Ecas is looking for a part-time (17.5 hours per week) Befriending Assistant to join our small office team. The successful candidate will assist the Befriending Manager to develop and deliver the Befriending Service for adults with a physical disability living in Edinburgh.

About us

Ecas is an Edinburgh based charity and was established over a hundred years ago. The charity works to improve the quality of life of physically disabled people in the Edinburgh and Lothians area: promoting equality, choice and participation through our activities, befriending service and grants.

The Befriending Service commenced in October 2007 and has a well-established number of ‘matches’. The service has a different approach to the more traditional schemes and started in response to the increasing number of people with physical disabilities becoming isolated and lonely. Isolated people with a physical disability may be in their own homes, in assisted housing, in accommodation provided by a housing association or even in residential homes.

Ecas has approached the befriending service in two connected ways:

• by recruiting, training and vetting volunteers to meet befriendees in person.
• by facilitating visits between isolated physically disabled people who are already friends or family and who would otherwise find it difficult to meet.

The Befriending Assistant will, in support of the Befriending Manager, work with other organisations to recruit both volunteers and those who need the service. To provide a manageable geographic area the service operates only in Edinburgh, but with the flexibility to involve volunteers and clients from out with that area in exceptional circumstances.