As a charity that prides ourselves on making quality time for our client work and providing one to one support where necessary our volunteers are an essential part of the team. It speaks volumes that the majority of our paid staff were previously volunteers with us.

Most volunteers require a DBS check (paid for by SAGE) before they start but this is dependent on the role. If you have some time to offer us and share our values then we're sure we can find a role that will match your availability, skills and preferences.

You can find information about the roles we offer on this page and if you're still keen then please find out 'Expression of Interest' form here.

Volunteering roles with SAGE:

Client facing roles. These roles require a regular and reliable commitment* and are often perfect for people with an interest in the mental health related professions. Our priority is that you can engage well with vulnerable people.

Horticultural Therapy Assistant Volunteers:

Volunteers need to be available for a Tuesday AM or PM or Thursday AM or PM slot to assist our clients in one to one gardening and crafts with a therapeutic approach.

We are also looking for a cooking volunteer for this slot. An additional perk would then be lunch!

‍

Singing Support volunteers:

We're looking for regular female volunteers to work alongside group members, some of whom speak languages other than English, doing a variety of tasks.  All volunteers would be required to fully participate in the group activities throughout, including the warm-up activities, break and singing. We would like volunteers to arrive 15 minutes before the group starts to prepare drinks and welcome the women into the space. At the break volunteers collect the weekly donations, and support/talk to anyone who looks like they’re on their own. We have a short debrief at the end of each session.  If a woman expresses that they would like support in going to other community events we might ask our volunteer team if they are available to support them on a 1:1 basis for the first time. We offer regular supervision, relevant training and have an established interview process, including DBS checks. Please note that although our current singing group is women only, we are considering running a mixed group so we welcome any expressions of interest from potential male volunteers.

The time commitment is from 11:30 to 2:30 on Mondays

‍

Creative & artist volunteers:

*These roles may vary as our arts' strand is currently in development. If you're creative we want to hear from you! Help us create something new and wonderful!

‍

Non-client facing roles.

‍These roles can be more flexible or are occasional commitments. They also require less paperwork to get started. Suitable for people looking to take on an allotment in future, have fun or develop their CVs.

‍

Muscle crew:

Running allotments requires maintenance and some 'heavier' gardening not suited to the practice of horticultural therapy. So we are looking for men and women who like to get stuck in with tools and elbow grease to ensure that our site is at its best.

‍

Ambassadors, fundraising & event volunteers:

Over the coming months SAGE is looking to increase our public profile and attract more donations from individuals. We need organised and vibrant people to help us in this. As we are a small team we can offer real responsibility to those looking to lead as well as support and expertise on fundraising.

Ambassadors are needed to tell our story to the wider community, and fundraising and event volunteers to run sponsored challenges, regular small events or assist at flagship events. Our latest success was a concert by our singing group at Sheffield Cathedral, which has left us all buzzing with pride!

It is essential that you can speak passionately about our cause and are up for having a lot of fun!

‍

Office, admin & bookkeeping volunteers:

It's not glamourous work but it is an excellent skill to gain experience in and a massive help to us. We can offer a flexible volunteer role that can be done in office or from home. All we need from you is basic IT skills and GCSE level English.

‍

Perks for volunteers

As you would expect we pay our volunteers reasonable expenses. Both sites are easily accessible by public transport and having good parking. We offer training for the roles and do DBS checks where necessary. Our current director also works as a specialist career coach and as such we're the perfect place to be if you are keen for your volunteering experience to contribute towards your professional development.

We also offer volunteers free membership of our Friends of SAGE programme.

‍