Volunteer for Crisis at Christmas in Merseyside

It’s great that you want to support us this Christmas! There are lots of opportunities to support us through fundraising or campaigning work. To find out more, click through Other ways to support buttons on the Crisis at Christmas webpage.     

Of course, you are welcome to volunteer in a new shift, location or a different role if we have space available.   

If you are feeling poorly we urge you to not volunteer until you are feeling better.  

As we prioritise the health of our guests, volunteers who display any symptoms will be asked to leave their shift.     

Some of our roles require previous experience or qualifications and others do not.  
 
Professional service volunteers, such as those completing health checks or haircuts will require the relevant qualifications and public liability insurance.  
 
In some roles we may be looking for volunteers with experience of supporting people who are homeless or other vulnerable adult groups. Information about each role will be listed on our website and throughout your volunteer application form. Please check this information before applying to ensure you are applying for the most suitable role for you. 

The voice and expertise of people with lived experience is vital in ensuring our service is truly meeting the needs of our members. We encourage anyone with lived experience to apply for our volunteer roles.

We also involve members and people with lived experience of homelessness in opportunities across the organisation including our Experts by Experience panel. For more details, please speak to your local Volunteer and Involvement Lead.

We do not ask for references for Christmas volunteers. 

At Christmas, due to the volume of volunteers recruited, we are unable to provide detailed references.  We will only provide a start and finish date for those who have completed a volunteering shift in the previous two years.  The only exception to this is for the lead/senior volunteers who work closely with Crisis and members of staff beyond the Christmas service delivery period.  

At Christmas, due to the volume of volunteers recruited we are unable to cover expenses. 

Many of the roles in our services will require a disclosure check, (either basic or enhanced) - you will be able to see this on the role description. If the role does, we use a digital system to manage this and we will request and pay for it (where payment is needed). 

If you have a criminal conviction, this does not automatically mean you cannot volunteer for us. However, we may need to ask you more about the conviction to be able to do a risk assessment and decide if you can or cannot volunteer.  

As part of our recruitment, we will ask you to meet with us, either virtually or in person. We see this meeting as a conversation where we can find out more about you and your suitability for the volunteer role while also giving you the chance to find out more about us and whether the role is right for you. We want you to feel relaxed and comfortable when we meet, and we will share with you some guidance notes to help with this. 

Each of our roles has a clear training plan in place to ensure you have everything you need to feel confident and equipped for the role. All volunteers in our services will attend a welcome session with the Volunteer and Involvement Lead and role specific training with either the Volunteer and Involvement Lead or the Volunteer Supervisor. In addition, you will need to complete e-learning on data protection, safeguarding, equality, diversity and inclusion, unconscious bias and how we work with members. This is to ensure that we are keeping everyone safe, creating an inclusive service and protecting everyone’s dignity. Depending on your role, there may also be other essential learning you need to complete before starting. 

Your Volunteer and Involvement Lead will support you to complete this learning. Once you have started in role, if your role involves interacting with our members, you will also be asked to attend ‘boundaries’ and ‘managing important conversations’ workshops. 

We know many of our volunteers are keen to continue learning whilst in role, so once you have started in role there will be a suite of learning topics available for you to access at your convenience through our learning platform. There will also be opportunities for less formal learning through your Skylight. 

Please contact christmas.merseyside@crisis.org.uk. 

Events are mainly in Liverpool City Centre or St Helens Town Centre. 

We offer volunteering opportunities throughout the year, which are listed on our volunteering webpages.

If you don't see any roles currently available for your Skylight, it means there are no volunteering positions open at the moment. However, you can still contribute to ending homelessness by volunteering to raise funds and awareness. You can find these opportunities on our fundraising pages. Alternatively, please do check back regularly as we are sure opportunities will come up.

If you think someone is homeless, and you feel comfortable, please speak to them and offer them support in the first instance to contact the Housing Options Service at your local council. If they still need further support with homelessness please ask them to call our Skylight on 0151 218 7000.

Please contact christmas.merseyside@crisis.org.uk with what you would like to donate and we can advise you.