How to get started volunteering with the Alzheimer's Society
The application process is straightforward but slightly bureaucratic. You begin at alzheimers.org.uk/volunteer and fill out the initial form, which typically takes about 10 to 15 minutes. They'll contact you within two weeks to arrange a phone screening, followed by a matching interview where you'll be placed based on your availability and interests. The whole process from signup to your first shift usually runs three to four weeks. If you're applying for roles that involve regular contact with people living with dementia, they require an enhanced DBS check, which the Society covers for you—so there's no cost on your end. The volunteering roles break down into roughly five categories. They run helplines where you take calls from people seeking advice, support groups that provide space for caregivers and those with early-stage dementia to meet, befriending services where you'd regularly connect with someone isolated, fundraising work through events like coffee mornings or shop shifts, and research support at study sites. Most people find themselves in the helpline or befriending roles initially. The Society provides comprehensive training before you start—roughly 20 to 30 hours spread across several sessions covering communication approaches, safeguarding procedures, boundaries, and practical skills like supporting someone through a moment of confusion. This isn't casual orientation. It's structured, mandatory training that takes the program seriously, and you won't be deployed without completing it.
Here's the thing nobody tells you upfront. When I was doing befriending, I was matched with someone in mid-stage dementia who became consistently agitated every Tuesday afternoon around 3pm—classic sundowning. The training mentions it in passing, but it doesn't prepare you for actually sitting across from someone having that experience. My workaround was to contact the coordinator and request a brief schedule change, moving the visits to earlier in the afternoon. Simple adjustment, eliminated most of the problem. I wish they'd stressed more during training that you can request specific adaptations rather than just pushing through. There are also a few counter-intuitive realities that trip people up. First, you'll spend significantly more time on paperwork than the role description implies. Each befriending visit requires a short written summary afterward. Helpline volunteers log call details. If you're volunteering five hours a week, expect to add another two hours for admin work. It's manageable but not trivial. Second, the emotional weight is heavier than most people anticipate. You'll sit with someone who's confused, frightened, or grieving their own declining cognition on a regular basis. Even with the supervision sessions they provide, this takes a toll. I knew several volunteers who committed to six months and then stepped back, not because they regretted it but because they hadn't accounted for the cumulative impact. That's normal and not a failure.
The third thing is that the Society runs through regional teams, and the quality of your experience depends heavily on which team you're placed with. Some are excellent—well-supported, good supervision, clear communication. Others are under-resourced and reactive. There's no reliable way to know which you'll get before you start, and that's a genuine limitation of the system. If you need flexibility with evenings or weekends, you might find that local charity shops and community fundraising roles offer more adaptable scheduling than the helpline or befriending positions, which tend to run fixed daytime shifts. The main downside is that the commitment runs about a year with a minimum of four hours weekly. You can reduce hours, but the program genuinely struggles to place volunteers without that kind of sustained availability, so it's not ideal if you're testing whether volunteering is something you can stick with or you have a highly variable schedule. The upside is that the training quality is genuinely strong, the administrative setup is clean, and the emotional support structure through supervision means you're not just dropped into a role and left to figure it out. Most people who complete the program stay beyond their first year. It's not easy work, but it's well-run work.
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