Are you aged 18+ and looking for a new opportunity to give back? Why not volunteer with us!?

As a volunteer mentor, you’ll help vulnerable young people aged 14-25 to meet their full potential, by working with them to achieve personal goals.

The young people we support on our mentoring programme are displaying “at risk” signs, including poor performance or non-attendance at school, welfare issues, lack of positive social networks, poor mental health, social isolation, and bullying. In some cases, they may be facing issues such as substance misuse and criminal offences.

We match a mentor with a young mentee with similar interests to work together towards a goal of the young person’s choice - often a recreational or leisure activity: we’ve had our young people choose to do everything from cookery and music classes to rock-climbing and ballet lessons!

Through undertaking these activities together, our mentors help our mentees address the challenges they’re facing, achieve positive outcomes, and connect with social, cultural and leisure opportunities, encouraging them to gain new skills, confidence and independence.

Mentors also often support and assist their young person to maintain, re-engage with or seek out education, training and employment opportunities. Through building a supportive relationship, our volunteer mentors increase the chances of a young person going on to lead an independent and fulfilling life.

All of our volunteers must be 18+ and willing to undergo an enhanced PVG check prior to attending training.

Move On policies and procedures, including health and safety and safeguarding, must be followed at all times. It’s also important that our volunteers respect the confidentiality of our young people. This includes ensuring that any information stays within the appropriate Move On channels. Don’t worry though – we’ll cover all of this during your training, and you’ll always have support in place to keep you right!

You’ll need to be reliable: you’re supporting a vulnerable young person, so it’s key that you’re able to show up on time to meetings with them. This will help them develop a sense of stability and trust within the relationship. Matches may meet for anywhere from six months up to two years, and we expect that the recruitment, training and PVG checking process may take up to 2 months. For this reason, we ask that you please only apply if you’re confident you can be available to volunteer for at least 6 months.

We’re also particularly short of male mentors at present, so if you fit this bill, please don’t hesitate to apply!