In conjunction with Volunteering England.

Volunteering for the Project – “If you care- we care”

Calderdale Carers Project has been awarded funding by Volunteering England to develop a new scheme to involve volunteers in supporting carers in Calderdale. The scheme will run for 3 years and have 2 workers who will develop and run the scheme.

We have consulted with a group of carers and ex-carers on a number of issues.

We wanted to find out what people wanted to do as volunteers, how it would help them and how it would benefit carers in Calderdale. The consultation produced some important aims for the volunteering scheme.

1. Help people to utilise and develop skills, experience and creativity.
2. Reduce social isolation and facilitate social reintegration.
3. Enhance confidence
4. Provide support for each other
5. Provide volunteer services
6. Identify and set up a range of volunteering opportunities
7. Give practical and emotional help and information to support carers ( and indirectly, their cared for)

The consultation also helped us to form a clearer picture of the roles that volunteers would like to undertake – see the section on Roles for Volunteers