Volunteer

Our Volunteer Service recruits, trains and provides ongoing support to volunteers in a wide range of projects. We welcome volunteers from all areas of our diverse community, who feel they have something to offer to help us enhance the service we provide to our service users.

Who can volunteer?

• Are you 18 years old or over? There is no upper age limit to volunteer with us. 

• Do you enjoy helping others?

• Would you be willing to volunteer on a regular basis for a minimum of once a week for 6 months?

• Do you have the right to work in the UK?

If your answer is 'yes' to all of these questions, we'd love to chat to you about joining our team of volunteers.

What do volunteers do?

Our volunteers get involved in a wide range of activities across our services, supporting our healthcare teams to give our service users the best experience. 

From simply listening and chatting or playing board games over a cup of tea, to arranging quizzes, spending time together gardening or making music, our volunteers bring a huge amount of value to our services. Volunteers are instrumental in encouraging service users to get involved and even try new things, which can be really helpful to some people on their recovery journey. 

We know that volunteering is beneficial to our service users, to the volunteer and to our organisation.

What our volunteers say

We asked a couple of our volunteers about their volunteering roles with us. Here's what they said:

Sharoon Shahbaz, Ward Befriender, said:

"When I saw the opportunity to volunteer with the Department of Psychiatry at the District General Hospital, I was keen to get involved. I feel really glad that I am able to dedicate my time to helping and supporting other people. As a psychology graduate, mental health is greatly important to me, so being able to have open conversations about mental wellbeing with the patients and staff on the wards is very meaningful.

"I enjoy having conversations with patients about their life experiences and interests, and they really appreciate having someone to listen to them. I also get the opportunity to play board games such as scrabble, connect 4, puzzles, and do activities like colouring or word searches with them.

"I have also found that the training provided for this role by the NHS equipped me to do my job to the best of my ability.

"This volunteer role has had a greatly positive impact on my life too. For instance, I have learned many things from the patients, from fun facts, to how to be resilient during a difficult time. I hope that my experience will inspire more people to volunteer with the NHS."

Edward Brown, Veteran Advisor, said:

"I am a Veterans' Advisor for the Trust. I work directly to Andy Stubbs providing advice and assistance with the Trust Armed Forces Strategy. I am a retired Army Brigadier having served for 35 years. I am now CEO of Britam Arabia based in Bahrain and KSA. I, therefore, work remotely."

Want to know more?

Find your volunteering opportunity (please note: this link will take you to our Careers microsite - click on the home button to return to the main website).

For more information, please call Natalie Poland, Voluntary Services Manager on 07810 656746 or email volunteering@spft.nhs.uk.