Volunteers and mentors

CRI project office

CRI is looking for volunteers to join the following projects:

Bournemouth

  • Enhanced Arrest Referral Service
  • Prison Liaison
  • Street Services Team

Bognor

  • Social Day Care Programme

Brighton

  • Foundation Programme
  • PATCHED Project
  • St Thomas Fund Supported Housing

Eastbourne

  • PATCHED Project
  • Turnaround Project

Folkestone

  • Shepherd House

Oxford

  • Befriending Scheme
  • REACH Project

Reading

  • Foundation Programme

What you can expect

As one of the largest charitable providers of social care and criminal justice services in the south, we are one of the few local organisations which can provide volunteering experience to those looking for a career in social care, prison or probation work. For many, this volunteering experience provides a springboard into a full time career.

Volunteers' skills are a key factor in the quality of support we provide. Service users value the volunteers' contribution and volunteers can gain useful work experience. A significant number of our volunteers become full time employees.

Accredited Training

Volunteers can attend a 'Mentoring Skills' training programme, accredited through the South of England Open College Network (OCN). The one-year mentoring programme combines on-going training with guided distance learning and earns OCN credits equivalent to NVQ levels 2 or 3. Students follow a generic ‘Mentoring Skills’ unit and then choose from either ‘Working with Young People at Risk’ or ‘Drug and Alcohol Information’.

For information about volunteering opportunities contact Jane Bailey, Volunteer Co-ordinator, CRI on 07739 893870.

What Our Volunteers Say

John started out as a volunteer mentor on our Youth Skills Project in Eastbourne. He now works for us full time as a Project Worker on the CRI Parenting Orders Project in Eastbourne. John found the accredited training programme very rewarding: “Many volunteers come into mentoring with the best of intentions, then once you begin, you realise the scale of the task. The training programme helped prepare and guide me through the work. The journey has helped me to make the transition from enthusiastic amateur to professional project worker.”

Michael, a former postman, was inspired to become a volunteer after attending a volunteer fair on Brighton seafront. He began by volunteering on our Brighton Foundation Programme (working with street homeless) and now works full time for our 'Get It While You Can' arrest referral project in Chichester. "The experience, skills and knowledge gained through my voluntary work, combined with the accredited training programme and evening classes in counselling, gave me an impressive CV and a wealth of knowledge to contribute to my new role."