Staying Put - Community Hub Volunteer

Staying Put is a domestic abuse and sexual violence charity working across Bradford and surrounding areas. We support adults and children who are survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence, offering services One Front Door, Community Hub and Accommodation.

The Community Team is a multi-disciplinary team offering a range of support. Services in place include a Community IDVA (independent domestic violence advisors) team, a GP IDVA team, a Domestic Abuse Support Worker outreach team and the DA car (alongside West Yorkshire Police attending domestic abuse incidents) The team work with service users to assess and manage risk and develop safety and support plans with a range of goals, including immediate crisis support to more medium or long term goals to live a life free from abuse, signposting and referrals into relevant services and support to access and navigate through criminal justice systems. In addition an ISVA (independent sexual violence advisors) team offer support to individuals who have been the victim of sexual violence (no matter when this took place), and can advise about reporting the crime and what to expect, through to support through the court process.

Within the Community Hub there is also The Early Intervention and Prevention Service. Practitioners work to identify and provide effective early support to people who are at risk, through group work and drop ins in a range of organisations (including schools) to raise awareness of healthy and unhealthy relationships. LGBT+ domestic abuse support is also offered and a Young Persons Domestic Abuse Advocate also works within the team to provide support to young people aged 16 to 25 who have been in an abusive relationship, or living in a household where there is or has been domestic abuse.

There are three volunteer roles available:

An Early Intervention and Prevention volunteer will support the team in delivering group based and peer support programmes which focus on recovery, resilience and asset building through providing emotional support, signposting and practical assistance. Volunteer will also support community partnership though supporting drop ins at organisations across the district.

A Community Hub Support volunteer will support IDVAs to deliver emotional and practical support to service users to help them navigate housing, benefits and legal processes, and to support service users to implement safety measures including practical measures such as panic alarms or requesting Claire’s Law disclosure.

An LGBT+ Support volunteer will assist in the delivery of advocacy and support services for LGBT+ individuals experiencing or who have experienced domestic abuse and/or sexual violence, including delivering emotional and practical interventions and liaising with partner agencies.

Skills

Ideally volunteers will have the following skills or experience before joining us. Don’t worry if you don’t! We can support you to access qualifications or signpost you to other organisations where you can build these. • Have experience of working with people face to face or other the telephone. • Strong communication and listening skills. • Have empathy for others and can take a non-judgemental approach. • Be able to work in a person-centred way. • Can demonstrate a commitment to equality and diversity principles. • Have good time and task management skills. • Can carry out administrative type tasks including keeping records. • Be willing to learn and open to change. • Can commit to at least 4 to 6 hours a week.