Active Recovery Project Volunteer (x5)

The Southmead Project:

The Southmead Project is an equal opportunities employer providing free counselling and other therapeutic support to survivors of abuse. We support people who have experienced any type of abuse, including sexual, physical and emotional abuse, domestic abuse and neglect. Our clients are aged 18+ and of all genders. Our recruitment is done in line with safer recruitment practices.

The Southmead Project’s Active Recovery groups give survivors of abuse the opportunity to take part in community-based activities. Members of Active Recovery can socialise with others who share or understand their experience in a safe and supportive environment. The activities are based on ideas from our members and include activities such as foraging, watersports, climbing, trips to community spaces and creative sessions (such as arts and crafts). 

The new volunteer(s) will have the opportunity to join in with the activities and support our community of Active Recovery members.

We welcome volunteers with lived experience of trauma, although this is not a necessity for someone to apply. We are looking to diversify our team in order to better represent the communities that we serve, so we particularly welcome applications from people of color.

We value our volunteers very highly and pride ourselves on being a supportive organisation. We provide the following benefits to encourage every volunteer to have a supported, well-rounded and enriched practice:

1. A rewarding experience working with our lovely members, helping to give a boost to people who need a helping hand.
2. A volunteer induction
3. Paid group supervision for 1.5 hours per month (Wednesday evenings, online)
4. Line management for 1 hour every 4 sessions attended
5. Training budget of £250 per year to spend on relevant training of that volunteers’s choice
6. Reimbursement of out of pocket expenses (up to a reasonable amount).
7. Opportunity to engage with members in a range of activities - including active and creative sessions.

Training for this role will take place in September 2025, with the volunteers starting their sessions in November 2025.

Active Recovery sessions take place in Somerset on Tuesdays and in Bristol on Wednesdays and Thursdays for approximately 4.5 hours of volunteer time (2.5 hours with our members).

Each volunteer will be allocated to a group and we are looking for volunteers to support activities on a fortnightly or monthly basis. There is a minimum commitment to volunteering for one year.

Group Supervision takes place on a Wednesday evening, remotely on zoom.

To apply please see the advert on the Voscur website which has an application form and Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form.

Alternatively, please email our admin team at The Southmead Project (email address is on our website - Spark will not let us type it here) and ask them to forward you the forms.

Interviews will take place on Monday 21st July and Friday 25th July. If you need support filling in the form please get in contact - the skills we need from a volunteer are not computer/form filling skills, so if this is stopping you from applying for the role please contact us and we will help.

Please note that there must be at least 1 year between receiving support from the Southmead Project or from SARSAS, Womankind or The Bridge (SARC) as a client/member and starting this volunteer role.