Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust is calling for volunteers from across the district to lend a helping hand in a range of roles to support patients at Lynfield Mount Hospital and the Airedale Centre for Mental Health.

Recruitment is now open and available to people across Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven.

The roles involve supporting patients in the two hospitals and provide the chance for volunteers to gain experience in mental health services. Volunteers can also improve their skills, find out more about mental health care and give something back to the NHS. Both the Lynfield and Airedale sites provide specialist care for patients with mental health needs who are too unwell to be treated at home.

One volunteer described the impact that volunteers can make on recovery as “Volunteers support patients to take part in meaningful activity, building confidence and to socialise which supports their recovery.”.

The Trust is currently at its highest number of volunteers and is now calling for more people to join their growing team to develop the service further.

Clare Bancroft, Volunteer Service Manager, said: “Our volunteers are extremely important to the Trust and add value to our services. Volunteering benefits our patients as well as allowing volunteers to build on their skills and experience. Volunteers support the Trust to improve therapeutic activity and the recovery of patients and provides more ways for people to get involved in Trust activity.

We are committed to fully supporting our volunteers to reach their full potential. We do everything we can to support our volunteers and give them the best experience and opportunities we can.”

For more information or to apply please email volunteer@bdct.nhs.uk or visit www.bdct.nhs.uk and search for ‘get involved’