Volunteer from home

We are recruiting! All our roles are voluntary – no-one at LifeSIGNS gets paid, we’re all volunteers.

Please scroll down to view the roles we need help with.

Special message from our Director, Jules

LifeSIGNS is run by volunteers, and we need more of you.

We understand how difficult it can be to juggle life, work, and home; and we know that it can feel daunting to imagine giving up any more of your time. So we’re not asking for a permanent commitment. Instead we’re asking for people to volunteer for six months.

If LifeSIGNS has helped you in the past, and you’d like to give a little back, we’d be overjoyed to welcome you to our team of volunteers.

We’ll adapt your role to suit you, and as we all work virtually from home you’ll be able to work on days and times that fit in with your busy life. Even if you can only give a couple of hours a week, it will help us enormously.

If you’re willing to help us over a period of six months, please contact hello@lifesigns.org.uk with any ideas around what you would like to work on.

We very much hope to hear from you.

Diversity Manager

The role of Diversity Manager is to work towards increasing our commitment to inclusivity by reaching out to more people from minority groups, particularly in regards to ethnicity.

The work includes:

Creating and managing projects / campaigns that target minority groups.

Acting as an advocate for, and presenting the needs of minority groups to the Directors.

Raising awareness of specific issues faced by minority groups when it comes to self-injury, and promoting change.

Communicating with relevant charities and organisations that represent different minority groups in order to create working relationships.

Researching / analysing the success of projects, and presenting results to the Directors.

Work towards recruiting volunteers from different ethnic backgrounds / communities.

Writer and reviewer

Focused on reviewing the content on our website, the role holder will directly revise textual content to bring our content up-to-date. New pages and blogs also need writing, especially considering diverse audiences. The review process can be multi-step and can take a couple of weeks, so the role-holder needs to be patient, determined, and respectful of the process and the way LifeSIGNS must present information (considering our tenets, vocabulary, writing style, etc.). Role might need five to eight hours a week, but you manage your own time and workload, and are always supported.

Professional Information and Healthcare Professional Liaison

Focused on developing our information for HCPs, the role holder will create new pages and revise existing content purely aimed at professionals. Working with our Director, the role holder will support the development of material, events, and drive engagement. Role might need five to six hours a week, but you manage your own time and workload, and are always supported.

Tumblr Officer

We want to use our little Tumblr blog to bring our information, often from our website, to the Tumblr audiences in bite-size pieces. The role-holder should understand the fast-paced social medium, and understand the importance of tone, frequent posts, and repetition and variation of message. Working with our Social Media Manager, the role holder will share and promote our content and campaigns, and create original textual content and image content. The review process for original content can take a couple of days, and so the role holders needs to understand and respect our brand and quality standards, considering the audiences we’re serving and the organisation we wish to maintain and grow. Role might need five hours a week, but you manage your own time and workload, and are always supported.

Facebook Officer

Working with our Social Media Manager, the role holder will share and promote our content and campaigns. We want our Facebook Page to help people find our content and messages. Facebook can be technically tricky, and so the role holder needs to be able to make our posts look as good as possible, and be ready to learn how best to make posts (as there are lots of options, and we already know the best ways). Role might need two hours a week, but you manage your own time and workload, and are always supported.

Blog Manager

Publish articles every couple of weeks. The role holder must be competent and confident with WordPress, must understand how ‘copying and pasting’ from one system to another can create bugs, and must be able to edit images (resize and crop).
Role might need three or four hours a week, but you manage your own time and workload, and are always supported.
If you’re experienced, you may wish to help with page-layout improvements across our whole website.

