Citizens Advice Taster Days
The biggest advice charity in the South Hams is asking people to come forward and help. Citizens Advice South Hams is looking for volunteers to join its adviser training programme and become part of their advice team. The local charity gives free confidential advice to anyone who has a problem with debt, benefits & disability issues, housing, employment, family problems, homelessness, consumer rights and more.
The local charity wants to recruit volunteers for their Kingsbridge office which operates in the Quay House on Tuesday mornings. In a bid to encourage more people to have a go at volunteering, the charity is offering a taster morning on Friday 9th August in Quay House. The morning will start at 10am – midday and should give prospective volunteers an idea of how Citizens Advice works, what a typical client advice session is like and how to navigate their advice website. Anyone interested in volunteering should come along, there is no need to book for the taster day.
Teena Barrett, Advice Services Manager at Citizens Advice South Hams says, “We already have an amazing group of 60 trained volunteers in the South Hams some of whom have been with us for over 12 years. They work alongside a small number of paid staff, advising and helping local residents with their problems. Our volunteers come from all walks of life, there are no specific qualifications or experience required to train for the role, just an ability to be open-minded, good at listening, enjoy helping people and have basic computer skills. All of our volunteers say that working with us and helping others is enormously satisfying.”
The adviser training programme runs for a day a week for seven weeks, during which time new volunteers learn the skills of a “Gateway Adviser” so they can act as the first point of contact for anyone approaching the charity with a problem. The training programme and the experience that Citizens Advice gives can help those seeking paid employment back into the work place.
General information on volunteering for Citizens Advice can be found on southhamscab.org.uk.
If you would like to find out more about volunteering but can’t make the taster morning, email volunteering@southhamscab.org.uk. After training all Citizens Advice volunteers are supported and supervised as they give advice.
For an application form please click here
