Committed to supporting good mental health through counselling? You could be the new Chair of Sandhurst Counselling Service What difference will you make? What do we get? Your leadership skills coupled to your and our strategic vision Your cooperative communication skills Effective Board meetings leading to our charity’s further development Enhancement to our overall governance and to our Board Your participation in our collective decision-making, contributing to all areas of our charity work Your enthusiasm What do our beneficiaries get The ability to continue our support for good mental health A well-governed charity, sustainable for the future A forward-looking and agile organisation, with a well-informed Board What do YOU get as a volunteer Trustee with our organisation? A chance to use your leadership and chairing skills, possibly in a different context New skills and expansion of your experience of charities An understanding of the importance of support for good mental health An opportunity to volunteer alongside other committed trustees The personal reward of giving back to the community Boost to your career or CV, if needed What are we looking for? Here is some of what we would expect from our trustees. We know that you may also need training and support from employees, from other trustees and from external organisations, and that that will be forthcoming, as necessary, to build on any area. Commitment to the organisation; willingness and ability to devote the necessary time & effort Understanding of the needs of our beneficiaries is desirable; an empathy with them is essential Previous experience of charity trusteeship, probably in a small/medium-sized charity, is important Experience at board level, with an understanding of the role of the Chair in effective governance Strategic vision; good, independent judgement; ability to think creatively, tempered by pragmatism and reality Ability to cooperatively lead the team of trustees, bringing impartiality and objectivity to decision-making, with the ability to bring people together to build consensus Ability and skills to effectively manage meetings Skills and ability to listen, even to dissenting views Willingness to speak your mind and to challenge other trustees with good intent; able to make unpopular recommendations to the Board, if necessary Skills to analyse proposals, examine their strategic consequences and make concise recommendations A broad understanding of charity or SME finance would be useful, in order to assist the Treasurer Experience of volunteer management, support and appraisal would be welcome Availability to meet the Clinical Manager on a scheduled and ad-hoc basis to provide advice and support, including as part of an appraisal process; willingness to be available to meet other employees to provide advice and support, as needed Secure personal access to digital communication and able to competently use those resources Having appropriate personal and professional contacts & networks, with willingness to draw on those as needed What will you be doing? If you have the skills and enthusiasm to govern cooperatively and lead our trustee Board to bring our strategy into action, you could be the next Chair of our small and long-standing charity, based in Sandhurst, Berkshire. About us Sandhurst Counselling Service evolved from a drop-in service started in August 1990 by St Michael's church in Sandhurst, and provides a safe confidential space for anyone feeling anxious, stressed, depressed, hopeless or lost, to help people find their way. The charity is “a counselling service with a Christian ethos”, an unincorporated Charitable Trust, is registered with BACP, and has an income of c£70k p.a. About the role We’re looking for someone with a commitment to our Christian Ethos and Servant Leadership of our Board and organisation. You will also have some prior experience of charity trusteeship, and understand the leadership role of our Chair, to work with other trustees and our Clinical Manager. You will take on the role of Chair of the Board after an initial three to six months as ‘Chair-designate’. This period will enable you and the Board to determine your ‘fit’ to our organisation’s vision and strategy, and to properly induct you into the Chair’s role. Our trustees are the people who make the top-level decisions for our charity. Our Board includes people with understanding of our counselling services, and we require all new trustees to have strong empathy with our cause and our delivery. We are a charity not a business, but we apply business principles alongside our faith values to govern our organisation. We are looking for fresh expertise and experience from a variety of backgrounds to our charity. The Board meets quarterly face-to-face at our premises, GU47 8HN, on a mid-week afternoon (this is flexible, and can be subject to future discussion/negotiation), for up to three hours. As Chair-designate you will dedicate about three hours per month during the period leading up to your appointment as Chair; in addition to this regular time commitment, you will need extra time for induction and any training you may need or request. Once appointed as Chair, you will need to dedicate whatever time is required, currently approx. six hours per month to the role, and at key times, probably more. This includes preparation for and attendance at Board meetings; many of your duties may be carried out online and by phone/video, as well as at face-to-face meetings.