Support Forum Manager

Working directly for the LifeSIGNS Management Committee (Directors);
Administrate and run the Support Forum (message board software)
Follow all relevant LifeSIGNS processes, procedures and policies;
Follow and express the ethics, philosophy, approach, mission and tenets of LifeSIGNS;
Activate new accounts;
Welcome new members;
Read all posts and check for inappropriate stuff, like numbers or graphic descriptions;
Reply to some posts – ensure people feel heard
Never, ever, offer advice;
Provide guidance that remains within the LifeSIGNS approach;
If it is necessary to respond to an individual, the response must offer general guidance that anyone could benefit from – the response may be to an individual, but the response must not be specifically for that person;
Regarding organisations and campaigns, work exclusively for LifeSIGNS regarding the realm of self-injury awareness;
Be aware of LifeSIGNS work on social media channels and the website, as well as within our intranet;
Excellent approach to timely communication.

Ideally, you would have some experience of message board software and administration, so that you can change settings and configurations. Training will be provided.

Beyond the tech administration, you will be directly in touch with members, and it’s vital that you remain non-directional and non-judgemental. Many volunteers want to ‘help’ members by telling them what they should do. This is not our way. The Support Forum is for self-expression and peer support – not direction. We offer guidance and ideas, but never personal advice.

This role does not take a lot of time through the week, but requires dedication. Lots of commitment.

As Admin, you might also work with ‘Moderators’, who do not do the tech stuff, but who care for the community.

Please apply via email to hello@lifesigns.org.uk – using the subject of ‘Support Forum Manager’ and tell us about your experience.

Social Media Co-Manager – volunteer from home

Especially for Tumblr, but extending to other social channels

This is a very special role requiring a mature person who is dedicated to helping create understanding around self-injury.

The role holder will work very closely with the Directors of LifeSIGNS, and work alongside other volunteers who manage each social media channel individually. Therefore, we’re looking for someone who works well within a team and yet has the confidence to manage their own time and work as well, while working closely with the Directors.

The role holder will be involved with the following social media channels that help make LifeSIGNS the most active self-injury awareness charitable organisation:

Facebook (a few times a week);
LinkedIn (once a week);
Twitter (nearly every day);
Tumblr (nearly every day);
The role may also touch on AudioBoo, Instagram, Yahoo! Answers and even our blog in the future.

We’re looking for someone who is willing to learn our ways of using social media (our strategy and tactics) and then support our volunteer social media managers as and when needed, perhaps leading the way forward.

Ideally you’ll have some experience of publishing material on behalf of an organisation, but we understand that you may only have ever managed your own social accounts, and that’s fine. We’re looking for someone who is ready for this challenge, who can manage their own time and who is reliable and dedicated.

LifeSIGNS has all the tools necessary to work, so you will be fully supported in your role – you’ll literally be working alongside other volunteers from the comfort of your own computer / mobile.

The points below focus on Tumblr, but our ethos for all our social media channels is to share and inspire, so the role encompasses more than only Tumblr.

Working directly for the LifeSIGNS Management Committee (Directors);
Tumblr: Publish original LifeSIGNS material (from our website and blog etc.);
Tumblr: Post links to LifeSIGNS’ pages, blog articles;
Tumblr: Post LifeSIGNS created images with some words and a link for more info;
Tumblr: Queue and schedule messages so that LifeSIGNS is active every day;
Tumblr: Understand the Tumblr culture and vernacular;
Understand Facebook culture and our use of Facebook;
Follow all relevant LifeSIGNS processes, procedures and policies;
Follow and express the ethics, philosophy, approach, mission and tenets of LifeSIGNS;
Tumblr: Carefully choose who among our Followers to Follow back;
Tumblr: Avoid following triggering Tumblr blogs;
Tumblr: Reblog inspiring images, quotes and those inspiring photo / quote images – but avoid overdosing on platitudes;
Tumblr: Reactively manage and respond to comments within the Tumblr culture;
Tumblr: Proactively manage the community with the goals to increase all ’round engagement;
Tumblr: Engage Directors to answer ‘asks’ (questions) and edit ‘submissions’;
Never, ever, offer advice;
Provide guidance that remains within the LifeSIGNS approach;
If it is necessary to respond to an individual, the response must offer general guidance that anyone could benefit from – the response may be to an individual, but the words must not be specifically for that person;
Regarding organisations and campaigns, work exclusively for LifeSIGNS within the realm of self-injury awareness;
Be involved in the management discussions of LifeSIGNS, making good use of LifeSIGNS channels and tools provided;
Be aware of LifeSIGNS work on other social media channels and the website, as well as within our intranet;
Excellent approach to timely communication.

