Listening volunteers are there for anyone who needs support. Every year, they spend over one million hours responding to calls for help and they can change the course of someone’s life. Join the Samaritans Email Hub and be part of our mission to provide support, hope, and encouragement to those who need it most. https://www.samaritans.org/scotland/samaritans-in-scotland/about-samaritans-scotland/west-highland-skye-project/volunteering-opportunities-west-highlands-and-skye/ We are recruiting in Lochaber, Wester Ross, Skye and Lochalsh

If you are looking for a new challenge, have life or work skills you wish to put to good use & you’re interested in helping others in your community consider becoming a Volunteer General Adviser or Volunteer Receptionist. If you're interested and/or would like more information just get in touch with us for a chat or to ask for our volunteer application pack. We provide full training and support. Volunteer receptionists are currently wanted for Wednesday/Thursday/Friday afternoons. Full training given, expenses paid. Call Polly for more details 01463 219743.

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.

Have you ever wanted to volunteer all to do within the concept of Football? Well look no further! Street Soccer Scotland is currently looking for volunteers to join their team. No two days the same, working alongside our players developing them personally and mentally. The role includes working with coaches and players pitch side, monitoring games, inputting data, building relationships with partner organisations. We work with all ages from 10 years old all the way to past retirement . We currently run in Aberdeen: Walking Football, Kids 10-13 Year olds, Street 45 (Women's Programme) and Adult Sessions. Opportunities are available Monday to Friday - Please get in touch with Peter Wood, Programme Co-ordinator at email: peter@streetsoccerscotland.org or telephone: 07487603708, if you would like to know more.

Would you like to make a difference to New Scots families in your community? Would you like to help tackle Child Poverty? We have the right opportunity for you! Volunteering Matters is now recruiting volunteer mentors to help build resilience and aspirations to move parents towards and enter employment. While our staff will be on hand to help you provide employability specific support to parents, your role as a mentor will be focused on developing additional skills and overcoming personal barriers to facilitate their entry into the job market. More specifically, you might be supporting your mentee with confidence building, public speaking, time management, social skills, proactiveness, future plans and aspirations, accessing further education courses or work placements, additional services or local groups. No previous experience or knowledge required, just a willingness to make a difference to families in your community. We especially welcome applications from mentors that have direct or indirect lived experience of any of the mentioned barriers and struggles and feel ready to provide friendly guidance to someone who is on their employment journey. You will be ideally a flexible, patient and reliable individual with strong people skills. Before you start, we will invite you to attend training, aimed at providing you with all the necessary tools and knowledge to carry out your mentoring role safely and knowingly. You will also have multiple opportunities to meet with the mentor project worker in 1:1 meetings and go through any questions or doubts you may have before you start.

How would you like to be part of a charity with a difference? At Community Gift Exchange (CGX) we believe everyone has a gift or skill to share. Little or no experience? All the better! CGX aims to equip people with the skills they need to go onto sustainable employment or further training (see also training details for further info). We want to help you realise your goals no matter how small or big! We value our Volunteers so much that we offer everyone who gives their time a free hearty, home-made lunch. Past and current volunteers particularly appreciate making new friends and being part of a genuinely inclusive community. Cycleworks aims to save bicycles from going to waste by repairing, fixing and restoring so they can be ridden once again! What can I expect to learn and do in this role? • Bicycle refurbishment including : bike ‘stripping’; brake and gear calibration; wheel repair and building; pedal care and repair • How to set up a bicycle for a customer • How to fully clean and maintain a bicycle • How to check parts for wear and sort accordingly • Maintain the workshop to a high standard of tidiness This is a great opportunity if you are interested in going into mechanics or engineering to gain experience of a workshop environment. CGX have conducted and implemented a Covid-secure Risk Assessment and follow government guidelines. The safety and wellbeing of our volunteers and staff is our highest priority.

How would you like to be part of a charity with a difference? ‘Reusables’ is a charity shop run by Community Gift Exchange (CGX) where we believe everyone has a gift or skill to share. Little or no experience? All the better! CGX aims to equip people with the skills they need to go onto sustainable employment or further training (see also training details for further info). We want to help you realise your goals no matter how small or big! We value our Volunteers so much that we offer everyone who gives their time a free hearty, home-made lunch. Past and current volunteers particularly appreciate making new friends and being part of a genuinely inclusive community. The Reuseables shop operates on the ethos that all efforts should be made to save perfectly good items from going to waste. We would love you to be part of this effort! What might I be expected to do in this role? • Assisting in the day-to-day running of the CGX Charity Shop. • Recording sales and refunds, • Handling cash and card payments. • Assisting customers and providing excellent customer service. • Creating displays for visual merchandising. • Organising and pricing of stock. We value creativity so if you have a particular interest or passion (eg books) let us know and we can tailor the role to suit you! CGX have conducted and implemented a Covid-secure Risk Assessment and follow government guidelines. The safety and wellbeing of our volunteers and staff is our highest priority.

How would you like to be part of a charity with a difference? ‘Reusables’ is a charity shop run by Community Gift Exchange (CGX) where we believe everyone has a gift or skill to share. Little or no experience? All the better! CGX aims to equip people with the skills they need to go onto sustainable employment or further training (see also training details for further info). We want to help you realise your goals no matter how small or big! We value our Volunteers so much that we offer everyone who gives their time a free hearty, home-made lunch. Past and current volunteers particularly appreciate making new friends and being part of a genuinely inclusive community. The Reuseables shop operates on the ethos that all efforts should be made to save perfectly good items from going to waste. We would love you to be part of this effort! What might I be expected to do in this role? ● Organising stock into boxes and onto shelves by product type ● Picking out stock that would be a good fit for the Reusables shop ● Creating a buffer stock area to help the retail team stock the shop ● Possibility of moving stock to and from the shop We value creativity so if you have a particular interest or passion (eg books) let us know and we can tailor the role to suit you! CGX have conducted and implemented a Covid-secure Risk Assessment and follow government guidelines. The safety and wellbeing of our volunteers and staff is our highest priority.

Want to make a difference through your volunteering? Angus Citizen Advice Bureau have a fantastic range of rewarding volunteer roles including providing generalist advice, collating social policy information, administrative, reception roles or as a Board member. Working out of three offices in Angus located in Arbroath, Forfar and Montrose, we have volunteers working out of all of the offices. Angus CAB offers advice across a wide range of areas, like benefits, debt, housing, employment, consumer, immigration, and more. So, our training must equip an adviser to be able to provide advice in all these areas. It’s not a matter of becoming an expert in all of them though – we have a centralised online advice system which any adviser can use to find the right solutions for a particular case. Our training just covers the basics of all of these topics, as well as interview skills, data protection, the aims and principles of the service, and equalities and diversity. Each stage of the training is made up of a blend of learning activities, including e-learning modules, self-study booklets, video clips, adviser checklists, etc. Accessibility and flexibility allow trainees to complete this learning in any location where they have a computer or tablet, and at their own pace. So the training is thorough, but done in a trainee-centred way. It takes at least three months for a person to complete it. Volunteering at Angus CAB is a great way to help your community and also gain transferrable skills, experience and contacts. If you’re thinking about volunteering, please contact Gael Cameron Volunteer Training and Development Officer, to arrange an information chat by e-mail gael.cameron@anguscab.org.uk or by telephone 01241 870661. Or alternatively click on the button below.

At Guide Dogs we understand that volunteering can be difficult to accommodate into a busy life schedule, but we can allow for remote roles, where you can support your local volunteering team from your very own home. If you are interested please enquire by applying to this role.