Service: Better Connected

Arts and Crafts Online Session Lead Volunteer

Location: Remote

Reporting to: Project Coordinator

Hours:

Session Length: 1-hour online sessions (with 1.5-hour preparation and admin) 

Total hours a month: 7.5 hours a month

Frequency: 3 times a month 

Times:  Evenings / Weekdays or Weekends 

Purpose of the role:

Art and Crafts online sessions would be available to Guideposts users country wide and day centre users across Guideposts. Sessions would focus on developing relationships with individuals to grow their abilities and skills while delivering arts and crafts projects with an outcomes-based approach.

Group user description: Learning Disabled, Autism spectrum, disabled community, neurodiverse, mental health community.

Role tasks/activities:

Utilising the popular Better Connected magazine craft pack, an integrated session once a month will involve assembling the activity pack (leads involved in designing and delivering magazine instructional assembly guide and pack).

Other sessions may focus on certain ability groups in traversing disabilities and using a therapeutic approach. Themed arts and crafts projects involving community projects and competitions would be involved.

Who is it for:

This is a great opportunity for a lead with Arts and Crafts experience to support individuals, grow and develop a session that reaches wider communities in a proactive way with known therapeutic benefits for the individuals Guideposts supports. Sessions can be integrated into existing projects delivered by Guideposts Arts and Crafts leads.

What’s in it for you:

• Being a key part of Guideposts Better Connected service
• Making a difference to others lives
• Learning new skills or updating your current ones
• Being part of a friendly team
• Gaining confidence
• Enhancing your CV

Volunteer requirements:

• Laptop with webcam
• Recent DBS check (this can be arranged when you apply)

Service: Better Connected

Meet-up Lead Volunteer

Location: Banbury and/or Bicester

Reporting to: Project Coordinator

Hours:

Session Length: 2/2.5 hours

Frequency: 1 time a month 

Times:  Evenings on Weekdays or Weekends, approx. 6:30-8:45PM

Purpose of the role:

Regular events are organised for current members of Guideposts Better Connected service to provide face-to-face activities within the group. Our service users have mild learning disabilities, Autism and the meet-up event would be arranged for up to 5 – 8 individuals.

Sessions would focus on developing relationships with individuals to grow their abilities and skills while socialising with an outcomes-based approach.

Role tasks/activities:

You would need to provide supervision during the course of the event. An example of leading sessions would involve meeting members at a bowling alley and managing different members abilities to access the event safely. The Project Lead would manage and coordinate all events and members attending to meet volunteers at the event.

Basic safeguarding training and first aid would be advantageous.

Who is it for:

This is a great opportunity for someone who has experience with learning disabilities, likes socialising, and can use local knowledge in suggesting and leading activities for the group. You must be reliable, flexible, have excellent communication skills and empathy for different type of conditions that our service users may have.

What’s in it for you:

• Being a key part of Guideposts Better Connected service
• Making a difference to others lives
• Learning new skills or updating your current ones
• Being part of a friendly team
• Gaining confidence
• Enhancing your CV

Volunteer requirements:

• Laptop with webcam
• Recent DBS check (this can be arranged when you apply)

Service: Better Connected
Commitment: From as little as 1 hour a week

What the role involves

The Better Connected service is a friendship service for people with learning disabilities and autism that can be joined from home. It provides a vital way to bring people together who might not otherwise have many social opportunities in their local area.

Our Virtual Group Leaders are responsible for hosting a themed activity or discussion group online on a weekly basis. It could be a reading group, sports chat, a history society or craft group – anything that you’re interested in (and the more obscure the interest, the better!). By leading a group you’ll be giving our Better Connected members the chance to connect over a shared interest and form lasting friendships, while learning new things!

This role has a huge amount of creative freedom and you can decide what you do with members on each session. You’ll be supported by our volunteer coordinator, as well as having an assistant on each session.

This role is ideal for you if:

• You’ve got a hobby or passion that you would love to share with people
• You like to talk to people and ask about their day
• You’re confident with video calling apps
• You enjoy working with people with learning disabilities or autism
• You have had experience before as a teacher or session leader
• You have an evening free in your week (but we also welcome daytime volunteers)

Volunteer requirements

• Laptop with webcam
• Recent DBS check (this can be arranged when you apply)

Service: Better Connected
Commitment: From as little as 1 hour a week

What the role involves

The Better Connected service is a friendship service for people with learning disabilities and autism that can be joined from home. It provides a vital way to bring people together who might not otherwise have many social opportunities in their local area.

Our Group Assistants are on hand during a virtual group to help things run smoothly. This involves responding to people in the chat, making sure the right people have their microphones on, and sometimes assisting the Group Leader with the activity they are running. Group Assistants are essential to keeping everyone safe and feeling heard.

