Join our Disaster Welfare Support team!

Help people prepare for disasters and get through when an emergency or disaster happens. Meet new people, gain a range of new skills and be there for your community.

Role description

Support your community before and during an emergency. You could be deployed to assist in a flood, fire or other large-scale emergencies.

Your Tasks

• Setting up and providing support in evacuation centres.
• Undertaking needs assessments to understand what support people need.
• Providing psychosocial support.

Volunteer requirements and training

You’ll receive training in comprehensive first aid, psychological first aid, welfare support, and other essential skills for the role. Our teams train regularly and sometimes take part in scenario-based exercises with other response teams.

We need you to be physically fit, a good communicator and able to commit to your team for at least 12 months – some of our volunteers have been with us for more than 20 years.

Our volunteers need to be available to deploy for up to five days (excluding travel days) and be able to travel to support other teams when responding to emergencies. Often employers see value in the training the team members receive and proudly support their staff in the welfare disaster team to enable them to remain flexible during emergencies.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected].

Apply Online on the Red Cross website

Our team is excited to expand, and we invite you to apply and join our waitlist for the next intake. By applying today, you will be among the first to receive updates about upcoming opportunities in 2025. Don’t miss your chance to be part of something great!

To apply go to our website and choose Get involved > Volunteer in New Zealand > Find a Volunteer Role > Disaster and Emergency Support > Southland > Invercargill