women in london

The Community Link project (Wish) provides emotional and practical support to women transferring from prison or secure hospital to the community.

Because of a tremendous increase in the amount of referrals and women needing the project’s support, the Community Link team needs volunteers to provide support with information, monitoring, development and administration. Preferably for 2-3 days/week.

1. Information. Support the Community Link team in the process of carrying out their work.
2. Monitoring. To maintain databases relating to work carried out in secure environments and the community.
3. Development. Supporting the presentation and reports of the project. Making small grant applications for individual members. Developing the efficiency of the Community Link project.
4. Office support. To assist the Community Link Manager in the running of the office: developing office systems, providing IT support, filing, general administration, and being part of phone answering rota where some calls may be from women experiencing distress.

Experience in:
* Maintaining office systems including databases
* Present written information clearly and logically
* To use initiative, and think laterally and problem solve
* Collecting information

Skills and abilities:
* Being able to handle difficult situations sensitively
* Prioritise work load
* To be flexible and work in a collaborative way
* Excellent IT skills, including Excel.

Wish is a user-led charity working with women with mental health needs in prisons, secure services and the community. Taking a women-centred approach, we provide independent advocacy, emotional support, practical guidance and information at all stages of a woman’s journey through the Mental Health and Criminal Justice Systems.

Wish offers three main services to women:

1. Gender Specific Advocacy ensures that all treatment, care and personal issues faced by women in secure environments are addressed appropriately and sensitively. It is designed to engage women who do not feel they have a voice, and uses a relational security model (trusting, long-term and consistent relationships) with the aim of equipping women to self-advocate.
2. Community Link is a project that helps make the move from hospial or prison into the community as smooth and supportive as possible. It provides intensive through-the-gate support, practical information, social infrastructure, and pathways to employment and training opportunities to women resettling in the London area.
3. VAST – ‘Voices Actions Solutions Together’ – ensures women’s voices are heard at a local policy level, tackling unit issues such as access to phones and educational opportunities, and at a national level through grassroots campaigning.

Wish also supports professionals, offering gender training, consultancy, external supervision, and research. As a campaigning organisation, Wish works to unite all stakeholders to move away from ‘one size fits all provision’ towards delivering effective, integrated person-centred services with the Why Gender Matters campaign.

We are a women-only organisation, so we only recruit female volunteers.

Please send CV and a brief covering letter to Penny Bennett at p.bennett@womenatwish.org.uk