Adult Befriender – Glasgow

Aberlour Scotland's Children's Charity
VO105382

Aberlour is looking for volunteer befrienders who can spend one-to-one time with a parent in their local community, offering friendly support and companionship through simple, enjoyable activities together.
This could be something relaxed like going for a walk, visiting a café for a chat, exploring local events or museums, or getting involved in creative activities such as arts, crafts or music. Spending time together can help reduce social isolation, build confidence and give the parent something positive to look forward to.
Aberlour supports families throughout Glasgow to build skills, confidence and strengthen community connections. Our aim is to improve outcomes for families across Glasgow who need additional support. By offering your time and a listening ear as a volunteer befriender, you can help create a supportive relationship that encourages wellbeing and confidence.
What will I be doing?
• Spending regular one-to-one time to build a positive and trusting relationship.
• Being there as a trusted person hey can talk to and help develop communication skills
• Being a consistent figure in the child’s life to support with life transitions, like moving school for example.
What will I gain from the role?
• A sense of satisfaction from helping to make a lasting difference in another person’s life
• valuable experience
• Have fun! Our volunteers often tell us that volunteering is one of the most rewarding things they have done.

Experience required

What skills can I bring to this role?
You don’t need formal qualifications— we want to hear from you if you have patience, understanding, and the desire to help a child thrive. You’ll benefit from having:
• A genuine interest in the wellbeing of children and families
• A non-judgemental, empathetic approach
• Good listening and communication skills
• Respect for confidentiality and clear professional boundaries
What qualities do I need?
• Positive, encouraging, empathetic
• Patient, reliable, and understanding.
• Open-minded, non-judgemental, and respectful.
• Ability to act with integrity and maintain confidentiality.
• committed to making a consistent contribution.

Travel details

This opportunity is available across multiple areas in Glasgow.

Travel expenses

Activities will be paid for by Aberlour and we will reimburse you for travel expenses to and from the activities.

I want to volunteer

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Support

Training details

• Training so that you feel confident to start your role
• Ongoing supervision, guidance, and support from our experienced staff team. We will always be available to offer support while you are on your activities, and you won’t be left to deal with any challenges on your own.

Restrictions

Minimum age: 18

You must be at least 18 years old to volunteer in this role.
As this is a regulated role with vulnerable adults, successful applicants will be asked to join the PVG Scheme (Protecting Vulnerable Groups).
Two satisfactory references will also be require

Availability

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Frequency & commitment

How often will I be volunteering? This opportunity is flexible – you could plan to meet a couple of times per month, every week, or every 2 weeks depending on what suits your schedule. In any case, your time spent with the supported person can make a real difference. How long does the volunteering opportunity run for? Usually, befriending matches have a planned duration of around 6 months. This means for example if you started in April, you would likely meet until October, and if you did activities together every fortnight you would have done around 12 activities in total together. Sometimes matches can be extended – we would always check with you first if that was suitable for you.