Good Practice
As a volunteer involving organisation, Samaritans is committed
to ensuring that all volunteers, regardless of what role they carry
out, are well supported and developed during the time they spend
with us.
To ensure this happens we are involved with a number of
initiatives for volunteers and staff who work with volunteers
across the organisation:
- Structured Recruitment and Selection Process
- Sector recognised Volunteer Training Programme
- Volunteer forums – Local, Regional and National
- Structured Support Process
- Recognition and Long Service Certificates
Influence
As a national volunteer involving organisation, the Samaritans
is well placed to influence the wider volunteering sector. Some
examples include:
National England Volunteering Development
Council (EVDC)
The EVDC is a high-level representative and
advocacy mechanism for volunteering, engaging both with government
and opposition parties in order to capture the collective
intelligence of volunteer-involving organisations, volunteering
infrastructure providers and of volunteers to provide a powerful,
coordinated lobby to steer government policy and community action.
As a member of the group, Samaritans has the opportunity to
influence the sector at the highest level.
Network of National Volunteer Involving
Agencies (NNVIA)
The network was established in 2003 to
ensure that the views of national volunteer-involving agencies are
formulated and heard in government policy consultations and
development .As part of this group, Samaritans have recently been
asked to lead a group of other organisations to develop Good
Practice Guidelines on involving volunteers with Mental Health
Issues.
Management of Volunteers – National
Occupational Standards
Many people in the UK are involved in the
development and implementation of the volunteering strategy within
their organisation. These National Occupational Standards define
the whole spectrum of activities required to achieve this
effectively. Samaritans had a direct influence into this process
when we were involved in rewriting the Standards in 2008.
Volunteer Policy
A Volunteer Policy sets out why and how an organisation involves
and supports volunteers.
Download the Samaritans Volunteer
Policy
Related Information
Frequent questions about volunteering for
Samaritans