Volunteering Opportunity: Female Helpline Volunteer with Herts Area Rape Crisis & Sexual Abuse Centre

Herts Area Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Centre, (HARCSAC), provides a free and confidential service run by women, for women over the age of eighteen who live in the Hertfordshire area.

We are only able to do this because of the commitment of our volunteers. The service is currently run by fourteen women plus three part-time paid staff. Some of our volunteers act as Trustees alongside their volunteering role and some choose only to work with
clients.

Our volunteers come from a wide range of ages and backgrounds as do our clients and so we welcome applications from any women willing to invest time in this worthwhile work.

We provide face to face support at our Centre in Hatfield and video support to women who
cannot attend the Centre. We offer daytime or evening appointments according to our and the client’s availability.

We are recruiting 3 Helpline volunteers who will be on-call on a flexible 3 weekly rota.

Opportunity Type: Long-term Commitment

District: Welwyn/Hatfield

Location: From your office, From home, Indoor

Time of day: To Be Discussed

Practical Considerations: What you can expect as a Volunteer

In return for the time you invest with HARCSAC, you will receive high quality specialised training,
the opportunity to be part of a committed and friendly team and have the satisfaction that you
are making a real difference to the lives of women who have survived sexual violence.

Experience

No formal qualifications or specific experience are necessary, but an awareness of women’s
issues is essential.

Volunteers will show a willingness to undertake further training as necessary and keep up to date
with key issues and debates in this field as part of their ongoing personal development.

Successful candidates will show a commitment to the aims and values of the charity and be able
to comply with an enhanced DBS (formerly CRB) check


Volunteer Training

All of our volunteers participate in a full and thorough preparation training. An outline of the
course is contained in this pack.

Training will take place on Thursday evenings over an 11-week period starting in September and
will involve large and small group work and some reading at home.

The work that you do during the training will be continuously assessed and you may be invited
to a selection interview at the end of the course.

In addition you will be provided with training in relation to helpline procedures and processes.
You will report to a Trustee.

After the course

If you join the charity, you will be assigned a mentor who will support you through the induction
process.

Group Days

Group days are generally used for training and development purposes or social occasions. They
typically occur two or three times per year and are usually held on a Saturday.

Trustees

Trustees are responsible for how the organisation is run and managed. Opportunities to become a Trustee will come up from time to time and if you are interested in helping to run the organisation you may wish to apply. Training will be provided for this role

Requirements: Relevant qualification or training

Suitable for: Aged 26 and over, Older People

Suitable for volunteers interested in: Crisis Support, Domestic Violence/Abuse, Mental Health

Does this opportunity provide wheelchair access?: No

Full Description:
The role of the Helpline Volunteers is to:

- Remotely access the helpline for one week at a time checking for messages c3 times per day. Messages may be responded to at the volunteer’s convenience, unless urgent, but ideally within the same day.

- Provide an empathetic and professional first point of contact using listening and
questioning skills appropriately.

- Forward business/non client messages to Admin for a response.

Female Helpline Volunteer
Date: June 2025 / Review: June 2028 Page 2 of 3

- Respond to simple enquiries by adapting and using standard responses where
appropriate.

- Forward assessment enquiries to ‘on-call’ Support Specialist.

- Log time spent on helpline activity and communicate this clearly and promptly to Admin

- Act as a communication hub between Support Specialists and clients where email/text is
the only communication option.

- Notify Support Specialists of client messages.

- Provide sign posting information.

- Update database in relation to existing clients as appropriate.

- Take responsibility for own welfare by seeking support from designated Trustee or other Support Specialists when needed.

You will be expected to attend weekly peer supervision meetings which are held between 7.30 – 9.30pm on a Thursday evening in order to keep us updated about the helpline activity and complete a hand-over. This is a friendly, safe space for us all to learn through constructive feedback and exchange of ideas which helps us develop new skills and techniques and deliver the best possible service to our clients. You will be expected to attend these meetings regularly. One Thursday evening per month, the group has clinical supervision with a BACP qualified supervisor

Person Specification
▪ Knowledge:

▪ An understanding of, and a willingness to learn, about how we support the needs of adult women survivors of rape/sexual abuse/childhood sexual abuse.

Skills:

▪ Good listening and communication skills both written and verbal including the willingness to speak on the phone.

▪ Self -motivation

▪ Good interpersonal skills

▪ Reliability

▪ Ability to work as a team member

▪ High-level of self-awareness

Attributes:

▪ Honesty

▪ Empathy

▪ Sense of humour

▪ Non-judgemental