Why should I become a Volunteer?
- FREE Accommodation & Weekly Allowance
- FREE English Lessons
- Free Use of Car Available subject to policy guidelines.
- FREE Internet Access in all houses
- All food Provided
- Daily Activities
- Travel Allowance
- Annual Holidays
- FREE Dialling Card for Phone
How do I become a Volunteer?
Our volunteer workers come from a diverse range of nationalities and cultural backgrounds. All volunteers provide written applications and after due consideration are invited to spend time with us looking after our residents. Our volunteers usually stay with us for periods of up to 12 months. Thereafter, many volunteers return from time to time in successive years as they enjoy working with our wonderful residents!
Volunteer Links
Most new volunteers will have 1 or 2 residents in their house with whom they will work more closely. With the help of either your house co-ordinator or a more experienced volunteer, you will learn to help, encourage and educate the residents. They need help with care of their possessions, recreational activities, participation in daily routines and in some cases intimate personal care.
Each resident has their own private room and they are supported with all their needs by one or more volunteers. You will be responsible for a range of activities to support and nurture our residents as well as play a full part in the growth and development of the William Blake House community.
Entering fully into the life of a community such as that at William Blake House makes new and often unexpected demands on the individual volunteer.
Meal times together
Volunteers and residents take their meals together in the houses. Some of the residents, with the help of volunteers, will have helped with growing the produce, cooking the meal or perhaps just laying the tables. The meal times can become a focus of social contact, conversation and appreciation of what each one has to offer.
Entering fully into the life of a community such as that at William Blake House makes new and often unexpected demands on the individual volunteer and so our House Coordinators and House Managers are often on hand with words of guidance and kind encouragement.
Become part of an extended family
Belonging to an individual house means that you are part of an "extended family", with all the stresses and rewards which that entails - sharing in the daily routine of work and recreation, living very closely with a number of other adults as well as with the residents, and becoming aware of the many different feelings and temperaments that go to make up the collective spirit of the household.
Sharing fully in all the joint responsibilities and duties of the house, you will at times find the day-to-day work both exhausting and challenging. Many tasks will seem very basic and routine; others will make unexpected demands upon your personal initiative, self-discipline and presence of mind, yet all those duties, whether simple or complex, are absolutely essential for the successful care of the residents in your charge.
Your sense of achievement will come from knowing that you have contributed effectively to the well-being of the residents and volunteers at William Blake House as a whole.
Interested in volunteering?
Why not email us for more information at volunteers@williamblakehouse.com