How to Recruit, Supervise and Retain Peer Volunteers

How to Recruit, Supervise, and Retain Peer and Lived Experience Volunteers

The most vital component of any peer support programme is the peers themselves. These peers will have lived experience of the condition they support, and therefore have additional support needs to other volunteers.

People providing peer support to others in similar situations can provide unique perspectives and true empathy to the people they support. On the other hand, people living with similar situations can be hard to persuade that they are capable of being mentors, may still be struggling with their own situation (which can make the even better mentors), or may find themselves triggered by the negative experiences of others who are not coping well.

Aims

This workshop will support organisations to consider the recruitment, training, supervising, and retaining of peer volunteers, helping to ensure the sustainability of your peer support programme.

Objectives

By the end of this workshop participants will:

• Understanding the skills and knowledge necessary for the retention of peer support volunteers
• Be able to plan effective supervision and continuous professional development of volunteers.

Our workshop includes:

• Recruitment: how to promote peer support roles and encourage applications from potential lived-experience volunteers
• Training: what skills and preparation r peer volunteers may need to fulfil their role
• Supervision: how to provide effective and meaningful support to your peer volunteers
• Retention: How to ensure active, engaged and long-standing peer volunteers.

Who is it for?

This workshop is for voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations across the UK. Participants will not require any prior knowledge of volunteer recruitment to participate. There will be a maximum of 15 participants per workshop.

Host or Publisher NDVS