Family Support - Helpline Support (Sendiass Portsmouth)

Barnardo’s is committed to providing ‘Better Outcomes for More Children’. Our children’s services volunteers help the charity to deliver essential services in local communities, providing support to over 300,000 children, young people and their families. This role provides a great opportunity to join our fantastic children’s services and help make a real difference. **Barnardo’s Family Support - Helpline Volunteers** provide an essential support service to children and families in our local communities. Our volunteers provide confidential and impartial information, advice and support for parents, carers, children and young people (up to 25 years) about local services and provision that may be useful to them. Contact will be mainly through our helpline, but may also be via email or face to face on occasion. **Barnardo’s SENDIASS Helpline Support volunteers** provide telephone information, advice and support to children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and to their parents and carers. Barnardo’s Helpline Support volunteers will be part of Barnardo's Portsmouth Special Education Needs and Disability Information and Advice Service (known as SENDIASS), providing information, advice and support to children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and/or a disability and their parents and carers. You will be part of a team responding to calls to our helpline, taking time to understand the issue or query the family wants help with, offering advice and information, signposting to other support and passing more complex queries onto the SENDIASS Advisors. You will need to keep clear records and be comfortable using a computer or laptop. A key part of the role is providing a listening ear to parents, children and young people, and offering impartial advice. We are looking for volunteers who are excellent communicators, with some knowledge or understanding of special educational needs or a willingness to learn. Ideally volunteers will commit to at least six months to help us provide a consistent service. All volunteers will need to complete a two-day IPSEA training programme as part of their role. We are looking for volunteers to respond to enquiries, who are excellent communicators and looking to make a difference in the lives of young people and their families.
Barnardo's protects, supports and nurtures the UK's most vulnerable children. Barnardo's helps bring out the best in children – no matter who they are or what they have been through. Our volunteers help make this happen.

• Tasks: Providing information and advice to children and young people who access our service via our helpline..
  Encouraging children and families to access resources, groups and activities within their local community, such as after school activities, youth groups, and sports clubs.
  Promoting and encouraging service users to make active choices and informed decisions.
  Providing emotional/moral support for children and families, while maintaining an appropriate volunteer/service user rapport.
  Adhering to Barnardo's policies and procedures at all times, including Barnardo's: Safeguarding; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; Health & Safety; Data Protection; Confidentiality; Recording policies and procedures.
  Participating fully in training and supervision.
  Volunteering within Barnardo's Values and Behaviours.

• Skills: Reliable, punctual and trustworthy.
  Approachable and welcoming.
  Good communication skills and ability to support children and families from a range of backgrounds.
  The ability to ask questions and take feedback.
  Good IT skills and be computer literate.
  Flexible, committed and responsive to the needs of young people and families accessing the service.
  Being self-disciplined, self-motivated and self-reliant.

• Benefits: Full induction and training.
  Other training opportunities relevant to the volunteer role.
  Regular supervision and support.
  Out of pocket expenses agreed in advance.
  Access to the Barnardo’s internal vacancy listing.
  Our volunteers tell us about lots of other benefits of volunteering including; experience of working with children, young people and families; experience for your CV; supporting your local community; meeting new people; increasing self-confidence; feeling like you are making a difference; improving your health and wellbeing; and a chance to contribute to a worthwhile children’s charity.

Disclaimer: We look to recruit a diverse range of volunteers. If your skills don't fit the role exactly, please do not let this put you off as we are able to be flexible with most of our roles. If you are unable to apply online through the link on this page, please contact the Barnardo's Volunteering Team on volunteering@barnardos.org.uk or call us on 0208 498 7320