Choosing to spend your free time giving your skills and energy to others is incredibly powerful. Join us and make a difference in your community!
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View OpportunitiesHow can you make a difference?
Discover how you can help make a difference by giving your time, using your skills, or sharing your lived experience, to make a real impact on the lives of many.
From a friendly chat that brightens someone's day to helping someone build confidence for the future, volunteers make a powerful difference at Social Interest Group.
Our volunteers' time and kindness help create safe, welcoming spaces where residents and participants feel valued, supported, and ready to take positive steps forward. Small actions really can spark big change, and we are incredibly proud of their contributions to our work.
Right now, our volunteers collectively give around 172 hours of support every week — that's 8,944 hours a year of encouragement, connection and community-building that goes above and beyond what our staff offer. Their support truly transforms lives.
Take a look at our different opportunities for how you can volunteer with us.
Volunteer opportunities
Peer Mentor
Do you have a personal journey that others could learn from? Are you open to sharing your lived experience to inspire hope and support positive change?
As a Peer Mentor, you'll share your own story to motivate others, build their confidence, and help them take meaningful steps forward. You'll be a friendly role model, showing people that change is possible and that brighter futures are within reach.
We have services which specialise in:
- Mental Health
- Substance Use
- Criminal Justice
- Homelessness
- Women's Refuge
- Offender Personality Disorder
Community Navigator
Our Community Navigators provide one-to-one support to help individuals discover local groups, activities, and opportunities that boost wellbeing and reduce isolation.
These feelings of community connection can be a vital support in someone's recovery.
You might offer encouragement, help plan next steps, or even attend sessions alongside someone until they feel comfortable — whatever helps them get started.
We're looking for people who:
- Know the community of the service well
- Are good at encouraging others to try new things
- Can hear and understand the needs of others and support them to find the right resources
Activities Volunteer
Do you enjoy bringing people together, having fun, and trying new things?
Join us as an Activities Volunteer and help create sessions that spark creativity, boost confidence, and build social connections.
You can lead or support a wide range of activities, including art, cooking, pampering sessions, gardening, games, football, yoga, walking groups and more. Whatever your interests, there's a group that will benefit from your energy and ideas.
Opportunity Coach
Our Opportunity Coaches offer one-to-one support to help individuals take their next steps in learning and work.
You could help someone study for a qualification, improve their CV, prepare for interviews, or explore volunteering and employment opportunities that match their interests and goals. If you're patient, encouraging, and enjoy empowering others to reach their potential, this role could be a great fit.
Befriending and Social Connection Volunteer
Do you enjoy good chat, shared interests, and helping people feel less alone?
As a Befriending and Social Connections Volunteer, you'll build meaningful one-to-one connections that engage our residents and participants, helping them feel present and develop a sense of community.
You might meet for a coffee, visit a museum together, play musical instruments, or enjoy exercise or gym sessions — whatever you both enjoy.
A friendly conversation and fun activity can really turn someone's week around. Improve wellbeing and have fun whilst doing so.
Life Skills Volunteer
As a Life Skills Volunteer, you'll provide one-to-one or group support to help people build essential everyday skills and maintain their tenancy.
This can include budgeting and bill management, cleaning routines, room resets, basic DIY, and other practical tasks that strengthen confidence and independence.
Your support will help individuals feel more capable, organised, and ready to manage day-to-day life successfully.
Your skills support someone else's future independence.
Why Volunteer With Us?
When you volunteer with us, you join a supportive community where your contribution matters. Your skills, time and experiences can open doors, build confidence and spark positive change for others and for you.
You'll have access to ongoing guidance from our team, reflective practice, volunteer expenses, and regular get-togethers to connect, share and try new things. Join us and grow alongside a community that celebrates everything you bring.
We'd love to continue growing our volunteering community and strengthening the support we offer together. You can be part of that journey. Explore our current opportunities or get in touch to find a role that feels right for you.
Your involvement could spark the next incredible story.
How can I get started?
At Social Interest Group, we're committed to making volunteering accessible to everyone. We take an inclusive, person-centred approach and will work with you to tailor roles and make reasonable adjustments so you can get involved in a way that feels right for you.
People choose to volunteer for all kinds of reasons, and we're proud to support you at every stage of that journey so you can get the most out of your experience with us.
Follow these simple steps to become part of our volunteer community
Browse our range of roles. Some are specific requests from services, while others are more flexible and open to the skills, interests and experience you'd like to offer.
Not sure about the roles available? Do you want to bring your own ideas about how you can volunteer? Send your speculative application here: Link to volunteer speculative.
Complete the online application form for your chosen role to let us know you're interested.
- Click here to read our Volunteer Recruitment Policy.
- Click here for inclusive support and guidance on Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, including applying to volunteer with a criminal record.
We'll invite you to a short, friendly 10-minute phone call where we can share more about the opportunity and learn a little about you and what's motivated you to volunteer.
If you've applied for one of our speculative volunteer roles, we'll use this time to match you with a suitable opportunity within one of our services.
This is an in-person visit to the service where you'd be volunteering. It's a great chance for you to get a feel for the setting and decide whether the role and service feel like the right fit for you.
If it feels like a good match on both sides, we'll move ahead with the paperwork to get you started. If it's not quite the right fit, we'll explore other opportunities that might suit your skills, interests and goals.
The background checks and mandatory training can vary but could include a DBS, collecting references, and a health assessment, depending on the service and volunteer role you have chosen.
We'll guide you through each step, making sure you feel confident, informed and fully prepared.
We're excited to help you get started and welcome you into the SIG volunteer community.