If you are interested in co-managing our Tumblr account, and being involved in our LifeSIGNS, Twitter, Instagram and other social media channels, please apply via email to hello@lifesigns.org.uk – using the subject of ‘Social Media Co-Manager’ and tell us about your experience with social media.

YouTube video maker / YouTube Manager – volunteer from home

Working directly for the LifeSIGNS Management Committee (Directors);
Manage the entire presence of LifeSIGNS on YouTube;
Follow all relevant LifeSIGNS processes, procedures and policies;
Follow and express the ethics, philosophy, approach, mission and tenets of LifeSIGNS;
Accept topic ideas from Directors;
Draft topic ideas for review;
Decide a fair schedule of publishing;
Create videos to LifeSIGNS’ specifications;
Input to LifeSIGNS’ video specifications;
Manage comments;
Never, ever, offer advice;
Provide guidance that remains within the LifeSIGNS approach;
If it is necessary to respond to an individual, the response must offer general guidance that anyone could benefit from – the response may be to an individual, but the response must not be specifically for that person;
Design and report metrics (statistics)’
Regarding organisations and campaigns, work exclusively for LifeSIGNS regarding the realm of self-injury awareness;
Be involved in the management discussions of LifeSIGNS, making good use of LifeSIGNS channels and tools provided;
Be aware of LifeSIGNS work on social media channels and the website, as well as within our intranet;
Excellent approach to timely communication.

If you can record and edit videos and wish to work with us to create informative and engaging stories in video format, please email hello@lifesigns.org.uk using the subject line of ‘YouTube Manager’ and tell us a little about your video skills.

Please see YouTube.lifesigns.org.uk for our current videos.

Research co-ordinator

This is a very low-key role, requiring only a little effort each week. It’s about managing ‘research requests’ from university students and other organisations by email.

You just need to be able to reply to emails politely. It’s just about email.

A request will come to you, via email;
You reply with our research criteria;
You notify a Director of LifeSIGNS with concise, basic details;
If the research request seems to match our criteria, you pass the request on to our webmaster for publishing and promotion.
If the research request does not really meet our criteria, you politely decline to be involved (this is the hardest part of the role).

You will have 100% support from the Directors of LifeSIGNS – you don’t have to make big decisions or do any publishing / promotion. This role is about politely managing emails and perhaps building relationships with universities and other organisations.

If you have an interest in research methodology or mental health stats then that’s fantastic – but the most important thing is that you know how to manage emails in a timely manner and can be polite and respectful to students and others organisations.

If interested in helping LifeSIGNS do more with researchers, please apply via email to hello@lifesigns.org.uk – using the subject of ‘Research co-ordinator’.

Director – volunteer from home

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We are especially looking for a Director of Support. A very serious and time-consuming role. We need a new Director to join the management committee and help run the organisation. Specifically, the role holder will direct the way in which we offer peer support, meaning they would run a massive project to assess the benefits and risks of several different online platforms that offer community services (such as a message board, forum, or social group). Role might need ten+ hours a week, but you manage your own time and workload, and are always supported.

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We are looking for someone with experience in managing and leading. Such experience does not require that you have held a ‘management position’, it only requires that you have experience in managing and leading projects and people.

This is a key role within LifeSIGNS, and a ‘hands on’ position; you will be involved in the oversight and approval of everything we do, support our Managers and volunteers, and actively develop, produce and lead our work and projects.

