As a Polish support work volunteer/ translator you will gain work experience in supporting Polish clients whom have been referred to our service. You will support the client to attend the service during their 4 week trial period, to help them feel more at ease and comfortable. You will be able to meet new people and support clients to engage in the activities within the premises. You will advocate on behalf of Polish speaking service users making sure staff and other clients understand their wishes. This will help the client to integrate into the service and improve their communication and language skills. In this role you may be requested to support English-speaking clients too.

At AdvoCard our highly valued team of Volunteer Advocacy Workers deliver a vital 1:1 independent advocacy service to mental health service users living in the community in Edinburgh. Our volunteers come with a wide range of backgrounds, skills and experience. What they all share is a commitment to advocacy and a belief that mental health service users should have their voices heard and their rights respected. AdvoCard's trained volunteers work with service users to listen and explore options.

The role involves sharing your own experiences of living with Borderline Personality Disorder with groups of participants and helping to facilitate training workshops. You will need good communication skills, lived experience of BPD , and be willing to share personal experiences with people from a variety of different backgrounds. A strong sense of commitment and willingness to travel throughout the Lothians are also important. CAPS /LEARN will provide training and mentoring for this role.

Simon Community Scotland is a values led organisation. We expect all of our staff and volunteers to reflect this, to care about people and demonstrate compassion, tolerance and tenacity. You can find out more about our mission and vision here http://simonscotland.org/about-us/. The Street Team Volunteer Role will provide positive, practical support to people who are rough sleeping in Edinburgh or at risk of rough sleeping. Working in pairs with our trained staff team, you will engage with rough sleepers and vulnerable people providing support and encouragement to seek and achieve positive solutions. Our Street Team offer practical help such as distribution of sleeping bags, safer injecting provisions and Period friendly Pax. Our aim is to ensure our support is well coordinated and minimises the number of nights an individual has to rough sleep. This role requires a degree of physical fitness as street staff actively outreach on foot across the city centre and surrounding areas. This role also requires a level of visibility and promotion of Streetwork and interaction with members of the public. Above all we need people who care about our client group, who are enthusiastic and able to respond flexibly to a role that can sometimes be challenging but brings great rewards and satisfaction. We value our volunteers and want to ensure they are equipped with the skills they need to fulfil their role. A full and comprehensive induction and training is provided for the role.

PSPA is a national charity providing support and information to people living with PSP and CBD, while funding research into treatments and ultimately a cure. We rely entirely on voluntary donations. Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) is a neurological condition caused by the premature loss of nerve cells in certain parts of the brain. Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD) is a degenerative brain disease that affects people from the age of 40 onwards. PSPA covers the United Kingdom and works very closely with other PSP organisations across the world working together supporting research and the provision of information and support into PSP and CBD. Volunteers are the lifeblood of PSPA - We value the skills, experience, commitment and enthusiasm that our volunteers bring – so we want more of you in Scotland to join us and help us to reach out to more people affected by PSP and CBD. By working together, we can make a real difference to people’s lives PSP & CBD are rare and little known. Education Volunteers can help us improve this situation. One of our aims is to make education and training available to as many health and social care professionals as possible, many of whom may not have come across PSP or CBD before. Our Education Volunteer role will help health and social care professionals to understand key information about the impact of living with PSP & CBD and thereby improve their practice. We also aim to have our volunteers raise awareness in local communities by offering informative talks to interested groups.

Aberdeen in Recovery (AiR) was granted Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) charitable status in March this year. We are now looking to find talented, passionate and skilled people to fill some vacant seats on our Board of Trustees to help us grow and develop our innovative and solution focused new charity. This is a unique opportunity to help lay the foundations to ensure AiR has a long-term future as a charity with solid processes in place to ensure it meets its mission of: “To be a bridge from ‘dependence’ to ‘independence’ for the individual seeking to recover from problematic substance use and addictive behaviours”. This is such an exciting and invigorating prospect for individuals to get involved and be participant in the tsunami of change which is now gaining momentum and being driven by “Experts by Experience” and the vibrant Lived Experienced Communities which are blossoming, not only locally but are now established as a national phenomena. Since its conception, AiR and its members have worked tirelessly to establish and build collaborative relationships with professional services and third sector support agencies. We have consistently driven the message that individuals who have personal lived/living experience of active substance use, including Family members who have been affected by the addictive behaviours of a loved one, and the Recovery Communities they represent have something valid, essential and extremely beneficial to bring to described Recovery Orientated Systems of Care (ROSC). We can provide existing services and clinical structural systems with resources, skills and capabilities that they, no matter how much effort, time and money they invest, will never be able to offer or provide. So, it gives the greatest of pleasure to see this is now recognised on the highest levels that “Recoverists” can productively contribute to the design, development and delivery of truly person-centred ROSC. This being evidenced by the vision, philosophy and content of the Scottish Governments “Rights, Respect and Recovery” Drug and Alcohol Strategy. We also believe it is reaffirmed by the recent success in being granted funding from the Government’s National Development Fund, with our principle partner Alcohol and Drugs Action (ADA), for our ‘Recovery Peer Pathway’ joint two-year project. This collaborative venture will build on three years of pilot work to further establish and build proactive and productive Developmental Pathways within ADA and their Volunteer network while in synergy with AiR membership for individuals who desire to initiate change in their behaviours and outlook as they progress on their recovery journeys within, and imperatively out-with, statutory and formal support services. We believe that the blue sky thinking behind this project categorically and emphatically fits with the expectations, outcomes and concepts of the above Government policy. So, if you have lived experience, or a stakeholder interest, and a passion for recovery and are willing to give of yourself that another may learn, you will not find a better opportunity to indulge your appetite than from within Aberdeen in Recovery. For more information please contact Dermot Craig, Recovery Community Development Manager at E Mail: dermot@aberdeeninrecovery.org or tel.: 01224 638342 / Mobile: 07751 213108.

Can you give support to someone by becoming an independent advocate? Many people in Dundee need a bit of support to speak up for themselves. These are often people with no one to take a personal interest in their lives. They could be people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, dementia or mental health issues or be a person over the age of 65. Citizen Advocates give their time and energy to support a vulnerable person on a one to one long term basis, listening to their point of view, respecting their wishes and helping them to speak up for themselves. We are looking for ordinary people who have the ability to listen and understand; a wish to make a difference; a friendly manner and a liking for people. This opportunity will assist you in gaining the following skills: • Interpersonal/Confidence • Problem solving/Creativity • Planning/Organising

An advocate provides a voice for those who may feel they are being ignored, excluded or treated unfairly. They provide a confidential service, representing the views and choices of the people they work with, empowering them to represent their own interests, providing information not advice, and allowing the person to be in control of their own life. Volunteer advocates promote the person's independence and increase their confidence.

Kersiebank Community Project are looking for volunteers to make up food parcels prior to the food bank opening and help manage food donations.

Working as part of a collective advocacy team to raise awareness and speak about own experiences of eating disorders. The role involves working with the Collective advocacy development worker to show a collective advoacy film and facilitate a group discussion in various community settings throughout the Lothians including: schools , universities , health etc. As all of the workshops take place during the day the volunteer would need to be available during the day. The role requires someone who is able to relate to other young people and is willing to share personal lived experience of an eating disorder of any kind , in order to educate and raise awareness around eating disorders amongst other young people ; willingness to talk about and share experiences of eating disorders with other young people in group situations in various community settings including : schools , universities ,public events etc.