Missing People Website
Call Missing People on 0500 700 700. 24 hour confidential Freefone service.
- about us:
- history
- strategic Plan
- impact report
- annual accounts
- directors
- trustees
- patrons
- spokespeople
- jobs
- volunteer
- Internships
- contact us
- frequently asked questions
- student enquiries
Message Home and Runaway Helpline Volunteer (16 - 24)
Department: Services
Hours: A shift of four hours every week would be preferred, but this can be discussed. You can volunteer any day of the week between 10am-10pm.
Location: East Sheen, South West London
Are you friendly and good at dealing with people? Want to learn some new skills and benefit a charity? Perhaps you want to study counselling or psychology or are looking for a career in it? You will be offered a training course and lots of support. You will be able to add the experience to your CV and look more appealing to employees.
Message Home and Runaway Helpline
Runaway Helpline is a helpline, email and text service, for young people who have run away from home or care, or been forced to leave home. Message Home is a helpline and email service for adults who have left home or who are missing.
Both helplines are open day and night, are free to call, national, and confidential.
Volunteers are trained to answer both helplines when they are on shift, and reply to emails and text messages from people needing help.
Duties and about the role:
- With lots of support from the Supervisor, you will be:
- Responding to people who phone, email and text Message Home and Runaway Helpline
- Listening to a caller and finding out what help they may need
- Thinking of options available to a caller
- Passing on messages from a caller to their family or carers
- Contacting social services, the police or other agencies on behalf of the caller
- Giving out helpful information on other organisations to the caller, where necessary
- Logging calls on our database
- Talking through calls, emails and texts with a Supervisor
Essential skills, abilities or qualifications:
You do not need any qualifications or previous experience of working on a helpline, however, you will need the following skills:
- Excellent communication and listening skills, both verbal and non verbal
- Fluent spoken and written English
- Calm, understanding and non-judgmental
- Able to use a computer
Training and support
Before being trained, you will need to complete the steps in the ‘next steps’ section below. The training course consists of 20 hours, run over week nights and/or weekends. After the training course, volunteers will start an induction on the helpline which happens over several shifts, totaling 11 hours. You will listen into helpline calls before taking calls yourself with lots of support from a Supervisor. Volunteers are also asked to come along to any ongoing training sessions, talks by other organisations or volunteer meetings that are organised throughout the year.
There is always a Supervisor on shift with you, giving you lots of support and talking through your calls, emails and text messages during your shift and at the end of it. We meet with you after four months of you starting on the helpline. This is to find out how you are getting on with your volunteering and to make sure you are happy. We meet with volunteers several times a year to check you are getting enough support or need any further training and to discuss any questions you might have, and to let you know how you are doing.
Next steps
If you are interested in the Message Home and Runaway Helpline volunteer role, you need to:
1. Complete an application form. This can be downloaded from www.missingpeople.org.uk/uploads/files/volunteer_application__equal_opps.doc
If you are aged 16-17, you will need to print the form, ask a parent or guardian to sign it and post it to us. If you are over 18, you can complete this online and email it to volunteer@missingpeople.org.uk
2. When we receive your application form and if you are what we are looking for, we will contact you for a short chat on the phone.
3. All going well, you will be invited to a selection session. This is a chance for you to find out more about the charity, volunteering and training. It is also a chance for us to find out more about you and if you would be suitable to volunteer on our helplines. During the session you will be given some tasks to complete and will have an interview.
4. You would then need to complete a training course before volunteering. We have a trial period for all volunteers at Missing People.
More information
If you need any further information on volunteering having viewed our website, please email volunteer@missingpeople.org.uk or call our volunteer line 020 8392 4550.
Our contact address is: Volunteering, Missing People, Roebuck House, 284 Upper Richmond Road West, London SW14 7JE
