Initially the volunteer will be asked to befriend those residents in the home that currently have no visitors. Once the home has opened up to the public fully and the restrictions are lifted, the volunteer will be asked to participate in outdoor outings. This will be discussed more fully when initial contact has been made with the volunteer

Offer support to families across our funded regions (West/East Dunbartonshire, Glasgow, North/South Lanarkshire, East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire) and throughout Scotland, who care for a child with a disability. This support is offered through a range of ways: * To provide families with information they need to make informed decisions * To provide emotional support within the family home * To provide practical support within the family home * To record support, and maintain records as requirede are looking for volunteers in the Glasgow area including East Renfrewshire

Are you a good listener, non-judgemental and empathetic with an ability to relate to traumatic life experiences that some of the children/young people referred to us may have faced? Befriend a Child is a local charity that provides 1:1 befriending and mentoring services for school aged children and young people. The youngsters we support often come from troubled family backgrounds where they experience many different challenges and difficulties. Some of the children are at a risk of isolation, bullying and attracting stigma at school due to their situations at home. If you are reliable and fun-loving, with a positive disposition and you can commit to sparing a few hours each month, you could make a huge difference in a young person’s life. For more information please contact info@befriendachild.org.uk

You will be matched with a child/young person ( 6 to 18 years ) who has additional support needs e.g. Learning Disability, Autism, ADHD, Asperger’s or their siblings. Spending regular 1:1 time with you, weekly for 3 or 4 hours, they will become more confident and have fun in the process. You will develop a positive and trusting relationship with the child you are matched with, encouraging and enabling them to go to places and try new things that interest them with you. Due to the ongoing pandemic, sessions are not taking place inside the family home. However socially distanced activity out with the home where practical and possible and via online tools such as FB Portals (which we will supply), Zoom, What’s App and Face Time are being used to deliver activity and engage with children on a weekly basis.

We work alongside the East Lothian Community Rehabilitations Team of Physio’s & Occupational Therapist who help to identify patients whom they feel would benefit from extra volunteer support to help them live their life in a better way, assisting to reduce loneliness and social isolation. There are many things that you can get involved in, here are a few examples: • Supporting the individuals on a health walk to gain strength. • To go shopping or do some shopping for them. • Picking up prescriptions. • Wellbeing calls. • Company for a coffee & a chat. • Assist use of technology to contact their friends, family & online shopping. • Accompany them on a bus trip to an appointment. • Assisting to read letters.

Through a range of support structures and services, LINKnet aims to provide a quality experience for volunteer mentors/befrienders and successful outcomes for mentees. Your commitment as a mentor/befriender will be two or three hours per week, spread over a day or two for a few months, not exceeding six months. One to one mentoring is found to be one of the most effective methods of people development . Befriending is a rewarding, personal gratification experience.

Lead Scotland’s Fife Befriending project is a service is for adults in Fife who feel isolated, lonely or disconnected, perhaps as a result of disability, ill health or other circumstances. Volunteers offer one to one support to enable adults and older people to become more self-confident and motivated, to try new activities and to make more connections with their communities and local services. You do not need to have any qualifications as full training and support will be given. This role is more about who you are, not what you have done! Being a befriender means you would be making a real difference to someone’s life. Maybe you could go for a short walk, go for a tea/coffee in town, find a local activity or simply spend some time having a chat in the person’s home. Befrienders carry out a purely social role and do not undertake any personal care or domestic duties. Each match will be for 4-6 months or longer, depending on the needs of the person receiving support. If you would prefer to offer weekly befriending support from your home, you could become a ‘distance’ befriender. This would be via telephone, email or video call. Please speak to the Co-ordinator about this option.

