Aphasia Support in a Yorkshire based charity that helps people with aphasia. Aphasia can follow a stroke or brain injury and the condition not only affects a person’s ability to speak and/or comprehend, it can also have a devastating impact on other aspects of their life. We specialise in using computer therapy to support people with aphasia and we also organise aphasia cafes across Yorkshire.

We offer a person-centric approach to our support placing the emphasis on working on improving the skills that our client has identified as being the priority. We aim to develop strong bonds of friendship enabling us to encourage and motivate our clients to work towards their goals. We provide long term one to one support in a person’s own home using specialist aphasia software to help people regain confidence, improve upon skills of language and communication, lose their feeling of isolation and get back into the wider community.

The Role

Are you friendly and patient?  Can you spare a couple of hours every week? - if so, we would love to hear from you!

Aphasia Support are a registered charity (Charity Number 1143106) who support people with aphasia to communicate with confidence. We are keen to hear from new volunteers who would like to join our Speech & Language Therapy programme and be part of our growing team in Kirklees. Prior experience is not necessary for this role as training and support is given.

Providing one-to-one support in people’s home, the volunteering role is based around your availability, however we would be looking for a minimum of 6 months’ commitment and the ability to offer fortnightly sessions to one or two clients over a 6-month period

This role can really make a difference to someone’s life and is a great way to learn new skills and it can benefit people keen to move into healthcare related roles.

 What you will do

 This skilled befriending role involves supporting a person with aphasia in a one-to-one capacity to work on their speech and communication using speech therapy apps on an iPad and supported conversation techniques. Volunteers are supported by the charity’s speech and language therapy team to complete the following duties:

• Working one-to-one with a person with aphasia face-to-face in the client’s home.
• Submit weekly visit reports detailing the actions taken in each session.
• Developing a good understanding of the speech therapy apps recommended for use by the speech and language therapist.
• Providing the opportunity for supported conversation practice using a variety of resources.
• Attend regular training and supervision in-line with the expectations of the role.

 The skills you need

We’re looking for people who could spare just a few hours a week to make a huge difference to the lives of those with aphasia. Prior experience is not necessary for this role as training and support is given, however you will need:

• Good communication skills
• Ability to be calm in the face of difficult situations and able to escalate safeguarding concerns, should they arise, to the appropriate named contact.
• IT literate and able to work independently
• Friendly, positive and patient
• Available during the day (9.30 – 3pm) for just a few hours every 2 weeks
• Over 18 years of age

As part of this role you will be required to take part in an induction on Saturday 31st January. If you are unable to attend this please still get in touch as we will have other dates available later in the year.

• Application form required
• References required
• DBS (criminal record check that the organisation will organise)

• 18+

Volunteers are required to attend a one day induction, usually via Zoom