Volunteering at Forward Trust can be life-changing. Gain work experience while helping people to move beyond addiction, offending and related issues.

Why volunteer at The Forward Trust?
Put simply, Forward will help you to develop important transferable skills to improve your career and work prospects, alongside helping to build your interpersonal ‘people’ skills – meeting new people, working in different settings and being matched to a work area that is right for you. Forward offer opportunities in their prison and community projects, as well as their Head Office teams.

Educationally, Forward is a great place to better understand the challenges of addiction, criminal justice and homelessness – and how often the ‘shame spiral’ (feelings of inadequacy that subsequently lead to harmful behaviours) can sometimes prevent individuals from getting the help they deserve.

LATEST VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES (JUNE)

Mentor Volunteer: Enterprise Services, London
As an Enterprise Mentor, you will be supporting clients of Forward’s Enterprise Support team to reach their full potential to start and build a successful business. Acting as a role model, you will use your personal experience and expertise to guide them with their personal goals and challenges.

Admin Support Volunteer, Thurrock
You will be involved with a variety of administrative duties including filing, writing notes, sending emails and supporting the Enterprise Coaches with the administrative preparations of their group and one to one delivery and updating of their client case notes.

Recovery Worker, Thurrock
You will be working within an integrated healthcare framework to provide support to drug and alcohol users aged 29 and over (dependent on service). Services are designed to deliver psychosocial drug and alcohol interventions for service users that are identified as having an alcohol or drug problem. Services will deliver client centred treatment using both harm reduction and abstinence-based treatment approaches.

Shannon Trust Community Volunteer, Islington
An opportunity for volunteers with or without lived experience of addiction recovery (in abstinence) to be part of the recovery team, to support Islington clients in their recovery journey, and to walk with them on the path to their reintegration into the local community – specifically by facilitating Shannon Trust's Literacy and Numeracy sessions as part of a wider service.

Recovery Support Community Volunteer, Islington
You will play a vital role in supporting, facilitating, and co-facilitating structured and planned group sessions to Islington participants, online and at Forward's Hub. These sessions vary from breakfast, lunch and tea club to yoga, music, healthy eating, and Forward Connect national meetings online on weekdays, and games, cooking, and choir in person at the weekend.

Digital Champion, Thurrock
You will provide support to Forward's clients who struggle with digital technology. You will need to understand the importance of digital literacy to clients in and around Thurrock - this could include anything from mobile banking to emails, as well as Forward Trust's own digital platforms with which you will be made familiar.

Digital Champion, Southend
You will provide support to Forward's clients who struggle with digital technology. You will need to understand the importance of digital literacy to clients in and around Southend – this could include anything from mobile banking to emails, as well as Forward Trust's own digital platforms with which you will be made familiar.

Surrey and London Housing and Resettlement Mentor – Vision Housing
Forward have some new hybrid working opportunities in London and Surrey which will enable them to support people into the private rented sector. As a Mentor, you will be providing essential additional support, information and guidance to Forward clients. You will help mentee/s address in a holistic/person centred manner, to formulate their goals, draw a realistic plan and support them review their achievements and overcome any barriers that they may have.

Trainee Counsellor / Psychotherapist (Therapeutic Programmes), Surrey
You will support integrated services in delivering tailored counselling interventions for individual clients. You will manage a caseload and conduct structured one-on-one sessions as required. You will provide counselling to adults in prison, negotiating focus and contracts for time-limited sessions, and maintain accurate, confidential records.

Forward have a range of volunteering roles, including reach out, meet and greet, mentoring, community and prison support volunteers, communications, and administration. Some volunteer opportunities are for specific projects or periods, while others are ongoing, and are recruited for on a rolling basis.

Click the link below to see Forward's current volunteering opportunities.