Children's Befriender

Positive Help
VO102769

Do you enjoy spending time with children and helping them discover their confidence? As a Befriending Volunteer, you will spend 1:1 time with a child or young person aged between 5 and 18 who is affected by HIV or Hepatitis C and who could use a little extra support.
Many of the children we support have faced or continue to face Adverse Childhood Experiences that have affected their wellbeing, development, and communication. As a Befriending Volunteer, you will build a connection with a child or young person through fun activities such as visiting museums and galleries, taking part in sports, or exploring nature. You will support a child to develop their interests and hobbies and expand their horizons while creating a safe and supportive environment for them to express themselves.
Consistency is important for the children we support. We therefore ask our Befrienders to commit to a minimum of 1 year of volunteering in order to nurture feelings of trust and safety.

What You'll Do

• Communicate with Positive Help Staff about availability and arrangements for upcoming sessions.
• Send a Safeguarding message once you have picked the child up and dropped them at home.
• Research outings appropriate for the child’s age and needs and planning these sessions with them to ensure a collaborative approach.
• Build on the child or young person’s strengths, experiences, skills and talents.
• Support young people to cope with the challenges they face at home, school or in the community.
• Help to reinforce life skills, e.g. road safety or paying for bus fares and ordering food.
• Encourage the child or young person to contribute in positive ways in all settings.
• Help the child or young person recognise and value their own achievements and successes.
• Prioritise the needs of the child of young person and inform Positive Help if you have any concerns for them.
• Submit feedback and expenses after each outing.

Experience required

• Personal qualities: Empathy, patience, reliability, and a caring, non-judgmental attitude.
• Skills: Good listening, timekeeping, and relationship-building abilities.
• Commitment to values: Upholding Service Users’ confidentiality and maintaining boundaries.

Travel details

We offer full reimbursement of travel and other reasonable expenses.

Travel expenses

We offer full reimbursement of travel and other reasonable expenses.

I want to volunteer

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Support

Training details

• Training takes place over two full days, one of which is certified First Aid training, and four shorter training sessions.
• Ongoing post-session support.
• Guided peer-support.
• One-to-one support meetings.