Existing Opportunities

For more information, go to Around the Country to find your local service.
Supporting PeersIf you have been receiving a service from Family Action and feel ready to provide some support to other service users, we will provide you with the necessary training and supervision to do so. This may involve accompanying someone to visit a location in the community such as a college or leisure centre, or passing on practical advice regarding shared problems or obstacles.

Members of our Balham day service can now volunteer to support other service users by becoming ‘buddies’ once they have been attending the service for a while. Buddies receive training and supervision from qualified staff, which enables them to provide practical and emotional support to other service users.

Helping to Run Activities Within a Service or in the CommunityWe are always keen to benefit from the skills that service users have to offer and we try to support people in sharing the benefits of their knowledge and experience. Currently, a range of groups are hosted by service users themselves. These include poetry societies, knitting clubs and swimming groups.

Service users based at our resource centre in Harrow run their own poetry society. It used to be run by staff, but the service users soon developed the confidence to run it themselves and now meet each week to listen to poems members have composed as well as recitals of famous works.

Membership of Local and Regional Decision Making PanelsAt many Family Action projects, service users meet regularly to discuss developments and make decisions about issues that affect them. In most instances members of these meetings elect representatives who meet with project managers and influence decisions made about service delivery. Notes taken at these meetings are circulated to members that haven’t been able to attend, so everyone remains informed.

Service users at our Riverside adult mental health day centre in Lowestoft host their own meetings, which are minuted. Two service user representatives are elected from this group to meet with the Service’s project manager to discuss any issues that arise from the meetings. The elected representatives also attend regional project steering group meetings to influence decision making on behalf of the other service users.

VolunteeringIf you are ready to stop using Family Action’s services it doesn’t mean that you can’t continue to work with us. Volunteering is a great way to contribute to the success of your community, develop confidence and acquire skills and training that can provide employment opportunities. Family Action is developing a volunteering network and can help you find opportunities at other organisations too. For more information please visit our Volunteering section.
Participating in Staff RecruitmentAt some projects service users are offered the opportunity to work alongside project staff to recruit new members of the staff team. This might involve discussing what needs to be included in the job description, suggesting questions to ask and actually meeting candidates to find out about their ideas and inspiration. Appropriate training may be provided. Please visit our Vacancy page for information on current vacancies.
Working on Specific ProjectsProject staff are often required to develop new aspects of a service and where possible will work in partnership with service users to do this.

Service users have been helping staff at our family support service in Dartford to produce a ‘move on’ resource pack, that provides people leaving the service with useful information and advice that can support them to find and use available local resources.

Contributing to Campaigning ActivitiesFamily Action campaigns on behalf of disadvantaged communities and through experience knows how powerful personal testimony can be. As an organisation we are committed to supporting members of local communities to campaign on their own behalf and to develop skills and expertise that will deliver change and prosperity. Family Action is currently developing a volunteer campaign group and will providing members with the necessary training and support to develop confidence and expertise. Please visit our Campaigning pages to find out more.

Service users based at our supported housing service in Lewisham and day services in Battersea attended Mental Health Alliance meetings at the houses of parliament in 2007, where they had the opportunity to contribute to campaign activity relating to the new Mental Health Act.

For more information, go to Around the Country to find your local service.