Grief Support Volunteer

Sparkachange; Bridgwater; On-site; GBP 10,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A supportive charity organization in Bridgwater seeks volunteers to help grieving children. This role involves providing one-on-one support and guiding children through creative activities to express their feelings. Ideal candidates should have experience working with children and be available to train and assist during school hours. Volunteers will receive training and resources to effectively support children in their grief journey.

Benefits

Training sessions

Reimbursement of costs

Peer support and supervision

Qualifications

• Previous experience with children is preferred.
• Willingness to undertake training.
• Ability to provide one-to-one support during school hours.

Responsibilities

• Support children to explore their loss through fun activities.
• Provide a safe space for children to talk about their loved ones.
• Conduct a series of six 1-hour sessions with each child.

Skills

Experience working with children

Communication skills

Empathy

Job description

We offer support to children and their families in Somerset when someone special has died. We are a small charity; formed by a group of professionals who know how important it is for children to have the opportunity of support in their grief.

Bridgwater, Somerset, England, United Kingdom

Summary

Helping children to explore their loss through fun activities and providing a space for them to talk about a loved one.

Detailed description

We are a small charity formed by a group of professionals who know how important it is for children to have the opportunity of support in their grief.

Our volunteers work face to face with children on a one‑to‑one basis within schools. They help children explore their loss through fun activities and by providing a safe and supported space for them to talk about their loved one.

This is a really rewarding and fun role and would suit people who have some experience of working with children, who are happy to undertake training, and are available to support children during school hours.

Over a series of six 1‑hour sessions, using a mixture of talking and creative activities, we offer a safe and supported space for children, on a 1‑to‑1 basis, to express and explore their grief, whilst developing coping strategies.

You will be offered training (four half days including safeguarding and understanding grief), peer support, supervision, expenses for mileage, and resources; and of course the knowledge that you will be making a huge difference in the life of a grieving child.

We work with schools across the county of Somerset and welcome applications from all, but are particularly looking for volunteers in the North and West of the county.

Our next series of training sessions begin in March.

What volunteers need

• Disclosure and Barring Service check

What we will provide to volunteers

• Reimbursement of costs

Getting there

We recruit across Somerset but we are particularly looking for volunteers from Bridgwater.

Support through three main areas

• Little Bags of Help – direct to families; each bag contains fun and easy‑to‑use resources and activities to help children, parents and carers with their grief.
• One‑to‑one support for children and young people. We offer a series of 1‑hour sessions with each child, where they can explore their grief and develop coping strategies through a mixture of talking and creative activities.
• Grief First Aid – a 2‑hour course designed to help schools and other professionals understand the impacts of grief on a child.