Young Person's Befriender North East Glasgow

Young Persons Befriending Service - North East
VO104061

Volunteer Glasgow’s Young Persons Befriending Service provides support to isolated and vulnerable 8–18 year olds living in funded areas of Glasgow. The service matches young people who are experiencing difficulties with adult volunteers who are recruited, trained and supported. YPBS is designed for young people who are experiencing difficulties – these may relate to unusual pressures at home; health or disability issues or some other factor and many have had experiences of relationships which have been inconsistent or unreliable.

Befriending seeks to offer these young people a different experience – one where they have opportunities for new and positive activities, where they have choices, where they can learn to trust their own judgement and where they can have fun. This sounds like a tall order but with weekly visits with a volunteer befriender who holds the young person in positive regard, access to age appropriate activities, support from experienced and informed staff and enough time a relationship can be built which allows the young person to develop confidence, skills and resilience.

YPBS Volunteers are adults who are interested in supporting a young person, are able to spend time with someone once a week for between 2 and 3 hours and are able to commit to a befriending relationship which may be difficult and will certainly require several months to develop so this should be seen as a long term investment in yourself.

What are the benefits of becoming a befriender to young person?
• You will access a high quality volunteering opportunity.
• You will undergo extensive training with on-going possibility for additional skills and personal development.
• You will gain experience and skills valuable to employers and training/ Further education providers.
• You will have an opportunity to make a significant positive impact on a young person, their outlook and development.
• You will have fun and have a chance to try new activities or revisit ones you haven’t done for years.

YPBS will provide Foundation training (around 15 hours) as part of the recruitment and selection process. That way you will know what will be expected of you as a Befriender and what you can expect from YPBS in terms of support. The training is designed to prepare you for the role of Befriender and to allow YPBS to get to know you so that we can make the most appropriate matches of Befrienders and young people. We match volunteers on the basis that they are the best befriender for an individual young person in terms of abilities, experience and personal qualities. Secondly, we will seek the match for each volunteer which best addresses their interests, motivations and aspirations. We also provide ongoing training on topics relating to befriending and young people.
Expenses for travel and activities can be claimed and an initial float is supplied so that you are not out of pocket.

Testimonials
Befrienders have said:
“I hadn’t been at any kind of training for years so I was a bit nervous but I soon got into the swing of it. The sessions were fun but made me think about a lot of things that hadn’t occurred to me before.” — Befriender of girl aged 8.
“I wanted to do something that would make a difference to a child but was worried about how hard it would be. I never expected to get so much out of it – she’s given me so much to think about and I’m having so much fun.” — Befriender of girl aged 11.
“At the beginning it wasn’t clear whether he wanted a befriender or not, so I spoke to my support worker after almost every visit for a while. Things have settled down now – he seems to enjoy befriending now but it’s good to talk the visits over and to know that the support’s there when I need it.” — Befriender of boy aged 15.

If you are interested please click the ‘Apply’ button below (available when logged in and registered). You will then be contacted by the coordinator by email or phone call. If you have not heard back after 5 working days, the first step is to contact the organisation with the contact details provided. You could also check your junk/spam folder on your emails just in case the response is there. If that doesn’t work out then please feel free to contact Volunteer Glasgow on info@volunteerglasgow.org