Before you assist on your first session you’ll given training from our volunteer coordinator and supported with any doubts or questions you have. This is a great role for people who want to make their first dip into volunteering!

This role is ideal for you if:

• You don’t currently have the confidence or time to be a Group Leader
• You’re confident with video calling apps
• You enjoy working with people with learning disabilities or autism, or would like to get experience in this area
• You have an evening free in your week
• You want to try out volunteering but don’t know where to start
• You’d like to have support in your volunteer role

Volunteer requirements

• Laptop with webcam
• Recent DBS check (this can be arranged when you apply)

Service: Community Support & Connect
Commitment: From as little as 15 minutes a week

What the role involves

Community Support and Connect provides short to medium term support for people who experience mental health issues, in south-west Hertfordshire. We arrange one-to-one support and support groups, aiming to aid recovery through increasing self-confidence, reducing social isolation, and giving emotional and practical support.

Telephone or email support can include spending as little as 10-15 minutes a week to email or telephone a service member. This gives the the member an opportunity to interact with someone, and can help encourage them to increase social networks and enhance their quality of life.

We match individuals with volunteers to give support in their individual recovery journeys. The exact nature of support will vary from person to person.

Before your first session the volunteer coordinator will introduce you to the client. They will then be there to offer support and advice with any doubts or questions you have.

We ask that volunteers do not give their phone numbers to service members, and remember to use 141 before calling.

This role is ideal for you if:

• You like meeting new people
• You are looking for something constructive to do with your spare time
• You would like to help someone improve the quality of their life
• You would like to gain support experience, or put your existing skills into practice

Volunteer requirements

• Telephone and email access
• Some understanding of living with a mental health condition would be useful
• Recent DBS check (this can be arranged when you apply)

Service: Better Connected
Commitment: 2 hours per week

Better Connected provides social opportunities for people with autism and learning disabilities and is the only friendship service of its kind accessible from anywhere in the UK. We run a wide range of online groups, we publish a monthly community magazine, and as lockdown ends we hope to run some of our groups in-person in Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Learn more about Better Connected and our groups

About the role

We would like to expand our service with a number of groups centred on gaming for young adults with autism. Increasing research shows that taking part in collaborative games can have a huge therapeutic benefit -helping to build confidence, social skills, and overcome isolation.

As Roleplaying Game Master you will be responsible for one of our gaming groups, using a roleplaying game called Critical Core to provide a fun and challenging setting where players can roleplay a variety of social situations and build their confidence along the way. Critical Core has been designed specifically for young people with autism and provides a safe sandbox for developing social confidence and communication skills with dignity and autonomy while validating communication styles and building self esteem.

This group will be run over Zoom. We are looking for someone who is able to give a couple of hours a week during the evening to run the group.

What to expect

We expect the campaign to take around 8-12 weeks in total, with the option to run the campaign again with a different group once this period is over.

As part of the Better Connected team you will receive training and support with any aspects of the role you are unsure about.

No personal care is involved and any out of pocket expenses will be reinbursed.

This role is ideal for you if:

• You are passionate about roleplaying games
• You like working with young adults (16-25)

Volunteer requirements

• Personal experience of autism or experience working with people with autism
• Previous experience running a DnD campaign or similar is highly desirable but not required

Service: Better Connected
Commitment: Minimum 4 hours per week

Better Connected provides social opportunities for people with autism and learning disabilities and is the only friendship service of its kind accessible from anywhere in the UK. We run a wide range of online groups, we publish a monthly community magazine, and we run some of our groups in-person in Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Learn more about Better Connected and our groups

About the role

We would like to expand our service with a number of groups centred on gaming for young adults with autism. Increasing research shows that taking part in collaborative games can have a huge therapeutic benefit -helping to build confidence, social skills, and overcome isolation.

Our Minecraft Server provides a welcoming and safe environment where people with a learning disability or autism can play together and make new friends. Our Helpers make this happen by:

• Spending time with new players unfamiliar to the game to help them get started, understand the controls and know their way around the world
• Helping players with any questions they have about the game or supporting them with building projects
• Providing assistance on our weekly “play together” sessions, which could involve a build project, a trip to the nether, or a woodland mansion raid – anything!
• Keeping the environment safe by enforcing our community rules and reporting breaches to the team leader

What to expect

You’ll be part of a friendly team and supported by the team leader in your role. We run our play together sessions through Discord and operate a shared drive to plan our sessions.

As part of the Better Connected team you will receive training and support with any aspects of the role you are unsure about.

No personal care is involved and any out of pocket expenses will be reinbursed.

This role is ideal for you if:

• You are passionate about Minecraft
• You are happy to commit at least one evening per week to the role

Volunteer requirements

• Personal experience of autism or experience working with people with autism
• Enhanced DBS check (can be arranged through Guideposts)