A rough guide to drugs
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This leaflet gives you information about how you can volunteer at Independence Trust.
Independence Trust is a countywide drug and alcohol agency offering information, advice and support to individuals, families and communities who are concerned about alcohol or drug use (illegal and prescribed).
Volunteers make up a very important part of our team and provide support to the agency in a number of different areas across the agency. There are no specific criteria which qualify someone as a volunteer, all we ask is that you can be flexible, willing to learn and have an understanding of our ethos of harm reduction.
independence trust offers three mainstream Volunteer Training Programmes each year, each lasting a total of three months.
This leaflet offers an insight into volunteering. If you think volunteering might suit you then please get in touch, or visit the website where you can access more detailed information.
Listed below are some of the areas of work in which our team currently volunteer.
• Client Bases in Cheltenham, Gloucester, Cinderford, Stroud, Cirencester and Tewksbury; operating Needle Exchange, Open Access and One to One sessions.
• Community Integration Service, offering support to staff and clients in outdoor activities, cookery, training and education.
• Supporting People, helping people in the community access services and maintain housing tenancies.
• Community Outreach Team, engaging with hard to reach communities and street users and raising awareness of the agency.
• Administration and IT support at our Central Offices in Gloucester.
• Criminal Justice Team, supporting project workers and managing and maintaining resources.
(Some placements will require a period of basic experience with independence trust.)
Volunteer Mentors offer a key area of support to clients who are still using Independence Trust services but are stable in their recovery.
Mentors will often themselves be using Independence Trust’ services, though further down the line. They can offer first-hand experience of issues faced by clients and provide support for those who are working towards changing their lifestyle.
The Volunteer Mentor Scheme offers full training and can be an ideal way to feed into the mainstream volunteer programme.
Some of the services offered are: • One to one support.
• Buddying tasks such as attending appointments.
• Advice around specific areas such as housing, education, nutrition and health.
• Ongoing support and supervision from the Mentor coordinator.
This scheme is specifically supported by funding from Volunteering England.
What next?
• If you are interested in local drug and alcohol issues;
• if you feel that you could offer some time to Independence Trust;
• if you would like to benefit from a free induction
training programme;
• or if would just like to find out more:
Please contact the Volunteering team on 01452 307010, email volunteering@Independence Trust.co.uk or visit www.Independence Trust.co.uk
