Barnardo’s is committed to providing ‘Better Outcomes for More Children’. Our children’s services volunteers help the charity to deliver essential services in local communities, providing support to over 300,000 children, young people and their families. This role provides a great opportunity to join our fantastic children’s services and help make a real difference. **Barnardo’s Befrienders** work with young people a 1:1 basis, offering practical assistance and emotional support, to build their self-confidence, coping mechanisms and positive relationships. The work could be focused on a particular need, such as confidence building, or it could be more focused around supporting the young person to access local community groups. We are looking for volunteers, with a passion for making a difference in young people’s lives, with a friendly and approachable attitude and an ability to engage young people, empowering them to take steps towards improving their situation and achieving their goals. In Perth and Kinross, the children and young people we support will be or have been affected by parental substance use, poor parental mental health, domestic violence or have an additional support need. They may also have experienced impact of poverty, neglect and abuse, homelessness, their own poor mental health and emerging substance use issues, as well as a care histories and behavioural issues. As part of our whole family approach, we offer support to all members of the family – children, young people, parents, carers and kinship carers. This can be around the impact of substance use, including those who have challenges with substance use and those who have been impacted by substance use within the family setting. Additionally, we use a whole family approach to supporting families who have been impacted on by poor mental health and/or impacted on by domestic violence and abuse. We also offer support to children and young people with additional support needs and are a listening ear to parents and carers with children and young people with additional support needs. We are looking for volunteers from 18+ to be able to provide 1:1 or 2:1 (along with another volunteer or a worker) to support a child or young person once a week or once a fortnight for around 2 hours per session out and about in the community. The role can take place after school, early evening or at weekends. The purpose of the role will vary but a volunteer could be linked with a child/young person to encourage the child/young person with new activities, to help them build relationships with peers, improve mental wellbeing and to build up their confidence. Activities could include going for walks, going to local parks, activities within the community, going swimming, dance groups and going to a café for a chat. We potentially have some roles that take place in a school setting during term time, 9-3pm, but this will depend on the individual need of the child/young person. Befriender roles are for a 6 month commitment. We are also looking for volunteers who have experience and knowledge in supporting children and young people with additional support needs. Previous experience is not essential with children and young people with additional support needs but for some of our roles previous experience would be much welcomed.
Could you build a positive relationship with them, to support them to face their challenges, make active choices and informed decisions? Are you great at listening to children and young people in a non-judgemental way?
Tasks: Building positive relationships with children and young people by meeting with them regularly on a one-to-one basis.
Encouraging children and young people to access resources, groups and activities within their local community, such as after school activities, youth groups, and sports clubs.
Promoting and encouraging service users to make active choices and informed decisions.
Accompanying children and young people to attend meetings or attending on their behalf.
Providing emotional/moral support for children and young people, while maintaining an appropriate volunteer/service user rapport.
Adhering to Barnardo's policies and procedures at all times, including Barnardo's: Safeguarding; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; Health & Safety; Data Protection; Confidentiality; Recording policies and procedures.
Participating fully in training and supervision.
Volunteering within Barnardo's Values and Behaviours
Skills: Reliable, punctual and trustworthy.
Approachable and welcoming.
Being passionate about making a difference in the lives of children, young people and families.
Being non-judgmental and positive in their attitude to working with individuals from different backgrounds.
Good listening and communication skills.
The ability to manage and respond positively to challenging situations.
Benefits: Full induction and training.
Other training opportunities relevant to the volunteer role.
Regular supervision and support.
Out of pocket expenses agreed in advance.
Access to the Barnardo’s internal vacancy listing.
Our volunteers tell us about lots of other benefits of volunteering including; experience of working with children, young people and families; experience for your CV; supporting your local community; meeting new people; increasing self-confidence; feeling like you are making a difference; improving your health and wellbeing; and a chance to contribute to a worthwhile children’s charity.
Disclaimer: We look to recruit a diverse range of volunteers. If your skills don't fit the role exactly, please do not let this put you off as we are able to be flexible with most of our roles. If you are unable to apply online through the link on this page, please contact the Barnardo's Volunteering Team on
[email protected] or call us on 0208 498 7320
