Could you support unpaid carers or people with disabilities to access benefits? Could you help someone find local services? Could you help someone understand the information they have been given about their care and support? Could you support or lead a group of people on a topic of interest? You could help improve the quality of someone’s life. This role is ideal for social work students, an interest in the care sector or retired professionals. Support Session Volunteers help our clients with general advocacy, supporting people with a variety of challenges. This helps us to reduce waitlists and support more individuals by: • Helping clients understand about advocacy • Supporting clients to self-advocate with our tool kits • Signposting clients to other services where required • Supporting the service to deliver “collective” advocacy sessions • Light Touch Advocacy • Supporting advocates with casework • Promotion of services and the organisation • Logging activity onto our systems Volunteer, Ben’s priorities changed after a serious illness. “I wanted to give something back. It’s really rewarding as you get to use your knowledge and skills for a really good purpose.” You’ll develop skills in communication and confidentiality, add experience and knowledge to your CV, and know you’re making a genuine difference to people’s lives.

For those affected by a terminal illness, it can be hard to get support and they might feel lonely. By volunteering as a Check in and Chat volunteer, you'll be matched with an individual who needs emotional support and a chance to chat freely about how they're feeling.

The role with Dumfries and Galloway Advocacy Service is to provide Independent Advocacy to vulnerable people across Dumfries and Galloway. To both empower and enable clients to be heard and to take as much control of their situation as is possible. Being an Independent Advocate involves listening and making sure the client’s thoughts and wishes are understood and that the clients' voice is heard. It is about the client being in control of their situation. As well as having face-to-face and virtual meetings with your client there will be a requirement for all meetings and communications on the progression of the client’s case to be kept electronically. For this reason, you must have access to a laptop / computer, the internet and a landline or mobile phone. You must be able to keep confidences (organisational exceptions) and boundaries, express yourself clearly in verbal / written form, work as part of a team and on one’s own, be able to use email, word etc and carry out work electronically. You will also be required to attend meetings with the client and source information to allow the person to make informed choices. You will make a difference to other people’s lives; develop new skills and meet new people and you will work alongside a small friendly team.

Aberdeen Women's Alliance are a small, local, charity that was set up in 2004. Our aim is to enable Aberdeen womens' voices to be better heard by decision-makers. Since 2013 we have also run a successful local women's history project. Most recently during the pandemic, we have worked with our partners to make sure some disadvantaged women are having their basic needs met. We are keen to recruit some women to become new members of the Lead Group. Our Lead Group oversees our governance much like a Board or Management Committee. If you're interested in finding out more, please in the first instance email awainfo@btinternet.com