Choices Advocacy
Choices Advocacy provides an advocacy service for people with learning difficulties in the Southampton and South West Hampshire area.
Volunteers are trained to support people in speaking up for themselves, making choices and decisions, and to understand how to resolve complaints and disuptes, in order for them to take control of their own lives.
MIND (Appropriate Adult Scheme)
MIND believes in promoting the rights and well being of people affected by mental health problems and mental distress.
Volunteers will act as appropriate adults in circumstances where vulnerable adults come into contact with the police. In these situations, the appropriate adult will sit in on the interviews, ensuring that the vulnerable person is treated fairly and understands what is going on, whilst helping to facilitate communication.
National Association for Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO)
NACRO's vision is a safer society where everyone belongs, human rights are respected, and preventing crime means tackling social exclusion and re-integrating those who offend.
Volunteers can help in many different ways, such as aiding as mentors to ex-offenders and helping them to turn their lives around.
Nightline
Southampton Nightline is a confidential listening and information service for members of Southampton University, Solent University and their affiliated sites. The service is staffed from 8pm - 8am by students working on a purely voluntary basis. Every member of the Nightline team manning the phones has undergone a period of intensive training, and has a wide range of resources and further contacts available to them.
The Nighline website can be visited here
No Limits
No Limits is an Information, Advice and Counselling service for young people in Southampton aged 13 - 25. Volunteer intakes are held two or three times a year. Full training is given (4 days, held on Saturdays) and due to the cost involved in training an individual, volunteers are expected to give 3.5 hours of their time per week once trained.
Rainer Wessex Restorative Justice Service
Are you interested in working with young people and helping the local community reduce crime and anti-social behaviour?
Rainer runs the Wessex Restorative Justice Serivce across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in partnership with SERCO and Motiv8 on behalf of the Wessex Youth Offending Team (YOT).
Volunteers are vitally important to the Restorative Justice Service and Rainer is committed to supporting volunteers working with both young people and victims. You will received accredited training and on-going supervision and support. Volunteers have a full induction and in return are asked to committee around ten hours a month to their volunteering.
Ready to Start
Entrepreneurial and business minded students are needed to help out with the Ready to Start programme which is a nationwide project (a partnership between Leonard Cheshire and Barclays) aimed at providing support for disabled people to start their own business. Volunteers would need to commit 4 hours a month for 6 months and need to have some commercial experience. This volunteering is about spending regular time together, giving support, being a good listener, helping reduce isolation and enjoying yourself! It is not about trying to solve all the clients’ problems, making judgements about their behaviour, feeling responsible for clients decisions or actions. We want clients to make their own decisions, not to be totally dependent on you!
Samaritans
Samaritans provides confidential non-judgemental support, 24 hours a day for people experiencing feeligns of distress or despair, including those which could lead to suicide. Samaritans is wholly dependant on volunteers, who are needed to develop their listening skills through joining a Samaritans Initial Training Programme and becoming one of their valued volunteers who help to suppor tthe 20,000 + people who contact the Southampton branch each year.
Please note that due to the resources inovlved in delivering the Samaritans training, this opportunity is best suited to those who are able to make a regular, longer term committment.
Victim Support South Western District
Volunteers are trained to give emotional support, information and practical help to people who have suffered the effects of all kinds of crime - from burglary to the murder of a relative.
Volunteers provide support over the telephone and also visit people in their homes. They help by allowing victims to talk through their feelings about the crime, give information about any practical and personal issues, and help victims find their own ways to overcome the effects of the crime.
Volunteers need to be available for about 4 hours a week, although actual hours can be flexible and can include weekends and evenings. We expect a committment of 2 years as the training is thorough and expensive. Further training is required for supporting victims of serious crimes.
Youth Justice Board for England and Wales
People like you could be a volunteer Youth Offender Panel Member.
If you want to see less crime in your community, have an opportunity to make your community safer, have the satisfaction of ensuring that victims are listened to and make a difference to a young person's life, then becoming a volunteer Youth Offender Panel member could be your way of making a difference.
If you are over 18 years of age, and have patience, good judgement, commitment and realiability, good listending and communication skills and the ability to relate to young people, then becoming part of this ground-breaking way of tackling youth crime and its consequences could be for you.