This week is National Volunteers Week, and here at Juno, we are all about our volunteers! Our volunteers are incredibly special to us and work in lots of different roles. Please, have a read of our two blogs dedicated to the volunteer experience.
In this one, we highlight the types of volunteering opportunities we offer, and hear from Sonia, our Volunteer Manager, and Sarah, who recruits animal lovers for our Pets Project.
And in our second blog, you can hear from volunteers in their own words. Volunteering is a two-way process, and in return for your time and skills, Juno offers support, encouragement and experience that can open doors in so many ways.
Why Volunteer with Juno?
Volunteering with Juno provides an opportunity to be part of a dedicated team working to empower women, children, and young people to live free from abuse. As a volunteer, you’ll receive full training, regular support, and the chance to develop valuable skills while making a real difference for women and children.
Regular Volunteer Roles
Juno offers several structured volunteer roles, each designed to provide meaningful support to survivors. Here is a selection but please see our website for all the different opportunities:
- Helpline Volunteer: Assist on the 24-hour domestic and sexual violence helpline, offering confidential support and information to callers. You will be fully trained and supported and are not expected to work outside of normal working hours.
- Pet Foster Carer: Provide temporary homes for pets of women entering refuge, ensuring their animals are safe, cared for…and cuddled!
- Social Media Volunteer: Produce and schedule content for Instagram for our two channels: our main Juno and our dedicated young person’s page.
- Group Facilitator: Co-facilitate therapeutic group sessions like the “Freedom Programme,” helping women understand and recover from abuse.
- Children and Teens Support Volunteer: Support young people affected by domestic abuse through group activities.
We also have opportunities for:
Ad Hoc Volunteering
Ideal for those with limited availability, ad hoc roles include helping with events or fundraising. It’s a flexible way to get involved without long-term commitment.
Skills-Specific Volunteering
Juno also welcomes volunteers with specific professional skills – such as photography, graphic design, IT, legal expertise, or therapy – to contribute on a project basis.
We support you
Volunteering with Juno not only supports a vital cause but also offers personal growth, skill-building, and the chance to make a meaningful impact.
Each role includes full training and ongoing support. We ensure volunteers are looked after and valued. You will never feel alone. Some volunteers want to help in a ‘hands-on’ way and work with women survivors directly, whereas other volunteers want to help through more office-based work. Both approaches are valuable and, after training, we can place you wherever you feel comfortable and there’s a need.
If you’re volunteering for any opportunity besides the pet fostering (more on that below), your first port of contact is our lovely Volunteer Manager, Sonia. Here, Sonia answers some questions that will give you an insight into volunteering with us.
Hi Sonia! Firstly, can we ask, as Volunteer Manager, what do you enjoy most about your role?
I enjoy meeting and getting to know new volunteers and seeing their confidence grow. I love it when a volunteer and role match well and both the Juno team and the volunteer benefit from the experience. It is extremely rewarding leading a truly diverse team of passionate volunteers to support an amazing cause and charity. I feel very lucky to work for an organisation with which my personal values are so aligned and where feminist values are proudly upheld.
That’s great. And what qualities do you look for in someone who wants to volunteer with Juno?
Juno are looking for volunteers who share our values and are committed, feminist in their outlook, and ready to learn and grow. Volunteers don’t need any skills or experience but saying that, we do always welcome hearing from women who have a particular skill they’d like to share on a voluntary basis, so if this sounds like you, please do get in touch!
So, what would you say to someone who’s thinking about volunteering but feels unsure? Perhaps they feel they lack confidence or may be worried about being overwhelmed given the subject matter.
I would say go for it, volunteering can be done at your pace and we will always do our best to support individual needs and build confidence. If the concern is about readiness to volunteer, we have embedded a trauma informed approach into our volunteer processes from application onwards. We would invite you to talk to us about any concerns and we will try our best to ensure your volunteering journey is of a type and pace comfortable for you.
What extra opportunities can volunteering unlock, in terms of career or new direction etc.?
Volunteering can be a way to:
- connect with others, develop friendships and social networks
- learn new skills and gain confidence
- gain practical experience and a reference to increase employability prospects
- improve health and wellbeing
- practice existing skills or develop new ones
- “give something back”
- add another dimension to a university application form
- try something different either as a potential career option or career change
- effect change in your community.
Whoa! That’s a lot of benefits to volunteering! Just to give us a glimpse of your life, Sonia, what do you enjoy doing to wind down outside of work?
I love music, film, reading and writing (especially poetry – I go to lots of writing workshops). I enjoy gigs and festivals, camping, travel and the outdoors, especially the Peak District which we are so lucky to have on our doorstep. I’m also into yoga (loving Kundalini at the moment) and running. I recently embarked upon a sourdough baking journey thanks to a Juno colleague gifting me some starter 😊
– Thank you Sonia, for your answers, it really gives women reading this an insight into volunteering at Juno.
And Sonia isn’t the only Manager who recruits volunteers. Our colleague Sarah recruits for a project with a special place in her heart: the Pet’s Project. Sarah set up the Pet’s Project with Juno. This valuable service places pets with foster carers until their owner is settled somewhere safe and they can be reunited.
Leaving their animals is one barrier which stops women from escaping domestic abuse situations. To know that their pet will be taken good care of can help women leave and get to safety. Currently, the Pet’s Project has around 60 carers, but we are always looking for more…so could this be you? We asked Sarah to tell us more.
The Pet’s Project is such a vital scheme. What qualities do you look for in foster carers?
In foster carers we just really need people to be kind and have patience and understanding of where our animals have come from and what they have been through.
How much contact do you have with carers?
We check in with carers a lot at the beginning, but once the animals are settled, we don’t have as much contact as we trust our carers. We make it really clear any problems or if the placement is not working, just to let us know. Carers know they can contact us at any time, including out of office hours.
We retain a lot of our volunteers and only lose them if they adopt one of our animals or change job, or move house, etc.
They are amazing and go above and beyond.
What feedback do you get from carers?
Most carers say they really enjoy looking after our animals. They understand that they are saving the life of an animal and reducing harm to women and children by fostering. Bearing in mind that perpetrators sometimes kill women’s animals as punishment for leaving.
Where do you recruit volunteers from, besides people seeing the opportunity on our website and social media?
We get carers from our carers telling their friends and colleagues about the project 😊
– Thank you Sarah, for your answers. It’s great that existing carers have such positive experiences that their friends and workmates want to volunteer too. And this little infographic shows just how much impact the project has:
We have made the carers’ information leaflet a download on this page, so if you are interested, please have a read of that. It talks you through what happens when you become a carer and will give you more insight. Hopefully, you’ll want to take it further.
Don’t be shy – step forward and open up a new world!
We know from our volunteers that working with Juno has had a positive impact on their life. So, why not find out more? You can find more details on our website pages: https://junowomensaid.org.uk/volunteer/
Or you can email Sonia with any questions or for an informal chat on: [email protected]
If you would like to potentially be a foster carer, please email Sarah on: [email protected]
Volunteering changes lives for the better – yours, and the women you will be helping through Juno. So, please get in touch and we look forward to meeting you soon!