Volunteers

OFFERS YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE INVOLVED IN CHALLENGING AND REWARDING WORK IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

ACOOP aims to offer social care, advice and support to older offenders and their families, both in prison and within the wider criminal justice system.

We run over 50s groups in Dartmoor and Channings Wood prisons. The number of prisoners attending continues to rise and we need more volunteers to support group work, befriending, information and advice, promotion of health (e.g. chair based exercise), signposting to other services and fundraising.

An initial community based two day training course is provided for all volunteers, including subjects such as personal health and safety and risk management, confidentiality and disclosure and data protection. An optional third day will provide training in chair based exercise, provided by a specialist trainer. The participating prison will also provide training on working safely within a prison.

These opportunities are challenging and interesting and we welcome applicants from a wide range of backgrounds. In return for your skills and time we offer:

A friendly team to work with
Full training
Out of pocket expenses
Regular support
The chance to get valuable vocational experience
The opportunity to apply your skills if you are retired

We have a number of volunteer opportunities at the moment. More details of these can be found in the PDF documents in the sidebar to the right of this page. If you would like to know more about this rewarding work please get in touch with us.

Some quotes from current ACOOP Volunteers

"My first experience of ACOOP was as a prisoner and the meeting of their representatives within that prison community. They encouraged us to become aware of problems that could and would be experienced on release, especially for those over the age of 50 and in particular those that had been in the prison community for several years.

Fortunately I had not been present within that community for a great length of time, but even for me it was difficult being able to comprehend that there were those amongst us that had never encountered a cash machine or mobile phone and worst of all had never seen a Smart Car!!

ACOOP representatives introduced us to speakers from all walks of life, both on an instructional and informative basis, as well as practical and outside interests. As time went on I became more and more involved with their efforts and vowed that on my release I would try and assist them in their efforts and repay some of the benefits that I had received from them.

Having been home for some months now I appreciate their work within that community and the results that it is achieving. Fortunately my personal circumstances on release are such that the problems that I have personally experienced are only the tip of the iceberg to those that I know others wil be encountering on their release.

I was approached to see if I could help prepare and research some form of Resettlement Course to encompass all aspects of life that would be met when coming back into the community and the problems that would come with it. I have therefore spent the past weeks trying to put together such a programme which hopefully will shortly reach fruition and be of assistance to somebody, somewhere.

I would therefore encourage anybody to give some of their time and personal experience and volunteer to help ACOOP in the work that they do. It may not seem much to you now but I can assure you, from experience, that what seems like a molehill on the outside can soon become an insurmountable mountain to those on the inside when there is nobody to talk to or you do not know where to go for answers.

Please therefore contact Liz Davis, ACOOP, Prioryfield House, 20 Canon Street, Taunton TA1 1SW. Tel: 01460 76003. Email: info@acoop.org.uk."

"Volunteering is about giving your time.

Volunteering feeds your soul.... it makes you feel happier.

Some people say that volunteers are wonderful, but actually they are just human beings, glad to be able to help or share with other human beings".

"I have worked in health and social care since 1971, in fieldwork, as a manager, an inspector and as part of an improvement agency. I am passionate about improving social care and since the early 90s have become interested in prisoners, through work with lifers. I have pursued this interest and come to appreciate that prisoners have little or no access to the social care support that the rest of us take for granted and I am working to try to help correct this. In addition prisoners are rarely consulted on government policy initiatives and I have been working with ACOOP, commissioned by the Department of Health and the Older Prisoners Action Group (OPAG) to consult prisoners in the southwest on the Government’s Green Paper - Shaping the Future of Care. I believe that ACOOP fills an essential gap for prisoners. For all these reasons I am keen to try to help and support their work."

© Age Concern Regional Support Services (South West) ~ Registered Charity No: 1096224
Registered Office: Prioryfield House, 20 Canon Street, Taunton, TA1 1SW
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