On-call Volunteer

Nightstop is a low-risk service where volunteer Hosts offer a place to stay for the night to young people who may come with a variety of low to medium needs. Our Nightstop team carefully risk assesses all guests before they stay and we provide wrap-around support to hosts and guests to support the placement. 

Our on-call volunteer team is part of this support. They are there to provide a point of contact and reassurance for Nightstop hosts and guests outside of the main service hours of 9.00-5.00pm.  

The purpose of the on-call volunteer role is to:

• facilitate a safe and appropriately managed ‘hosting arrangement’ between host and guest
• respond to and, where possible, bring to a resolution concerns raised by hosts or guests in relation to their Nightstop stay as arranged by Sussex Nightstop staff.

On-call volunteers are not asked to:

• organise or re-negotiate stays
• replace emergency front-line services
• provide advice to guests outside of that described in our guidance.

Skills

•  Ability to stay calm and patient
•  Reliable access to a phone and email account that will support secure email exchange (we currently use Egress and can support this set-up)
•  Ability to reliably follow administrative tasks
•  A good understanding of boundaries particularly in relation to personal data
•  Commitment to safeguarding young people and adults and promoting their welfare
•  Excellent communication and listening skills
•  The ability to understand and work within procedural and policy guidance
•  Ability to be non-judgemental and to treat all clients with sensitivity and respect, irrespective of their backgrounds, opinions, cultural and ethical beliefs.

Benefits

• Involvement in a vital community project that helps to prevent homelessness in our city - hosts tell us it’s good to be part of the solution and they get a huge sense of satisfaction from their role. 
• Access to training, guidance and support from Nightstop staff and on-call volunteer peers and the opportunity to develop your volunteering role to other areas of Sussex Nightstop such as supporting community events if desired.
• The chance to be a part of the Sussex Nightstop community with the opportunity to meet and make friends with other like-minded people at our host social events throughout the year.
  

Practical Considerations

This role can be done from home. We ask our on-call volunteers to:

• Be available to cover a minimum of 3-5 on-call slots per month (with some weekend cover being desirable)
• Liaise with the Nightstop team to provide on-call rota availability a month in advance
• Be fully available during the on-call time slot you are covering (5.00pm – 9.00am weekdays and 9.00am – 9.00am weekend days)
• Refrain from drinking or partaking in any other recreational substances (both legal/illegal) whilst on-call
• Follow the procedural guidance relating to on-call when responding to calls
• To take receipt of and read a Nightstop log of information when you are on-call providing you with any need-to-know information for that night’s Nightstop stays
• Ensure that you have sight of your phone and are able to respond within 15 minutes of receiving a call
  
•  Be available to participate in (usually by telephone) a post on-call check-in the following day
• To participate in 6 monthly on-call peer support meetings
• To participate in any training deemed necessary to the role including suicide-prevention training
• To meet the recruitment requirements and from therein to participate in any supplementary training deemed necessary to the role.

When do I need to be available?

Details	Our support worker liaises with the On-call team each month to set up a rota for the next month. We ask that volunteers: • Be available to cover a minimum of 3-5 on-call slots per month (with some weekend cover being particularly desirable) • Be fully available during the on-call time slot to which they are allocated which is 5.00pm – 9.00am on weekdays and 9.00am – 9.00am on weekend days.

	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

Register your Interest