Open Mental Health - Somerset wide volunteering buddy

You will be volunteering with Spark Somerset, one of the Somerset Open Mental Health partners. 

Open Mental Health is a new service offering 24/7 support to adults in Somerset.  Whatever the worry - anxiety, debt, employment, housing, low mood, addiction – Open Mental Health is here to help. 

Open Mental Health supports people to live a full life by enabling access to specialist mental health support, debt and employment advice, community activities, exercise, and volunteering.  

Volunteering has many benefits, it’s a great way to improve health and well-being and helps to create thriving, caring communities.  

People who have experienced mental illness often find it difficult to get involved in community activities, including volunteering, taking the first steps can be the hardest part. So, this role has been created to encourage people to start the process and join the volunteering community. 

You might help someone for all or part of their journey; starting the search for a volunteer role, completing forms, using IT or making phone calls, maybe going along with them for the first time and keeping in touch afterwards to see how it went, offering the right support when it is needed. 

We are looking for people who:   

• Have personal experience and knowledge of living with mental illness, either your own or someone you know.  
• Are friendly, kind and compassionate.  
• Might have previous mentoring experience.  
• Are willing to support other people as equals.  
• Can commit to volunteering for 2 hours a week. This is very flexible - it could be two hours a week on a regular day, or two hours a week to be arranged between partners.  

 What you'll get out of it:   

• A truly positive experience of shared achievements with the person you are mentoring.    
• A chance to meet new people from all kinds of backgrounds.  
• Useful experience if you are thinking about a career in Community Health Services.    

If you would like to support someone to make the first steps into volunteering, please get in touch.  

Tell us a little bit about yourself and why you’re motivated to volunteer in this role, and we’ll get back to you soon.  

References are required.    

DBS check needed.  

Volunteers are needed across Somerset.  

Volunteer role is mostly carried out remotely, by phone, email or internet, though face to face meetings in local cafes, libraries, community buildings can be supported.

Covid-19 restrictions apply of course!