One of the most important things to consider when moving into the area of supported volunteering, is how to create a supportive and inclusive environment for those volunteers with traditional barriers to volunteering.

There are two key messages to remember here:

1. Keep it simple
2. Be flexible

At Volunteer Centre Slough we have recently developed a project to support those with mental health issues into volunteering. Over recent years we have worked with local support agencies and the community mental health team with the view to finding sustainable volunteering roles for their clients. We found that many people were open to the idea of volunteering but were unable to take the first step. As a result of a collaboration with our borough council and funding to develop a similar project we developed the [...]

With our Exploring the Barriers to Vounteering event now less than a month away we wanted to make an effort to point out a few of the groups and organisations out there that are dedicated to supporting members of our communities in dealing with and overcoming many of the same life challenges that are the focus of many supported volunteering projects that we meet. To kick off the process we’d like to introduceto an organisation that we  had hoped to have involved in the Exploring [...]

‘It is not only possible for one human being to make a real and lasting difference to another, it is often the only thing that ever does’. ‘Side by Side’, Council on Social Action, 2008 In this continuation of our series of posts highlighting the resources available from the Mentoring & Befriending Foundation (MBF) we look at the Transforming Lives report from late 2009 which starts off with the quote above before moving on to review the evidence for the impact of mentoring & befriending [...]

The latest bits & bobs that we find in our work – some about supported volunteering, some about other related issues. As always thoughts and observations about any of these stories are welcome below in the comments section ********** This goes beyond just volunteering but the Paisley Daily Express gives us a enlightening story about Graham Watret , a young man with learning difficulties who demonstrates just what a person can achieve despite the barriers they face if given the right support. Not only has Graham [...]