football, cinema, etc.), or meet up for a chat. They encourage involvement in social activities that Service Users can continue once the Volunteer's support eventually finishes.

We ask Volunteers to commit to a few hours a week or a fortnight. Due to the length of the recruitment process due to CRB Checks (www.crb.gov.uk), induction training sessions, information required etc, the longer the period you can volunteer for, the better this is as this provides continuity of support for the Service User.

A Volunteer Role Description is available in the 'Resources' column to the right of this page.

You won't need any specific experience in social care, but you will need the following qualities:

• Be aged 18 years or over (Volunteers are carefully matched with a Service User. Personality, gender, interests, location, experience, wishes of the Service User and age are all taken into account in the matching process)
• Honesty
• Able to communicate with and listen to Service Users
• Reliability
• Commitment to supporting the people you volunteer with
• Respect for confidentiality
• Belief in equality of opportunity
• Able to take on board guidance, direction and feedback
• Able to support others
• Able to make responsible decisions

The recruitment and selection process is as follows:

• Make contact with us by ringing (01792) 457299
• Initial interview (an informal discussion to see if the scheme is right for you and vice versa)
• References, Social Service Check and Enhanced Criminal Record Bureau Check (www.crb.gov.uk) - NB: a previous conviction does not necessarily stop someone from volunteering, but we do expect to be informed.
• Two full day's assessed induction training
• Feedback from training

If successful at the above stages…

• (Certain schemes have a further training session at this point)
• Post training interview - if necessary the 'councelling out' policy will be followed at this point
• Discussion of Referrals - referrals are matched on a compatability basis
• Matching – introduced to the Service User
• Befriending agreement is drawn up

A Process of Volunteering Information Sheet is available in the 'Resources' column to the right of this page.

Involve Induction Training is accredited by the Open College Network (OCN). Involve learners can receive accreditation at nationally recognised levels of study. Click here for more information.

As part of the selection process, all potential volunteers must complete two days training – Induction Training and Scheme Training. These two sessions introduce volunteers to Involve's policies and procedures, clarify the volunteer's role and explore the skills needed for this sort of volunteering – and will look great on your CV.

Once individuals are accepted as a volunteer there are some schemes that require an extra training course to be completed before being placed, to ensure that you are confident and fully capable of your role.

After being placed, volunteers have a wide variety of training opportunities. Some sessions are scheme specific. Involve and SCVS have a rolling programme of training on all sorts of issues linked to volunteering that volunteers can access either free of charge, or at a heavily subsidised rate.

In addition to these training options, volunteers are sometimes able to get places on Social Services and SCVS training courses as well.

Volunteers are assigned a Volunteer Development Officer (VDO) who's responsible for matching and reviewing your volunteering placement. Regular, formal supervision sessions will take place to discuss any problems and identify any training needs. Placement reviews, involving the Volunteers and the Services Users happen frequently to make sure everything is going well and to sort out any problems arising – we aim to ensure that both you as a volunteer and your Service User are getting the most from the placement.

We believe that informal support for volunteers is very important, so all of our volunteers are free to call their Volunteer Development Officer at any time to discuss any concerns or to ask for any information. We also run social events and support sessions to provide an extra opportunity for volunteers to get to know the staff and to meet other volunteers.