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Volunteering

Making a difference to your local community

Our volunteers are instrumental in how we deliver services. They often provide a unique role by supporting service users in practical and simple ways that have great benefit. Volunteers also work alongside our staff teams in a variety of ‘behind the scenes’ roles which help our services run efficiently and be welcoming to our service users.

If you have a passion for our work and would like to get involved in volunteering with us, Compass could be just what you are looking for.

What do you need

  • Can commit time
  • Be reliable
  • Enthusiastic
  • Have a desire to help others
  • To be open, non-judgemental and honest
  • Be a positive role model
  • Open to learning new skills and experiences
  • Know what you want to get out of volunteering – we can help you work this out

Getting involved

There are lots of ways to volunteer; the type of opportunity will depend on what skills and commitment you can offer and what our services need.

Each of our services (including our head office in York) are different so dependent upon where you live and what you want to do, there is plenty of opportunity to get involved.

Together we will agree how your skills and interests can be matched to what our services need and decide what support and training will help you flourish. You will have the opportunity to learn new skills, access training, meet new people, develop confidence in different areas and explore new career paths. Here Below are some examples of different types of volunteering roles:

  • Provide advocacy for service users
  • Accompany service users to appointments to offer practical support
  • Attend appointments and events with staff including delivery of workshops
  • Peer mentoring – working one to one with service users offering a ‘listening ear’ and being a positive role model
  • Be part of our reception team welcoming service users and letting them know what services we offer
  • Help service users get involved in social activities and their local communities
  • General administration
  • Promote Compass and our services at local community events
  • Support work in head office functions such as HR, business development etc.
  • Support Compass communications e.g. website development
  • Sharing your expertise and technical skills

Expected support

In return for your valuable time and commitment, we will offer you close support, supervision and being part of a friendly, inclusive team. You will also receive training specific to your role as well as access to a broad range of e-learning courses.

In addition you will have the opportunity to try out new areas or work and build your confidence in doing so. Many of our volunteers go on to secure paid work.

Get in touch

If you are not sure what you’d like to do or where your skills might make the most difference, please do get in touch with the service closest to you directly for more information on volunteering.

Alternatively please feel free to contact our head office or complete an application form stating what type of volunteering you are interested in at info@compass-uk.org.