If you would like to spend a little of your time helping someone who has recently been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, then we would like to hear from you.
We would like to meet people who live with bipolar disorder and who have reached the point that they are managing their bipolar well.
Working collaboratively with the Peer Workers and other colleagues, our Peer Support Volunteers provide complimentary practical and emotional support to those who have been newly diagnosed with bipolar.
Our volunteers are able to utilise their lived experience of living well with bipolar disorder, to inspire and empower those who use the service to acquire and enhance skills to improve their personal resilience and enable them to live well with bipolar too.
They will draw on their knowledge and skills to provide practical support in areas such as personal finance, budgeting, social inclusion, employability and education to support individuals to achieve their goals, to create meaningful and sustainable connections with other sources of support within their communities and instil a sense of hope for the future and what they can achieve.
Volunteering times are flexible on any day, either morning, afternoon and evenings, to mutually suit the volunteer and the person benefitting from peer support. We would expect approximately 2 hours per week time commitment.
We provide both induction training and ongoing training opportunities, and also ongoing support from our Volunteer Manager and other staff. A protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) check is required, which we can undertake free of charge.
Bipolar Scotland are Scotland’s national charity for everyone who lives with bipolar disorder and those who care for them.
In addition to our Post Diagnosis Support Service we
- challenge stigma and discrimination while representing the views of people who live with bipolar to politicians and health professionals;
- run self-help groups throughout Scotland;
- provide training courses on how to self-manage bipolar disorder; and
- provide useful information about everything to do with bipolar disorder
If you would like to find out more, please contact our volunteer Manager, Nigel Lack, for an informal chat, at nigel.lack@bipolarscotland.org.uk or visit Bipolar Scotland website www.bipolarscotland.org.uk/