Blackwood Homes and Care was founded in 1972 by Dr Margaret Blackwood MBE, a campaigner for the rights and independence of disabled people. We deliver our vision of helping people live their life to the full in the pioneering spirit of Dr Blackwood by providing high quality housing, care and support for disabled people of all ages, with over 1500 homes across all 29 mainland local authorities in Scotland. -What will I be doing as a Digital Buddy?: Can you help our customers feel less isolated by supporting them to use technology to connect with the wider world? We are looking for people who are confident with basic IT skills and have the patience to share your skills with people who are new and uncertain when using technology. You also need to enjoy making casual conversation and building familiar relationships. Customers are perhaps unsure how to connect to the internet, charge their device, video call a friend or do shopping online. Helping someone make a video call for the first time to family they’ve not seen due to the pandemic really makes a difference to their quality of life along with their mood and mental wellbeing. At Blackwood we believe that using technology can significantly improve the lives of our customers. We provide care (in care homes), care at home services and tenancies to people with different support needs. Our customers have been offered a tablet which is set up with our innovative system CleverCogs. The role out of this is delivered by our Digital Skills Coaches but people continue to need support with basic IT issues to gain skills and confidence. Some customers don’t like to ask for more help, so knowing there is a wider network of buddies that can provide digital support will be very beneficial. This is where your time will be invaluable! Due to COVID-19 this role will start remotely, providing help over the phone or a video call. As restrictions ease, you will be able to visit customers in their home. Hopefully getting to meet some of the people you’ve helped remotely. -What will you get from volunteering?: • Supporting your local community to join the digital age and providing them with the autonomy to run their own lives online • The opportunity to be involved in key unforgettable digital-learning moments, such as their first video call with a much-missed family member • By providing a friendly face and conversation, you are helping to eradicate social isolation for many • Satisfaction that you’ve made a difference to the lives of Blackwood Customers. • Be involved in our innovative initiatives • Build on trouble-shooting and problem-solving skills • Awareness and knowledge of differing accessibility and communication needs, and how to meet those needs • Evidence of IT, communication and disability accessibility knowledge and skills for your CV • Induction to Blackwood • Training on the likely issues that you’ll help with to ensure you’re confident undertaking your role. • Support throughout your volunteering. Staff will be available should you need assistance and we’ll have a regular catch up. -What do I do next?: Please get in touch with the Volunteering Development Co-ordinator, Zoe MacGregor to find out more. Contact Zoe at email: volunteering@blackwoodgroup.org.uk or tel.: 07976 573745. Or look at the website https://www.blackwoodgroup.org.uk/volunteer for more opportunities and complete the on-line expression of interest form. You will be contacted to arrange an informal discussion to find out more and talk about what you would like to do. You can also follow Blackwood Homes and Care on social media to hear about what’s going on.

We are delighted to welcome back Volunteers and have opportunities across our services in Aberdeen. So, no matter where you live in the city, there could be an opportunity near you! In the first instance we are seeking Befrienders. Many of our Service Users have been shielding for over a year. We are looking for Volunteers to become befrienders, being a befriender means you could be supporting someone with an outside walk, build up confidence with support to a supermarket, help with laundry, just enjoy sitting having a chat over a cuppa, or maybe help with some light domestic duties or cooking. All Volunteers will go through pre recruitment checks that include, Interview, PVG and References. Volunteering is such a worthwhile act, not only can your support be lifechanging for an older person, but you can also gain, increased confidence, experience improve your own self-esteem, feel part of a team, and make new friends. For more details please contact Julie Suttar, Engagement & Liaison Lead at E-Mail: jsuttar@bonaccordcare.org or tel.: 07901944728.

We are a Christian based charity and our mission is to help those most in need. Our area covers helping people in financial hardship and/or debt. We work with clients with a variety of issues and have various in house support and work closely with other organisations to get people the best help possible. The Debt Advice service has been running for many years now and we have an ever increasing demand for our services. We are looking for individuals who have a keen interest in the Salvation Army’s work and would be keen to join our team to help and support those going through financial difficulties. If you are reliable, have the ability to keep confidences, able to record information accurately, computer literate and have good listening skills and the ability to empathize with our clients and fully understand the situation they are in and how it affects them and passionate about helping others then we would love to hear from you. We offer full training in the form of I-learn portal or training day, Generalist Advice Training, Debt Advice Service Induction, Client Management System. Your tasks will include interviewing clients to gain a full understanding of their situation, record financial information, complete paperwork, sign post clients, undertake administrative tasks. This is a volunteer role and hours can be discussed and agreed and reasonable expenses will be paid. Due to the level of investment and training we give our volunteers we would ask for an initial commitment of 12 months.