What Can I Do To Help?
There are a number of things that professionals and members of the public can do to support Lifecentre, either financially, by donating your time or sharing your expertise.
Volunteers needed!
Could you help us by giving some of your time to support our small office team in making all the services at Lifecentre possible? If you are able to come into our Chichester office and help with admin tasks we would give you jobs that fit your skills – just let us know what you like to do! However, if you are unable to come to our office, but have a computer at home, there are all sorts of things you could do to provide support to us, eg. researching information for our funding applications, so do get in touch.
We are also looking for someone who would be prepared to administrate our next helpline training course in 2010 which will run over 7 Saturdays and 7 evenings.
We are continually looking for volunteers and would be pleased to speak to you if you feel you would like to contribute, as a guide we look for volunteers to take on the following roles:
Regular Volunteers:
We continually need people to support our office staff by regularly giving some time to help with office admin. Some people may be able to donate a day per week where as others might be able to offer a few hours per month. We don’t mind, we just ask that you stick to your commitment. The type of activities you might undertake may include helping organise an event, researching costs or expanding our network.
Fundraising and Marketing Support:
Ad hoc support at fundraising events, we would ask each volunteer to give around 3-5 hours of their time per year to help with distributing leaflets and posters, setting up stands, using their network to publicise events, bucket shaking.
If you feel you would be able to support Lifecentre in any of the above ways please call us on 01243-786349 or email us at info@lifecentre.uk.com.
One Volunteer's Experience:
"For Work Experience, I went to Lifecentre, Chichester. Lifecentre is a Charity offering counselling for men, women and any child survivors who have experienced sexual violation, recently or in the past. At the start of the week, I was assigned as Catherine's Assistant. Catherine is the Education Co - Ordinator at Lifecentre but she also happens to be one of my church youth leaders, so I felt comfortable straight away. It was only when I had to sign a confidentiality agreement that the seriousness and depth of what Lifecentre does hit me. One of my first jobs was to ring round all the high schools in West Sussex to inform them of Lifecentre's services and find out their heads of CPSVE and Pastoral Care. This was a very daunting task at first, as I'd never done anything like that before, but I gradually gained confidence and started to enjoy it. I had to compile any information I discovered onto a word document and I also had to print off booklets and do some photocopying. I was then asked to make yet more phonecalls, this time contacting all West Sussex Youth Wings. My lunchbreak was an hour long, from 1-2pm and I usually went into town and met friends. I loved the independence work offered and I definitely felt more grown up. I usually started work at 9.30am and finished at 4pm but Tuesday was different. Catherine & I visited a Worthing High School to give a CPSVE lesson to their Year 10 students about date rape and the dangers of alcohol and drugs. It was really interesting to get other teenager's perspectives on such a socially accepted subject these days. During my time at Lifecentre, I also helped design new handouts to help them appeal to teenagers more and I also did several media tasks, including putting together many A2 posters focusing on how the media portrays relationships and sex to teenagers. I was shocked by many of the things I found, some even from magazines I usually read. The posters will now be used in school workshops. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Lifecentre and didn't want the week to end! It was such an interesting place to work and I really enjoyed the independence and freedom. Working with my church youth leader definitely helped, but the small group of staff were so nice to me and I fitted in straight away. I was amazed at how interested they were to hear my opinion on things. There was always a good conversation to be had in the office or a nice team member ready to point you in the right direction. Working at Lifecentre also made me feel like I was giving something back to the community and really made me feel like what I was doing was immensely worthwhile. I am now doing volunteer work which they really appreciate as they are very keen to get a teenager's point of view. What must not be forgotten is the amazing work Lifecentre does. Lifecentre supports many abused and hurt children in our area, who otherwise wouldn't be able to get the support they need, and that in itself is truly wonderful.
Thank you once again for the opportunity."
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