With our services team
We have a range of volunteering roles available to directly support our service teams who are there for the children and young people facing cancer. These are special roles and we’re looking for special people to join our team. Interested? Scroll down to see what’s available near you.
Volunteering with our services teams and with the children and young people we support is an important part of what we do. Each role is designed to blend with the service our staff team are already delivering to create the best possible impact. For these roles we do ask for a level of commitment and for you to bring certain experiences and skills – it’s important that you are the right person for the role and that the role is the right one for you. In return we’ll make sure you have a full induction and training, as well as ongoing support and reports on the impact you are making.
Take a look at the roles we have available now and complete the application form below to apply.
This role is based at Paul’s House with the UCLH team in London WC1
Why we need you:
We’re here to make sure children and young people with cancer get the right support at the right time and we do this through tailored psychosocial support and by ensuring that their voices and their unique needs are heard and understood.
We are often involved from the point of diagnosis and can provide support all the way through a cancer journey. Young lives vs cancer social work teams provide social, emotional and practical support to young people and families.
A cancer diagnosis brings extra expense from day one. Every child or young person with a cancer diagnosis has a short-term disability and needs to apply for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payments (PIP). The forms are long and complex and sometimes families need advice or support to ensure they include enough information to receive the correct level of financial support.
Your empathy, understanding and ability to identify the key information to enable families and young people to claim financial assistance will have a tremendous impact easing stress and allowing them to concentrate on supporting themselves physically and emotionally.
You will be an important part of the team and provide practical support to young people and families completing DLA and PIP forms which can seem lengthy and daunting to young people, and families. Each family’s needs are different, however support via benefits such as DLA and PIP are usually one of the first recommendations made to families seeking financial advice.
What you’ll be doing:
- Providing face to face to support to families of children and young people with a diagnosis of cancer
- Actively listening to families and asking relevant questions to enable them to identify specific support needs
- Supporting families to complete complex forms to enable them to claim DLA or PIP
- As a key part of the team recognise when to ask for other team members for advice or support
This will include:
- Looking at the DLA/PIP form with the family or young person
- Explaining the information Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) needs
- Coaching the family to include as much detail in their answers as necessary
The practical support required for this role will vary from taking the time to read through an application with a young person or family, who require a second opinion. Others may require questions to be re-phrased to simplify them and make them more applicable to their lived experience.
You will be providing guidance on how to answer the questions on the forms and useful information to include. It may occasionally include filling in the form with the family/young person when they are not able to complete it themselves
Booking slots will be flexible to meet the individual need (30 minutes up to 2 hours)
There is scope and opportunity in this role for development into supporting families or young people with appeals.
What we’ll give you:
- The satisfaction of using your skills and talents to make a tangible difference in the lives of young cancer patients
- A solid introduction and first-hand experience of working in the charity sector with the opportunity to meet other Teams across the organisation and gain a clear insight into the day-to-day work of Young Lives vs Cancer
- Full induction and training with support from a dedicated volunteer manager
- The support of a friendly and knowledgeable team
- Experience of working with a social care team and opportunity to develop communication and planning skills and advocating for families
- Experience of working with and directly supporting children and young people with cancer and their families
- And of course, we’ll cover any out-of-pocket expenses in line with our Volunteering Policy!
You should be able to volunteer for 2 hours per week during Monday to Friday between 10am and 3pm at our Home from Home in London WC1. We are flexible as to days or times to fit in with your other commitments.
At Young Lives vs Cancer, we are the charity that helps children and young people (0-25) and their families find the strength to face whatever cancer throws at them. One of the ways we do that is by running peer support events and we’re looking for a volunteer who can join our South West Social Care Team to organise and maintain our programme of peer support events in Plymouth.
What you’ll be doing
Meaningful and supported opportunities to meet and mix with peers who understand what you are going through and a chance to meet face to face with the Social Work team is such an important part of the service we offer. As a Peer Support Organiser you will organise and execute engaging and social peer to peer events every 6 weeks.
- You’ll be based in Plymouth. This will be from your own home for planning and organizing but you do need to be based in the Plymouth area in order to be able to manage the event.
- Researching and identifying locations where events can be held, communicating with the venue about arrangements.
- Sending out invites so writing accurate and interesting event briefings for young people attending and Social Workers attending is vital.
About you
- You’ll need to be confident in approaching conversations with new people, that includes speaking directly with service users about arrangements, and confidentially approaching venues being direct about our requirements
- You’ll have an understanding of the experience of our service users and the intuition to capture important information that may need passing onto Social Workers and TYA Clinical Nurse Specialist – during your induction and training we’ll support you with this
- You’ll have strong relationship management skills, the ability to make people you are talking to feel at ease and supported.
- This role is a great opportunity for someone interested in event management, youth work, social care or community engagement.
What you can expect
- Experience of working with and directly supporting young people with cancer in the South West
- Full training and ongoing support through out you time with us
- Opportunity to develop your event management skills
- Experience in planning and delivering peer to peer events driven by inclusivity
- Insight into the service Young Lives vs Cancer delivers and the drivers of peer support
The programme commits to running a face to face event every 6 weeks so we would ask you to commit to around 3-4 hours per week, with some additional time on the week of the event should you wish to attend.
DBS checks are required for this role
At Young Lives vs Cancer, we recognise that opportunities for too many people remain a condition of their race, class, sex, disability, sexual orientation – or a combination. This has never been acceptable to us as an organisation. At Young Lives vs Cancer, we do not just accept difference — we value it, we celebrate it, we nurture it, and we thrive off it.
We positively welcome your application irrespective of your background. We are on a journey, and if you join us, you will be part of a community that is committed make a difference to the lives of children and young people with cancer.