Current opportunities with A Mile in Her Shoes
A Mile in Her Shoes offers fun, inclusive and accessible group fitness activities and opportunities that support women experiencing multiple disadvantages (such as homelessness). We enable and empower them to access the same positive mental, physical, health and social benefits of exercise as any other woman. We do this by identifying and removing any barriers they may face to participating in physical fitness and wellbeing activities.
Most of the sessions we offer are in the daytime with small groups. Our activities generally consist of one-hour, women-only group fitness classes, either indoors or in local parks and open spaces. These include warm-ups, games, exercises and stretches.
The outdoor sessions offer the chance to jog or develop running fitness through a fun and relaxed ‘run and games’ approach. The activities in the indoor sessions depend on what coaches and/or volunteers can offer e.g. circuit training, resistance exercises, yoga, Zumba, dance, boxercise etc.
We endeavour to offer activities which members find motivating and also provide them with any/all suitable kit and a healthy snack.
Role: Community Coaches - to lead and develop a blend of indoor and outdoor group sessions
Timings: Up to 10 hours per week
Locations: various London Boroughs. Current priorities include Camden, Ealing, Kensington & Chelsea and Lambeth.
Remuneration: £12 per/hr
We’re looking for Community Coaches on an ongoing basis as we expand our reach across a number of London boroughs in response to demand from new delivery partner organisations for our new programme.
These paid roles will involve on-site outreach to help engage new members from our partner organisations (such as refuges and day centres that support recovery from homelessness) in our activities as well as leading on delivery of indoor and outdoor fitness sessions and supporting the Chief Executive and other trustees in setting these up.
We are not looking specifically for runners but for people to lead and engage women in our fun and inclusive indoor and outdoor fitness sessions. The ability to be flexible across different dates and times to reflect the needs of our beneficiaries and the iterative nature of our work will be key. Individuals who are set up to be paid as a sole trader or through limited company would be desirable at this time.
Flexibility and experience in delivering similar work and engaging women and/or harder to reach groups is essential and the flexibility and willingness to work with our team of determined trustees and volunteers to deliver our fun and engaging sessions in local London boroughs.
To find out more or to express interest in becoming a Community Coach, please email Fiona Eagle with 'AMIHS Community Coaches' as the subject line.
Role: Sole Sisters Volunteers
Date and timings: Various - primarily daytime on weekdays
Locations: various London Boroughs. Current priorities include Camden, Ealing, Kensington & Chelsea, Lambeth and Westminster.
Remuneration: Unpaid, expenses only
As part of our new programme, we are looking to engage volunteers to support and deliver fitness and wellbeing sessions in the community and make a difference to women’s lives by offering them support they can rely upon.
Training and ongoing support will be given and we value enthusiasm over experience or running ability.
We are keen to hear from women who:
• Have the flexibility to volunteer on weekdays during the day
• Have some training background eg as a personal trainer, or have done the Leadership in Running Fitness course or already teach some form of exercise class
• Have a positive, non-judgemental attitude
• Are good listeners and communicators and are enthusiastic and motivating
• Are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and the ethos of our charity and its aims
To find out more or to express interest in becoming a volunteer, please email Fiona Eagle with 'AMIHS Sole Sisters volunteers' as the subject line.
About us:
A Mile in Her Shoes is a small registered UK charity that partners with organisations supporting recovery from homelessness to provide fun, inclusive weekly running fitness groups for women.
Through running-related fun and fitness, we aim to create an inclusive community where women can feel good about themselves; bringing them together to enjoy the physical, mental and social benefits. In doing so, we enable and empower participants to define themselves beyond the label ‘homeless’.
The benefits of exercise and participation in sport upon physical and mental wellbeing are well documented along with the significant gender gap in women taking part in physical activity. For vulnerable women affected by homelessness, there are additional barriers to participation, which include perceptions of safety, concerns over physical limitations and fitness, financial, practical issues and motivation.
AMiHS seeks to remove as many of these barriers as possible to participation. Our sessions have been developed with input from with participants, volunteers and homelessness organisations. By working in partnership with relevant organisations - such as refuges and charities working to combat homelessness - that women know and may already be accessing, we are able to provide regular sessions and bring women together to meet other women with similar experiences.
The majority of homeless women have experienced complex trauma, and so our sessions are run by qualified female group leaders to address concerns over emotional and physical safety. We provide new and/or lightly used, high quality kit suitable for exercise (socks and sports bras always new) and healthy snacks and bottled water to replace calories burned in our sessions.
