Hull Befriending Volunteer

Employer – Kids

Contract – Volunteer Work

Location – Hull Befriending Service, flexible:

• Office (182 Chanterlands Avenue, Hull, HU5 4DJ)
• Meetings – as required, online or in person; locations vary, across the city
• Working from home

About Kids

We’re here for children and young people with special education needs and disabilities, young carers and families. We’re on a mission to create a world where all kinds of children and young people have all kinds of opportunities. We create life-changing opportunities by providing a wide range of support. Together, we’ll empower disabled children and families to stand up for their rights.

Can you spare a few hours as a Befriending Volunteer?

You will be helping to support disabled children, young people and their families. This is a great opportunity to develop your skills in a rewarding role, and gain a strong sense of achievement.

Hull Befriending service offers support and guidance to parent carers within the Hull boundary offering emotional and practical advice to parent carers in need 

Our befrienders offer a compassionate hand during the SEND parent’s journey. They know that discovering your own child’s disability or facing tough times can be hard because they have been there themselves.

The Role:

Duties may include all or some of the following, depending on your interests and skillset:

1. General administrative support 

• Updating our database using our internal systems
• Sending out support emails to support the service delivery
• Maintaining the safe and secure filing of personal data at all times
• Monitoring and recording contacts with the service (phone calls, voicemails, emails)

 2. Focused support

• Supporting parents with attending groups, signposting to useful services and offering emotional support when required, by face to face events, phone/video calls or email
• You will be a parent carer yourself and bring lived experience to the role

3. Training and publicity

• Supporting at our training sessions and support events (coffee mornings etc.) for parents.
• Attending events such as school SEND coffee mornings to publicise the service and offer information, advice and support to attendees

Personal Qualities:

Essential

• Lived experience as a parent carer of a chIld with SEND

Please note these are desirable but not essential

• Experience of working with/supporting families of disabled children and young people
• Being a confident communicator
• Being a confident IT user, with the ability to navigate bespoke database systems; MS Outlook; MS Excel and MS Word
• Having great interpersonal skills
• Having confidence and enthusiasm to offer help and information to service users
• Having the ability to travel independently to and from events