Event Support Volunteer - Cassel Summer Conference
Cassel Summer Conference - support onsite during a morning and/or afternoon
Date: Friday 26th June 2026
Location: The Cassel Hospital
Address: 1 Ham Common, Richmond, TW10 7JF
Timings: 09:00 – 13:00 and/or 13:00 – 17:00
Volunteers: up to 6 volunteers per shift
Who will see the difference? Anyone interested in working with complex emotional needs patients in teams and institutions.
Donald Winnicott introduced the idea of transitional space as an intermediate area between inner psychic reality, largely based on phantasy, and a more ‘objective’, that is shared grasp of external reality. Winnicott’s emphasis was on early development and the way in which this space, when it emerges between infant and care giver, helps the infant manage the gradual recognition that the care giver is separate, thus supporting a shift from absolute dependence towards relative independence.
Can the important relationships formed between patients and clinicians, and in our therapeutic community here at the Cassel often even more crucially between fellow patients, not also facilitate the emergence of such transitional spaces? Spaces which foster symbolisation, play and creativity, and a gradual shift from dependence to a more self-determined, autonomous but connected life.
We will explore various stations along this journey. A presentation on beginnings and endings considers the anxieties, hopes, and unconscious meanings mobilised at the threshold of treatment and its conclusion, highlighting how these moments can both consolidate and destabilise psychic change. Another, on adventurousness, explores the delicate balance between safety and experimentation, drawing on the concept of play as a transitional activity that enables new forms of experience and self-representation. Finally, a paper on epistemic trust addresses the conditions under which patients come to recognise and internalise knowledge from another mind, particularly in the context of developmental trauma and disrupted attachment.
This conference invites reflection on how treatment itself may function as a transitional space – one that holds movement, uncertainty, and transformation at its core.
The volunteering activity
We will require support with;
• Registration
• Event stewarding
• Replenishing coffee & water urns etc.
• Clearing up in between sessions & at the end
Considerations
You are likely to be on your feet for significant periods of the day and some lifting and moving of equipment might be required. Car park facilities are available at the site.
And we will provide lunch!
For any enquires regarding the volunteering activity please contact Daksha Samani: daksha.samani@nhs.net
To speak to Volunteer Services about general information about volunteering with West London NHS Trust please contact wlt.volunteers.hub@nhs.net
To sign up please complete our quick registration form and sign up to the activity via your volunteering profile (opportunities tab) to confirm your attendance.
