Faculty of Volunteer


The Volunteer Faculty works in partnership to support and promote volunteering for the health and social care sector, wherever that may occur.


The aim of the faculty is to enhance the role of volunteers as part of the wider health and social care workforce, by

  • increasing access to quality training
  • supporting the personal development of volunteers
  • growing career pathways from volunteering into health and social care
  • raising the profile of volunteering, and
  • fostering environments where volunteering is encouraged and valued


The faculty works from the principles of:

  • Inclusivity
  • Citizenship
  • Partnership
  • Co-design


  • Added value (support others working in this space by adding value wherever possible, including delivering joint initiatives with partners)



Korinne Leney

Volunteer Faculty Lead

Korinne joined the Buckinghamshire Health and Social Care Academy in July 2022 as the Programme Manager for the Faculty of Volunteering. Prior to this, Korinne was the Community Engagement and Development team manager at Buckinghamshire Council, working closely alongside Adult Social Care, Public Health, partner agencies, and the voluntary sector to build more resilient communities and improve the health and wellbeing of people in Buckinghamshire. She is a skilled manager and collaborator with experience of bringing communities and services together to design innovative initiatives. 

 

Korinne holds a Master’s degree in Public Services Policy & Management from Kings College London and a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies from the University of British Columbia, Canada. She currently serves as Treasurer (previously Chair) for the Sexual Assault & Abuse Support Service in Bucks and Milton Keynes, where she has been on the board of trustees since 2016, bringing valuable 'real life' experience of the challenges and opportunities for voluntary service providers in Buckinghamshire to her role in the Academy. ï»¿


Ruth Farwell

Volunteer Faculty Executive Sponsor

Ruth is a mathematician by background with a BSc(Hons) and a PhD, both from the University of Kent. Her career spanning over forty years was spent in different universities, first as a lecturer in mathematics, then gradually moving into more managerial roles.

After two research fellowships, at Kent and Imperial College London, she began lecturing in maths at St Mary’s University, Twickenham in 1982. After heading up the maths department there she moved in 1990 to the University of Brighton where she stayed for eight years, moving in 1998 to London South Bank University where she was Pro Vice-Chancellor. She left there in January 2006 to lead what was to become Buckinghamshire New University as Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, retiring in January 2015. It was this appointment that brought her and her husband Martin Daniels to Buckinghamshire, moving to a rural location outside High Wycombe where they still live.

Throughout her career and into retirement, Ruth has been active in the university sector at a national level, as well as holding posts in public life both locally and more widely. She currently chairs the South Bank Colleges board, is a member of the board of London South Bank University and also deputy chair of Pearson College London. She also runs her own consultancy and undertakes voluntary work locally, primarily as a trustee of BACO (the Bucks Association for the Care of Offenders) and also as their prison support officer for HMP Grendon.

Ruth was awarded a CBE in the New Year’s Honours 2015 for services to higher education. She has an honorary doctorate from the University of Kent and an emeritus professorship from Buckinghamshire New University. She was made a Deputy Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire in 2015 and served as the county’s High Sheriff in 2018-19.

The Workstreams of the Volunteer Faculty

Working in collaboration with partners, the aims of the workstreams are as follows:

WORKSTREAM ONE


Developing education packages and career pathways for volunteers


  • Create opportunities for young people to receive a comprehensive experience in the sector, gaining transferrable skills to support them into careers in health and social care. The Student Volunteering Skills Record pilot project for this is currently underway; details can be found below.
  • Improve oversight of the training and education of volunteers with quality assured and evaluated courses.
  • Develop a responsive skills passport for use with Buckinghamshire Voluntary Sector.
  • Create a career pathway for roles in Health and Social Care by upskilling volunteers. 
  • Coming soon: working with Bucks Data Exchange on a series of data workshops.

