Volunteer with us

We are looking for volunteers to help to contribute to several important areas:

Peer support Volunteer

Key info

• Please note this is a voluntary position

• Deadline for applications: 6th January 2025

• Start date: January 2025

• Hours: Dependent based on availability

• Location: Cambridgeshire

Description of Role

At Cambridge Acorn Project we believe that people with lived experiences of mental health issues, including trauma and adverse life course experiences, have a key role to play in supporting the mental health of others.  As a result, we are looking to train and support (through ongoing supervision) a cohort of peer-to- peer volunteers. Peer volunteers will support our street-level drop in hubs and help to sustain and develop these vital groups. We currently have community drop ins located within Cambridge, Huntingdon, Northstowe and Soham. These provide support to families, children and young people around a variety of presenting issues in a safe and confidential setting. Particularly, we are looking for volunteers in Huntingdon and Soham.

This role builds on our inequality work, utilising the principles of therapeutic engagement and building safe, trusting relationships with families and children to work on practical issues in the here and now. It has a dual focus on tackling inequality whilst also providing emotional support and empathy through shared experience. 

In order to support our volunteers to deliver peer to peer skills, part of the training of this role is provided by an external provider as well as training provided by Cambridge Acorn Project. The training schedule involves online training, spread across three months, so this would be an important consideration in terms of your time commitment and flexibility.

Through this role you will play a vital role in tackling living inequality on the frontline. By engaging with families, offering emotional support alongside key practical tasks you will be playing a vital role. This will help to combat inequality and, alongside that, support the development of a new, innovative, model of practice to help challenge deep and structural injustices.

How to apply

In order to apply for this role, please read the peer to peer volunteer pack and complete the peer to peer application form which you can download below.

Once completed, please email your application to Adriana Burciaga Gonzalez adriana@cambridgeacornproject.org.uk 

Please note that we follow a safe recruitment process and therefore, we cannot accept CVs.

Please do get in touch if you require further information or support with the application process.

Professionals - Volunteer

We are looking to develop an innovative professionals volunteer opportunity for working with children and families who have experienced significant adversity. Our interest lies in qualified professionals with a specialised skillset to tackle inequality and provide timely access to services. We are looking for flexible practitioners who are able to support across a range of opportunities from street-level drop ins to consultation or training for our staff. This can be on an ad hoc basis or more regularly.

This may include professionals such as:

- Educational psychologist

- Clinical psychologist

- Speech and Language Therapists

- Occupational Therapists

- Social workers

- Family workers

- Funding- bids/grant writers

- Media and socials

- Researchers

For more information, please email us at adriana@cambridgeacornproject.org.uk

We are committed to safe and inclusive recruitment

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is at the heart of Cambridge Acorn Project including our safe recruitment processes. We undertake safe recruitment checks on anyone who wants to volunteer with us as we work with children and adults at risk. This means that all our roles which have contact with services users or access to sensitive information, including this position, require an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check as well as two references. Please note, as part of our commitment to safeguarding, we include value-based questions in our interview. For more information on our approach to safeguarding please refer to our terms of service. 

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion

Cambridge Acorn Project believes in a world that is equitable, safe, and free from abuse and coercion and we apply these principles to every part of our organisation fostering equality and inclusion in everything we do. We promote a culture of respect and a sense of belonging for all staff, volunteers, and service users where everyone is free to be themselves. We value lived experience, and we welcome applications from people with marginalised identities or experiences. Cambridge Acorn Project is a warm, flexible, and supportive organisation, and we want to work within a diverse collegiate team where everyone’s opinion and experience matters, and everyone has a voice.

We would be happy to make access adjustments as needed for interviews (and in the workplace). Please indicate your access needs for interview on the application form or, if you would prefer to speak to us directly, contact Hannah Chapman hannah.chapman@cambridgeacornproject.org.uk If you require the volunteer pack and/or application in an alternative format please contact us on the email above.

Data Protection

Cambridge Acorn Project processes data in line with The Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR. For more information, please see our terms of service.