We would expect a Director to be involved in leadership / strategy / project discussions for a minimum of five hours per week and to perform research and writing tasks for a further few hours each week. Beyond this minimum expectation, there is a culture of passion and involvement within LifeSIGNS, and we would expect members of the management committee to be enthusiastic about our work enough to dedicate appropriate time to LifeSIGNS throughout the month.

We can promise you nothing but hard work and tiny budgets – and the opportunity to lead our fifteen year old organisation to greater and greater achievements in order to change the world.

Candidates should have:

a wide experience of work (whether paid or voluntary);
leadership experience (doesn’t have to be in a paid job, anything that requires leadership skills);
the commitment and ability to dedicate time and effort to LifeSIGNS throughout the week;
an understanding of our vision and dedication to fulfilling our mission;
ability to work well and respectfully within a small team;
good communication skills (written);
the ability to motivate others, and yourself;
a positive and proactive approach to getting things done;
the dedication to see a project through from plan to delivery;
personal experience of self-injury;
a level of comfort with online services / home computing;
your own computer and Internet access;
an understanding of the usual responsibilities a leader has, such as (real life) AGMs and management committee meetings.

Candidates should be:

reliable, honest, positive, dedicated, passionate, caring, with a modicum of humility;
self-directing;
able to look for simple answers to complex organisation concerns;
passionate about self-injury awareness and support;
willing to become an expert in the LifeSIGNS approach (including vocabulary) to self-injury.

Ideally, candidates might have:

experience of working in the third sector;
experience as an unpaid volunteer;
experience in one or more of the following:
- media relations,
- ]training,
- event planning,
- marketing,
- communications,
- charity work,
- law,
- equality and diversity,
- project management,
- HR,
- mental health,
- emotional wellbeing,
- publishing;
- access to millions of pounds worth of funding (only joking, but hey, it would be helpful).

Your application

To apply, please send some kind of CV hello@lifesigns.org.uk along with two referees’ details (who know your work) for us to contact. Your CV should be tailored to demonstrate that your experience matches the requirements above. We are not looking for a CV that attempts to impress us with qualifications. Your opening statement may be the most important part of your CV – write it specifically for this role.

To repeat:

ensure your CV is written specifically for this voluntary role;
include contact details for two referees so we can talk to them about your experience;
don’t pad your CV with qualifications – write a fantastic personal statement and also show your experience.

Interviews will take place either in a city-centre café somewhere in the UK, or via some Internet snazzy tech of some kind. Travel expenses will only be reimbursed for the successful candidates.

Joining LifeSIGNS will give you a real opportunity to change the world (somewhat) and become part of a virtual team, dedicated to helping others and providing insightful information. You’ll have the chance to influence other organisations, and provide reference material to health care workers and professionals – literally helping to change the world.

You will have the opportunity to publish new information and ideas, and to manage creative projects that our members, visitors and social media friends love. You could have the opportunity to work with the media, in print, radio and television, and to speak at conferences, deliver training or contribute to books.

You will be able to cite your work at LifeSIGNS in other areas of your life and work, and count yourself among the millions of people in the UK who choose to volunteer as a way to develop themselves and improve the country.

Trustee

A legally accountable role, we need a trustee to help revamp our constitution and the documents (policies, guidelines) that support the running and good-management of our small charity. Aside from such important administration, Trustees oversee the strategy of our organisation and meet online and in person a few times each year. Role might need three or four hours a week for the first six months, reducing after that, but you manage your own time and workload, and are always supported.

The role of Trustee includes legal responsibility for the organisations, and yet is a lighter role than Director.

Trustees must lead the direction of LifeSIGNS, while empowering the Directors to perform the day-to-day duties.

It’s a serious role because it comes with a great deal of accountability, yet it’s a ‘light’ role as it only requires a day or two of your time each month.

However, from now until March, we need a good deal of support in revising our policies and procedures, to modernise our organisation structure and reporting processes.

Read about the role of a trustee.