WORKSTREAM TWO

Buckinghamshire Community Wellbeing Hubs

  • Co-design and co-deliver physical Community Wellbeing hubs based at Buckinghamshire New University (BNU) campuses in Aylesbury and High Wycombe to benefit the learner and citizen populations
  • Create a physical space for health and social care professionals and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) providers to collaborate and co-locate services to improve the health and wellbeing of citizens 
  • Support student wellbeing and mental health through the hub, in complement with existing BNU wellbeing services
  • Provide opportunities for students to develop skills and gain work experience, including volunteering, placements, job shadowing, and training


Click above, or here for more on the Buckinghamshire Community Wellbeing Hubs

WORKSTREAM THREE

Promotion of positive mental health and wellbeing – Developing collaborative partnerships with Local Faith Groups and mental health professionals


  • Provide a platform for mental health professionals and faith communities to engage in shared learning.
  • Build better working relationships between faith communities and mental health professionals, to identify and address barriers that prevent service users from seeking care and advice they need.
  • Enhance workforce capability and support ‘first responders’ in faith communities, with access to training, resources, and professional advice.
  • Provide student nurses with the opportunity to work directly with multi-faith groups, to equip them with knowledge and skills to be culturally competent professionals. View the Multifaith Placement Handbook here
  • Co-design models of supervision, coaching and governance for partnership working.
  • Coming soon: Working in collaboration with WISE Mosque and NHS Buckinghamshire Talking Therapies.


You can download the End of Project Report on our Events page here

WORKSTREAM FOUR

Health Inequalities Communities of Practice

  • Three new Health Inequalities Communities of Practice (CoP) will bring together those who work and volunteer with people experiencing health inequalities, from inclusion health groups and/or with protected characteristics in areas of deprivation in Buckinghamshire.
  • The CoPs will help to build networks in Aylesbury, Chesham and High Wycombe; each facilitated meeting will explore a theme or topic, bringing together those working and volunteering in communities to share lived experience and knowledge.

A visual demonstration of how the Volunteer Faculty collaborates with other parts of BHSCA, and works within the wider Buckinghamshire VCSE sector.

In collaboration with Bucks Mind, as part of Workstream Three - Promotion of positive mental health and wellbeing - the faculty co-delivered Mental Health training (Suicide Awareness, Mental Health First Aid (picture to the right) and Mental Health Aware) for Faith-based Organisations in Buckinghamshire in 2022 and 2023.

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This training has now been commissioned through Buckinghamshire Council's Public Health team, who are offering, in partnership with Bucks Mind, fully funded Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), Youth Mental Health First Aid and Suicide First Aid training to community, charity or public sector employees and volunteers in Buckinghamshire who work to support people in the community.

See the funded training offer here


Student Volunteering Skills Record Pilot Project


Volunteering is a great way of gaining new experiences, developing new transferable skills, and making a big difference in our communities. This project, for students aged 16+ and studying/interested in health and social care careers, will help students to be matched with a volunteering role and then support students to fill out a Skills Record whilst volunteering, which will help you to capture these new transferable skills. 


This pilot project is a part of the Local Skills Improvement Plan, and is specifically looking at developing work-readiness skills in health and social care students.


If you have any questions, or would like help filling in the form, please contact  the Volunteer Matching Service on volunteermatching@communityimpactbucks.org.uk or call 0330 2369350.




If you are a Buckinghamshire-base health and social care student, aged 16+, please register your interest by submitting the below Google form. Instructions, specific information and next steps are detailed on the form.

Please click here to access the Student Expression of Interest Form
View the Participant Information Sheet here Additional information on the project can be found here

This presentation was used at 'Preparing to Volunteer' sessions, held at Buckinghamshire College Group and Buckinghamshire New University in early December 2023. 

Opportunities to get involved with the faculty

There are many opportunities to get involved with the Volunteer Faculty, including:

  • Joining a Health Inequalities Community of Practice
  • Co-designing and co-presenting as a community expert at a Health Inequalities Community of Practice session
  • Co-designing new volunteering opportunities for students
  • Co-designing mental health signposting resources for faith communities with NHS providers
  • Co-locating a health or wellbeing service, group or activity at the Community Wellbeing Hubs
  • Joining other health and social care colleagues hot-desking and working collaboratively at the Community Wellbeing Hubs
  • Delivering a health and wellbeing training or awareness raising session for health and social care colleagues and learners at the Community Wellbeing Hub
  • Share skills gaps and training needs related to volunteers that can be addressed through our workstreams


If you are interested in getting involved or have ideas about how the Volunteer Faculty can meet its aims: 

Contact Korinne Leney
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