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.
Why we need you
When a child is diagnosed with cancer it threatens everything, for them and their family. At a time when they should be busy being children, enjoying their rollercoaster teenage years or finding their feet at university, life becomes full of fear. Fear of treatment, but also of families being torn apart, of overwhelming money worries, mental health stretched to breaking point, of having nowhere to turn, no one to talk to.
At Young Lives vs Cancer, we get that. 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.
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 DLA or 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. You will have the opportunity to support families directly and ease some of the stress associated with applications and support families to get applications.
You will be an important part of the team and provide practical support to young people and families completing DLA and PIP forms. Forms 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 support.
What you’ll be doing
This is a face-to-face role to provide support directly to families of children and young people with a diagnosis of cancer.
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. On occasions, simply through conversation and discussing what life is like on a daily basis, families and young people can be prompted to think of real-life examples which can convey the need for support and make all the difference to an application.
About you
- You will be able to volunteer for 2 hours per week during Monday to Friday between 10 and 3 at our home from home, Pauls House
- You’ll need to be super organised in managing information and communicating with different audiences
- You’ll need to be confident in approaching conversations with new people, that includes speaking directly with families and young people about their experience of disability
- You’ll have strong relationship management skills, the ability to make people you are talking to feel at ease and supported
- You’ll understand your own boundaries
- You’ll have the ability to look after your wellbeing and seek support when needed
Experience of working with people with a disability is desirable but not essential
Experience of benefits system/welfare advice is desirable but not essential
How to apply
Complete the application form below
Why we need you
When a child is diagnosed with cancer it threatens everything, for them and their family. At a time when they should be busy being children, enjoying their rollercoaster teenage years or finding their feet at university, life becomes full of fear. Fear of treatment, but also of families being torn apart, of overwhelming money worries, mental health stretched to breaking point, of having nowhere to turn, no one to talk to.
At Young Lives vs Cancer, we get that. 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.
There are many small organisations that help families with a child that has a life threatening illness, by providing grants, holidays or wishes. We want our families to take advantage of this but applying for this extra support can often be overwhelming or another thing on the to do list at a stressful time in their lives. That’s where you come in. Could you give 4 hours a week to support our families to apply for grants, holidays and wishes?
What you’ll be doing
You’ll be working directly with our families who are known to the Young Lives vs Cancer Service at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham to help them apply to organisations which can offer grants, treats, wishes or holidays to make the cancer journey more manageable. Your role will be both researching and identifying organisations offering additional practical support (such as additional grants) and practical opportunities for joy (wish granting and special offers), and then supporting families to apply to these organisations.
There is scope and opportunity in this role for development into liaising with other charities.
About you
- You’ll need to be super organised in managing information and communicating with different audiences
- You’ll need to be confident in approaching conversations with new people, that includes speaking directly with children and families about their needs, and approaching potential sources of support on their behalf
- You’ll have strong relationship management skills, the ability to make people you are talking to feel at ease and supported
Experience working with families with a child with a life threatening or limiting illness, or working with a family support organisation is desirable but not essential.
You’ll receive a full induction to the Young Lives vs Cancer BCH and QEHB social work team, learn about the service we provide and the impact of cancer on the children, young people and families we support.
4 hours a week during office hours (9am to 5pm, Tuesday to Thursday)
From your own home but you do need to be based in the Birmingham area to attend occasional team meetings and supervision.
How to apply
Complete the application form below
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.