- Befriending / Mentoring, Youth Work
- Anti-Poverty, Children, Crime / Safety, Drugs / Alcohol Issues, Family Support, General Public, Human / Civil Rights / Justice, Leaving / In Care, Local Community, Low Income Households, Mental Health, Offenders and Ex-Offenders, Tackling Unemployment, Unemployed, Victims of Crime, Volunteering, Young People
Description
Give the gift of an hour a week, by becoming a Mentor to a Young Person aged 14-25 in West Lothian.
It could be life changing for you both!
Would you like to support a young person on their journey to gaining new skills and experience, becoming more self-confident and achieving their goals? If the answer is yes, we would love to hear from you.
Why mentoring? Mentoring is at the heart of what we do here at ProjectScotland and we offer every young person we support, the opportunity to be matched with a volunteer mentor. We are searching for people in and around West Lothian who are able to offer one hour of their time once a week or fortnight for up to 12 months to help transform the life of someone else aged 14-25.
The young people we work with all face different challenges in their lives such as poor school attendance, poor mental health, low confidence and self esteem, lack of employment opportunities, limited English skills or other life barriers and challenges. Some of the young people we support have been involved in negative behaviour.
As a volunteer mentor, you could support your mentee with whatever is important to them. This could be: goal setting; identifying interests and strengths; confidence building; helping to establish a routine; support to explore job, training and further education opportunities; social connections; or just someone consistent to talk to and check in with to see how they are.
The support you can offer is invaluable and can be life changing.
How does it work? We will ask you to take part in our safe recruitment process, such as completing a PVG check, before we offer you some training which will prepare you and set you up to be a great mentor! After that, we offer lots of ongoing support, access to guides and resources, plus the chance to join our wonderful network of volunteer mentors across Edinburgh and the Lothians.
You are "matched" to one young person and meet with them once a week or fortnight for around one hour . Matches can last anywhere from 3-12 months, or sometimes longer, depending upon the relationship and the needs of the mentee
What’s in it for you?
• Help transform your mentee’s life
• Develop communication and interpersonal skills e.g. coaching, motivating others, adaptability
• Gain transferable skills and experience volunteering with disadvantaged people
• Participate in regular support and training
• Meet new people, connect and have fun!
• Learn about yourself and gain a sense of achievement supporting others
• Learn more about your community and the challenges that people can face .
We are looking for mentors from diverse experiences and backgrounds. We aren't looking for specific qualifications, skills or experience- just a passion to support a young person and an hour to spare. Our current mentors are; stay at home parents/carers, students, retired, professionals, entrepreneurs and everything in between. We'd love to here from you, express your interest today!
Organisation aims and objectives
Our vision is of a society where everyone can participate in their local community through volunteering and social action.
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Frequency and commitment details
One hour a week or fortnight
Restrictions
Experience required: We are looking for mentors from diverse experiences and backgrounds. We aren't looking for specific qualifications, skills or experience- just a passion to support a young person and an hour to spare. Our current mentors are; stay at home parents/carers, students, retired, professionals, entrepreneurs and everything in between.
Travel details: We would match you to the right young person taking into account where you both live. You could travel to meet them by car/public transport, walking or cycling- we would cover your travel expenses.
Minimum age: 18
Support
Expenses paid: Yes
Expenses details: We can reimburse for travel to and from meeting with your mentee and for teas/coffees/juice you might purchase if meeting with them in a cafe
Taster available: Yes
Taster details: Introduction Available
Training details: We provide two training sessions as part of the initial induction- currently online over two evenings. One session is Get Ready to Mentor- providing all the info and tools and conversations you need to get started. The final session is Safeguarding and Boundaries so you are aware of our policies, procedures and the support we will offer if you were concerned about your mentee's safety and wellbeing. We also produce webinars for further training, access to a mentor toolkit, resources and a community of mentors to learn from and connect with