+ LGBTIQ+ peer support (teleweb service)

Switchboard is the Victorian partner of QLife, a national organisation that provides a peer-based telephone and web counselling service (click here to read more about this program).

Switchboard peer supporters are trained volunteers who identify as being part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, asexual + communities. Our volunteers are committed to working within a framework of respect and anonymity.

We aim to be intersectional, feminist and anti-oppressive (strengths based) in our work, to meet people where they are at.

We aim to listen, to connect and understand and offer information and referral, if appropriate.

Interested in becoming a peer supporter? The work we do is hard, many of the people we talk to have experienced stigma, sexuality and gender based discrimination, family and intimate partner violence, complex mental health issues, ageism, discrimination due to disability, structural violence, racism, sexism and experience suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

We would invite you to reflect on these issues and consider if you are ready to have conversations that include these difficult topics. While we can provide you with training and a framework to do the work you need to be a resilient, emotionally intelligent and mature person. Do you have the time and capacity to take on this important and vital work as a peer supporter on QLife?

How to apply: If you are interested in hearing more about what’s involved, and would like to submit an expression of interest for the training course, please complete the form above. We’ll get in touch with you with information about the next training course.

QLife intake is now closed until June 2024. You are welcome to submit an expression of interest for our June/July intake.

+ Out and About Aged Care Volunteer Visitors Scheme

Out and About is a home-based visiting service for older LGBTI people at risk of social isolation (read more about Out and About here). Out and About volunteers befriend a socially isolated older person and catch up with them in person at least once a fortnight over a minimum of 12 months. Everyone requesting a volunteer visitor lives with disability, chronic health conditions and / or mental illnesses; we look for volunteers of any age that are affirming of this and who are reliable and kind. Click here to read our Out & About volunteer position description.

How to apply: Out and About does not actively recruit new volunteers in groups. Instead, we recruit volunteers individually as needed if and when we receive a new referral for someone requesting a match.

Please register your details on the link above and we will get in contact with you if an opportunity to volunteer becomes available in your area. You will then be invited to submit an Expression of Interest based on the needs of the person needing a visitor and staff will contact you with further information.

+ Make a suggestion

Do you have a particular interest or ability? Please get in contact via the form above and let us know how we might be able to work together. We’ll get in contact with you if our needs match.