Refuge Interpreting  Volunteer

The decision to flee where you are living and come to refuge is a complex and difficult one for women and their children.  It can be a time of increased risk and Solace wants to support women to make this move as quickly and safely as possible.  Volunteers are essential in helping us take calls from women seeking refuge, take referrals and match them up to spaces in our refuges in London.  Where possible, giving the woman choice over available spaces and helping everything happen as smoothly as possible. 

About the Role

In this role, you will speak to women at a critical time in their journey to recovery.  The work is fast paced and sometimes complex.  This is an ideal role for those who have strong organisational skills, resilience, a non-judgmental attitude and can juggle several admin tasks at any one time.  The reward is knowing that you have significantly helped women and her children reach a place of safety and begin her recovery.

Activities in this role will include:

• Taking initial enquiries from women seeking our services and respond effectively in an empathic and empowering way providing in-formation about the service, to enable  women to make informed decisions
• Providing emotional support and offer routes of support to those women whose first language is  from  either of the communities below:

Turkish , Arabic, South Asian Communities including: Hindi, Gujarati, Oromo, Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali African Including the following; Swahili, Yoruba, Somali and Twi

• Providing some basic risk assessment, safety planning and signposting where it is not possible for us to accept a referral and signpost to other services .
• Effective partnership working with professionals to advocate support
• Ensuring the service is inclusive to  meets the needs of all women, including language, culture, disability, sexuality, literacy, and mental health.
• Ensuring that we record and capture data  that is relevant to the individuals needs and which can be used for equality monitoring purposes.
• Providing women who are already in refuge accommodation with some advocacy in their own language.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a volunteer who is:

• Approachable with good interpersonal skills.
• Non-judgemental.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Reliable, flexible with good time management.
• Self-motivated (able to carry out tasks unsupervised).
• Flexibility regarding variety of tasks associated with the role.
• An interest in or understanding of domestic/sexual violence and its impact on women and children.
• Computer literate

What can you gain from this opportunity?

As part of this role, you will have the opportunity to:

• Gain experience and understanding the administrative side of running a counselling service
• Expand your understanding of domestic abuse, sexual violence and all forms of VAWG and its effect on women and children.
• Play a pivotal role in delivering services.
• Gain hands on experience in a dynamic charity working in the Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector.
• Work as part of a feminist organisation

We offer great volunteer induction training, where you will be fully supported to understand and carry put every aspect of the role. Training includes CPD accredited courses, and the opportunity to apply to complete the Tackling and Preventing Domestic Abuse Award (DAPA), which is recognized by the Home Office.

How to apply

Please read the Volunteer Role Description before you attempt to fill out the application form.

Please complete the Volunteer Application Form and ensure you clearly state the role you are applying for.

Please complete the Volunteer Equality Monitoring Form.

Send the completed Application Form & Monitoring Form along with your current CV to volunteering@solacewomensaid.org.

Please note that our volunteer opportunities are open to women only (exempt under the Equality Act 2010, Schedule 9, Part 1), and that these volunteer roles are exempt from the rehabilitation of offenders act 1974 and subject to enhanced DBS checks where applicable.

Applications which are incomplete will not be reviewed. All our roles are during office hours only unless stated otherwise.