Compassionate Harm Reduction Volunteer | 4-Hour Weekly Shifts in Edinburgh

At Simon Community Scotland our vision is for everyone to feel safe in the place they’re at in their lives. We have a relational focus and recognise the importance of building and maintaining trusting relationships with the people we support: where each person feels listened to, and where their experiences, feelings, and ideas are valued. In Scotland, far too many people continue to lose their lives to preventable overdose deaths. We are working to change this. Our harm reduction practices recognise the human rights of people, are informed by evidence and designed to ensure people are safe when using substances. We work with people without judgement or requiring that people stop using drugs as a precondition of support. This includes the provision and logging of IEP (Injecting Equipment Provision), as well as education surrounding better injecting practices and overdose prevention.

As a Harm Reduction Volunteer, you will make a tangible and long-lasting difference in the lives of people affected by drug use, without judgement nor assumptions. Following both NHS and internal guidelines and in line with our harm reduction approach, volunteers will support staff at our IEP drop ins throughout the week, Monday to Friday. Volunteers will interact with the people we support one-on-one and provide IEP, log IEP transactions through the NHS portal NEO and provide advice and guidance on better injecting practices and overdose prevention. Working closely with staff, volunteers will also provide advice on recovery pathways available should the people we support wish to discuss them, as well as sign‑posting to other harm reduction services throughout the city and online.

Specific Tasks

• Support staff to deliver IEP and harm reduction drop‑in sessions
• Provide injecting equipment and log any transactions following NHS guidelines
• Provide advice concerning better injecting practices and overdose prevention
• Signpost the people we support to additional services, such as recovery pathways and other harm reduction services

Skills and Qualities Required

• Be committed to high levels of harm reduction based support – experience of dealing in this practice would be beneficial
• Have the ability to work with people in a way that takes into consideration their individual and cultural beliefs without expressing personal opinion
• Be able to approach your volunteering role and tasks with a flexible and non judgemental attitude
• Be empathetic towards people we support
• Have good communication and people skills
• Enjoy meeting and interacting with people from diverse backgrounds
• Have resilience and tolerance with people who have faced multiple exclusions
• Be open and committed to learning with us as an organisation, engaging in training when it becomes available
• Be very welcome to bring their own skills and talents into the space and be willing to share them!

Commitment

We welcome volunteers to stay with us and continue to help us make a difference in people’s lives. 12 months would be the ideal minimum but we respect your time and commitments elsewhere. For this role, we ask for a minimum of two four‑hour shifts a month. Our recruitment follows the Safer Recruitment process, which means giving consideration to safeguarding arrangements at every step. We will ask you to attend an informal interview, provide us with two references and attend our Mini IMPACT training – a shortened version of our dynamic 5-day staff programme.

Support and Training

A full and comprehensive induction is provided for this role. In‑role training will be mandatory, and will include:

• Intro to Harm Reduction
• IEP training and using NEO
• Drug awareness
• Referrals into treatment
• Naloxone and overdose prevention
• Volunteer mentoring on each shift

Simon Community Scotland together with Volunteer Scotland and Disclosure Scotland will support you with the required PVG process.

What’s in it for me?

For as little as four hours a week you have the chance to meet new people and be part of an amazing team who are passionate about what they do. Everything we do is about and for people: the people we support, our staff, our partners and everyone affected by homelessness. Each person involved brings their individual skills and creativity to the work we do. This is a chance for you to make a real difference to the most vulnerable people within your community and pick up essential skills that are valuable to employers.

Our expectations

We would like people who care about people we support and who are enthusiastic and able to respond flexibly to a role that can sometimes be challenging, but brings great rewards and satisfaction. We would require you to be fully committed to Simon Community Scotland’s Mission and Core Values and adhere to our policies/procedures and Code of Practice.