Cymraeg
Volunteer for the helpline
Join our team of dedicated telephone volunteers and help change the lives of bereaved people.
As a Helpline Volunteer, you will join a volunteer community who provide listening and emotional one-off support to bereaved people.
79,000 people call our National Helpline every year. For many callers this will be the first time they have asked for help with their grief. Our volunteers are there to listen, provide emotional support and talk through the options available to them.
When I started working on the National Helpline, one of the first challenges was being able to adapt quickly to each person’s grief and their story. I always want that to be a warm and welcoming experience where they feel truly listened to and that they are not alone in the grief.
Time commitment
Our volunteers are expected to commit to 4 telephone shifts per month
A Helpline shift is 2 hours in duration
Our Helpline is open:
- Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 9.30am-5pm
- Tuesday: 1pm – 8pm
- Saturday – Sunday: Closed
- Bank Holiday: 10am – 2pm
We receive a high volume of applications and shortlisting is essential
**This does mean that not all applications will be successful**
***We cannot accept Student Placements for Helpline Volunteer Roles***
We are committed to protecting the wellbeing of our volunteers. If you have recently experienced a bereavement, we kindly ask you to wait two years before volunteering with us. Whilst we appreciate that a bereavement will affect us all individually, we have a duty of care to both our volunteers and our service users, therefore, we are unable to progress any application that falls into this category at this time.
For insurance purposes we can only accept applications from those living in the UK, your training must be completed whilst you are in the UK, and you can only provide support whilst you are in the UK. For example, if you are holidaying or residing abroad, you cannot attend training or provide support to Cruse clients.
Frequently Asked Questions
We hold open days throughout the year for those who are interested. Dates will be added to this page when they become available. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram as we let people know there when dates are set.
We run our Open Days throughout the year. If you can’t make one, simply follow us on Facebook. That’s where we advertise upcoming dates.
Our Open Days sell out very quickly. If you try to book a place and the event is sold out we allow around 15 places on the waiting list in case someone else cancels.
Our insurance does not cover those who are permanently based outside the UK. If you’re spending time abroad temporarily it may be possible to continue to volunteer remotely, each case will need to be assessed individually.
Depending on where you are in the training, you may need to start another training course.