Prison Volunteer (HMP Durham DH1 3HU)

Shannon Trust’s vision is of a future where everyone can experience the positive impact of learning. As a prison volunteer your role will be at the heart of our organisation as you support our mentors in prisons.

This will include delivering training to new mentors and supporting existing mentors to develop and deliver our Turning Pages and Count Me In programmes.

You will be volunteering alongside Shannon Trust facilitators and / or frontline prison staff to empower mentors and ensure no one is left out of learning.

Key tasks and activities:

• Delivering initial, and ongoing, training to mentors in prisons
• Supporting and encouraging the Shannon Trust facilitator and mentors to attract new learners and expand the reach of the Shannon Trust programme
• Arranging and leading mentor meetings to develop mentors’ skills, share good practice and to provide support to mentors to find solutions to concerns
• Supporting facilitators to engage prison staff and people in prison to set-up, maintain and develop the Shannon Trust reading and numeracy programmes across the whole prison, and contributing to progress planning for how to progress and achieve this
• Using your skills to build positive relationships with frontline prison staff, people in prison and other organisations
• Training and supporting mentors to collect and submit data and learner feedback
• Supporting with the planning of, and attendance at, celebration events
• Collecting and sharing good news stories and feedback
• Attending area meetings and sharing good practice with other volunteers
• Engaging with quarterly reviews to receive support and discuss progress
• Acting as an ambassador for Shannon Trust in all that you do, sharing the vision and values of the charity throughout your volunteering

The prison volunteer role is available Monday to Friday during working hours and in line with the prison regime. You will be linked to a specific prison or prisons to support as a representative of Shannon Trust. Typically you will visit your prison 2-4 times a month and you will also attend quarterly area meetings.

We ask volunteers to commit approximately 7 to 14 hours a month to the prison volunteer role, spread over 2 to 4 days to fit in with staff availability and the prison regime. This isn't a role where your activities can take place on a set day or time each week and prison visits can't take place at weekends.

You'll need to be flexible and be able to visit your prison at an agreed time with staff, during the daytime Monday to Friday. Prisons often ask you to start your visit at 08.00 or 13.30.

In some circumstances, volunteer vacancies may close early. Successful applicants will be sent interview questions in advance with notice to prepare.

Skills

We don’t need you to have any formal qualifications to become a Shannon Trust volunteer.
We’re looking for people who:

• Have a commitment to providing non-judgemental support to people in prison
• Are able to give a regular, reliable commitment for ideally two years and have flexibility to visit the prison at times required
• Have strong communication skills and are able to use these to inspire others
• Are able to deliver engaging training and identify training and support needs for mentors
• Are able to manage own time and prioritise
• Are able to keep up to date with Shannon Trust news and communications and share relevant information with the wider prison team
• Are able to use and regularly monitor Shannon Trust outlook emails, use Microsoft Teams and other computer packages as required