Supporting someone who has a disability can be one of the most rewarding things any person can do.

CSV has led the way in enabling people with disabilities and other support needs to remain independent, and make more choices about their lives with help from full-time volunteers.

Supporting individuals in this way often means moving into their home, or close by, to provide company, support with socialising, cooking, household and personal tasks. You could be helping people with physical disabilities as a result of an accident, people with long-term conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, young people with a learning disability or older people.

This kind of volunteering can be challenging, but the rewards are huge. Here what Barbara says about what CSV full-time volunteers mean to her:

“Following my accident I was left paralysed. Having lost the use of most of my body and my husband, I was facing losing my children, my independence and entering residential care. CSV Volunteers have supported me for over 25 years and I have brought up my boys, got a degree and started my own counselling business. CSV volunteers gave me my independence to live the life I chose”.

Dawn, a recent full-time volunteer, lived with a woman with Down’s syndrome in her own home. Dawn provided motivation and support to enable her to live independently. She supported her to attend a day centre, accompanied her swimming, to the cinema and gym, and assisted her with washing and cooking at home.

“For myself, volunteering has been a personal journey in understanding my own strengths and weaknesses. With the good times and the bad, I wholeheartedly would not change a thing”.

Click here to find out more about full-time volunteers supporting individuals at university.

Click here to find out more about full-time volunteers supporting organisations.

Click here to apply to be a CSV full-time volunteer and make a real difference to an individuals life.