Volunteering

At BID Services we value the dedication and commitment that comes from our Volunteers, who all make a recognisable difference to the lives of the people we support.

Whatever skills you have we are confident these can be transferred to make a difference to others, providing the opportunity to have fun, meet new people, and gain new experiences; in return we offer professional supervision, support and training opportunities.

There are a range of volunteering opportunities at BID Services for example, becoming actively involved with projects for young people, assisting with social groups, befriending, event support or undertaking administration tasks.

Please check the Vacancies section of the website to find out what volunteer opportunities we are currently recruiting into; this is updated regularly but if you do not find what you are looking for, please enquire with the department direct within BID Services that you are interested in volunteering or contact us via email to jobs@bid.org.uk.

What does a Befriender do?

• Providing support in the Community which might be accompanying a person on public transport so that they can access and enjoy a leisure activity, attend a local event, go shopping, or just going out for a coffee and a chat.
• Providing communication support in the home to Deaf and Harding of Hearing people for example making routine telephone calls, explaining any letters or just having a conversation with someone who is normally isolated about topics of interest.

What do our current Befrienders and Service Users say?

“I was quite confident with my signing skills but soon realised I knew very little in the way of Deaf Culture, working as a Befriender has given me so much knowledge and satisfaction supporting on a one to one”

“Working as a befriender has helped me develop my skills as and understanding of Deafness as I work towards my career aim of being an interpreter” 

“The Befriender that supported me helped me gain confidence to do activities that I had been talking about doing for a long time  ...now with support I am actually setting goals and doing things that I just talked about doing before”