Volunteering with us

At Silk house, we believe it is really important to support our patients who are living with Dementia. Service users on Silk ward are often in the end stages of dementia but can still benefit significantly from stimulating interaction, social engagement and happiness that can be gained from something as simple as a hand-massage or hairdressing treatment.

We are looking for volunteers – even if it’s a few hours a week – who can support us and the people who are living with Dementia in our care. The post holder would support inpatient service users and the Occupational Therapy team with carrying out self-care and pamper interventions such as hairdressing, hand massage and nail painting. This role directly supports service users in a very practical way to encourage motivation for self-care and to maintain previous levels of beauty care.

Volunteer role description - Beauty Therapist volunteer (pdf)

Register your interest for this position.

Lived Experience Connector® volunteers are people who have personal experience of accessing services. They volunteer with us and will use their skills to describe to students at Chester University their own experiences of receiving care, sharing about their emotions, feelings, fears, hopes, and concerns. Hearing first-hand about people’s lived experience of care will help the students to reflect on their own clinical practice, to develop good relational skills, and will help them to give the best possible person-centred care when they graduate.

Volunteer role description - Lived Experience Connector® volunteer (pdf)

Register your interest for this position.

The post holder would provide a voluntary hairdressing service for some of our inpatients on our older people’s ward in the Bowmere Hospital.

The volunteer hairdresser will only cut, wash, set and blow dry service user’s hair. They will not be allowed to use clippers, razors, straighteners or heated rollers.
 

Volunteer role description - Hairdresser Volunteer (pdf)

Register your interest for this position.

Join the Level Up Lead Provider Collaborative (LPC) Lived Experience Forum, a group of people (Adults) 18 plus, with lived experience of Tier 4 Specialist Mental Health Inpatient Services. Who are empowered to play a full and active role as equal partners in driving service change.

Volunteer role description - Level Up Lived Experience Volunteer 18+

Click here to apply

The Level up Forum has been created to give young people with experience of Tier 4 services the opportunity to create and review new articles, leaflets, information, website information. To create poetry, creative writing, artwork with a focus on improving Tier 4 specialist mental health services.  You are the experts, and we want to hear your views. The Level up Forum has been created to give young people with experience of Tier 4 services the opportunity to create and review new articles, leaflets, information, website information. To create poetry, creative writing, artwork with a focus on improving Tier 4 specialist mental health services.  You are the experts, and we want to hear your views.

Volunteer role description - Level Up Lived Experience Volunteer 13 -18 age group

To apply for this role please contact the Patient & Carer Experience Team cwp.volunteering@nhs.net 

The EmpoweED Forum has been created to give people with lived experience of using eating disorder services as an inpatient or in community the opportunity to create and review new articles, leaflets, information, and website information. To bring your own, unique lived experience of eating disorders / using ED services to support the EmpowerED Lead Provider Collaborative to ensure the voices of service users, carers & families are heard.

Volunteer role description - EmpowerED Lived Experience Forum Volunteer

Click here to apply

Join the Helix Lead Provider Collaborative (LPC) Lived Experience Forum, a group of people (Adults) with lived experience of perinatal services. Who are empowered to play a full and active role as equal partners in driving service change.

Role Description - Helix Lived Experience Forum Volunteer

Click here to apply

We are looking for someone who can help our Occupational Therapy Service care for two Mini Lop Rabbits.

The post holder would support the Occupational Therapy (OT) team with delivering a person-centred service.  Throughout the week the OT service provides young people with a range of activities which require various items, which you will be tasked to source.   

Role description - Occupational Therapy Pet and Activity Volunteer

Click here to apply

If you are interested in volunteering with us, you can get in touch via email at cwp.volunteering@nhs.net or phone us on 01244 393 173.

When you first get in touch, please let us know answers to the following questions. This will assist us in finding a suitable volunteering role for you.

What are your goals for volunteering? 

Knowing more about your motivations and expectations will assist us in finding a suitable opportunity for you. We also ask this because sometimes people contact us asking for volunteering opportunities, when they are actually looking for some work experience. These two options have very different application processes, so we want to ensure we are pointing you in the right direction.

What is your availability?

We ask our volunteers to commit to a minimum of six months with us to begin with. Are there any particular days or times that you would prefer to volunteer with us? We do also aim to be flexible in how we tailor our volunteering roles, so that we can accommodate each individual person’s needs.

What is your age?

Please note that you must be aged 18 or above to volunteer with us.

Where are you based?

Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is based at more than 60 different sites across the whole of Cheshire and the Wirral. We aim to identify suitable volunteering opportunities in areas close to where people are based.

Please note that we experience a high level of demand for volunteering opportunities at our Trust, and regretfully this means we cannot accommodate all volunteering requests that we receive. This could mean that at the present time we may not have a suitable volunteering opportunity available for you, but we will certainly do our best!

We are also unable to take on new volunteers without having both a clear Volunteer Role Description for you and a named member of staff who has capacity to supervise you. This is because it is vitally important to us that the volunteering experience is meaningful for our volunteers and also for our staff.

• I wish to pursue a career as a mental health nurse, the VtC programme has given me the opportunity to explore the options available to achieving my goal.
• The VtC programme has given me the opportunity to experience volunteering in an area I am passionate about and opened doors to employment. I have gained a temporary role with CWP and start a physiotherapy degree later this year.
• Volunteering at CWP has helped me gain the experience I needed in working within mental health, and helped me on my way to finding a career as a health and wellbeing coach.
• All the staff fully appreciate the work I do, and I am made to feel part of the team.
• Since becoming a volunteer with CWP my confidence has grown and I have made a few friends along the way!
• I decided to volunteer with CWP to give something back to the Trust that had provided me with invaluable support over the years.
• As a volunteer, I really enjoy working one-to-one, reading the newspaper or having a good chat; I love finding out about the residents and their lives and family. Being a volunteer is incredibly rewarding.