Are you looking for a rewarding way of sharing your experiences and life skills in order to make a positive impact in your community and help tackle poverty? This is the opportunity for you! Volunteering Matters are now recruiting volunteer mentors for the MSV (Mentoring & Supported Volunteering) project in Dundee. Mentors will provide 1:1 support to an individual in their community to overcome barriers they face in reaching positive destinations e.g. employment, further education, volunteering etc. MSV is a person-centred project, putting mentees at the heart of the match making process. The volunteer mentor role is fully supported by the MSV team, and the time commitment is very flexible, we ask for a minimum of 4 months commitment, but many mentoring relationships have gone on longer than this. This role will involve getting to know your mentee and the challenges they may face, discussing their future goals, building their confidence, sharing your own experiences or skills, and ultimately championing them to progress in life and work. MSV mentoring can take place face to face in/around the Dundee area, or remotely/online where necessary. Our volunteers do not need to have any specific career experience or qualification – just a positive and empathetic mindset and a passion for helping others to succeed. Some mentees are looking for a career-based match (working with someone who has experience of the area they want to pursue), whilst others are looking for more general support in identifying their goals, building their self-confidence or working through challenges they face with a new, objective perspective. Your personal outlook, life experiences or professional expertise could be exactly what a mentee is looking for in mentoring support – so please get in touch!

Home-Start Glasgow South is a family support charity based in Glasgow South. We work with families, with at least one child up to the age of 8, who are struggling to cope with the challenges of parenting along with sometimes difficult personal circumstances. Our volunteers visit families for 2-3 hours each week in their own home to provide practical and emotional support. If a family is isolated, they may need support to go to a local group. An overwhelmed parent may need help to organise the household or it could be that a mum or dad just need someone to talk to. A volunteer can make a big difference in a couple of hours a week. Volunteering in the family home can also include Perinatal Support (pregnancy -2 years) and English Tutoring. The support and friendship you can provide is invaluable and can help take away some of the stresses of day to day life, enabling parents to cope better with daily tasks and improve their confidence, giving their children the best possible start in life.

Give the gift of your time and become a volunteer mentor for young people. 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 Aberdeen 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. The young people we work with all face different challenges in their lives such as; mental ill health, long term unemployment, low confidence and self esteem, care experienced, limited English communication skills due to being new to this country or disabilities. 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? • Following recruitment, we provide training, support to join the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme, ongoing support, access to lots of resources and a wonderful community of mentors across the country to connect with, learn from and build friendships with. • you are matched to one young person and meet with them once a week or fortnight for around one hour • meetings can be face to face or virtual using email/telephone/video chat/WhatsApp. There is also an opportunity to do a mixture of the two which offers a flexible and accessible approach to this volunteering role in addition to the match itself. •matches can last from 3-12 months 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 If you are interested in this opportunity please email: asia.wieloch@volunteeringmatters.org.uk We would love to hear from you! More info about ProjectScotland: ProjectScotland (part of the Volunteering Matters Family) works with people (predominantly young people) across the country who are struggling to overcome challenges such as social isolation, mental health issues, low confidence and general uncertainty about their futures. By providing wrap around support and the chance to complete a voluntary placement with a local charity; not only can this enhance confidence and self-belief, but it gives that individual the opportunity to build on their skills and experience and potentially move on to a job, further education or training. Everyone we work with is also offered a volunteer mentor.

MCR Pathways has been partnering with schools since 2007 so we know just how amazing the young people of Scotland are. However, sometimes due to situations out of their control, young people face challenges that make it more difficult for them to succeed. This is where you can help... MCR recruits and trains volunteer mentors who are matched with a young person that shares similar interests, hobbies or career aspirations. Mentors meet with their young person at their school for just one hour per week and the difference this makes to their lives is transformational. The mentoring relationship is unique as young people establish a friendship with someone who is there, just for them. The impact on their life is huge. Scotcen, the Scottish arm of Britain’s leading independent social research institute NatCen, found that 81.6% of mentored care-experienced young people leave school to a positive destination (full-time employment, further education, or higher education) compared to 59.8% of care-experienced non-mentored school leavers. We are hoping to help even more young people in Aberdeenshire reach their potential and are seeking volunteers to mentor at Mearns Academy. The only qualification you need to be a mentor is the desire to help. All young people are different and have different needs, so it’s important that our mentors come from all walks of life. The building of the relationship with a young person is facilitated by our fantastic MCR Pathways Coordinators who are based in each school and work with our young people on a daily basis. Are you someone who can #ShareAnHour and support a young person to achieve everything they can in life? Why not do something to make a difference that lasts a lifetime. Sign up and become a mentor today! To register please visit https://mcrpathways.org/become-a-mentor/ or contact our Mentor Services Team by Email: aberdeenshire@mcrpathways.org or phone: 07709249661.