Inchgarth Community Centre provide a fantastic programme of activities for the community with the tremendous help of volunteers. Inchgarth has over 170 sessions of activity per week-serving every age group and section of the community. As a big and vibrant community centre, we offer a large range of activities for all ages and welcome a range of charities at the community centre. We have a great opportunity for people to help as Boccia Group Leader Volunteers at the community centre. Boccia is a seated bowl game for people with additional support needs and/or impaired movement. We are looking for motivated people to help lead the group by organising the games, making sure everyone is playing and sometimes organise wee competitions. All volunteers are greatly appreciated and provided with excellent support. Please contact us to find out more, join our amazing team of volunteers and make a real difference in the community: please email: volunteerinchgarth@gmail.com / Tel: 01224 325191 / Website: https://www.inchgarth.co.uk/volunteer.html

Would you like to help children with disabilities by assisting with travel to and from our services in Aberdeen? Aberlour Options Aberdeen is a short breaks service, providing residential, community-based short breaks and care at home for children and young people with disabilities. We offer a safe, homely environment for a child to come and stay for a short break that gives their families a rest from their caring role. Volunteer Drivers play an important role in helping transport children to and from our service on our minibus, helping them to feel comfortable and secure. Our services are in the Bucksburn and Garthdee areas of Aberdeen, with journeys frequently across the Aberdeen City area. Volunteer Drivers play an important role in helping children feel safe, secure and relaxed during these journeys. Volunteer Drivers put children at ease, who may otherwise be feeling anxious by interacting with children and being a friendly face to accompany them to and from the service. These interactions help to develop communication skills, building confidence and self-esteem. Volunteer Drivers can gain a real sense of satisfaction from helping children with disabilities travel to and from the Options Aberdeen service, knowing they are making a positive impact and helping to make their time at Option Aberdeen enjoyable. Volunteer Drivers can gain experience working with children and young people, and become part of a supportive and encouraging team. For further information please email: volunteering@aberlour.org.uk

Inchgarth Community Centre provide a fantastic programme of activities for the community with the tremendous help of volunteers. Inchgarth has over 170 sessions of activity per week-serving every age group and section of the community. As a big and vibrant community centre, we offer a large range of activities for all ages and welcome a range of charities at the community centre. We have a great opportunity for people to help as Thursday Phoenix Club Befrienders (1-3pm). The Phoenix Club is a wonderful social club for adults with learning or physical disabilities, where people have fun and socialise together. Every Thursday from 1pm-3pm, the club meets at Inchgarth Community Centre to play pool, video games or board games, to sing karaoke or paint. We are seeking new volunteers for the club and for befrienders. Your role would be to take part in activities, play pool and board games with our members, take people to the cafe and have a hot drink. No experience necessary we just need you to be friendly and enthusiastic. We want our Phoenix Club members to feel special during this fantastic club and you could be that difference in people’s lives. It is also a good opportunity to improve your communication skills, to gain experience working with people with learning and physical disabilities and to help the community grow. You will also be joining team Inchgarth that was awarded the highest award in the country by Her Majesty the Queen via the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, a collective MBE for all team members who volunteer. Be part of this fantastic centre and the wonderful Phoenix club. All volunteers are greatly appreciated and provided with excellent support. Please contact us to find out more, join our amazing team of volunteers and make a real difference in the community: please email: volunteerinchgarth@gmail.com / Tel: 01224 325191 / Website: https://www.inchgarth.co.uk/volunteer.html

At Lead Scotland we believe in the power of learning. We believe that offering disabled people and carers the right supportive environment in which to learn and grow which enables the self-creation of positive futures in education, community involvement and work. We offer SCQF accredited formal learning and informal confidence building activities, focused on digital skills to disabled people throughout the north of Scotland, their carers and the organisations who support them so that they will be able to actively contribute to their own communities and improve their own lives. We will tailor support to individuals and groups as per their self-defined needs. This service is supported by volunteers who act as service deliverers and enablers and who can provide dedicated one–to–one input, supporting participants into learning, training and/or volunteering opportunities as appropriate to need. “Learning is more than just an experience, learning builds your future” A fantastic opportunity to help and make a difference. All volunteers are greatly appreciated and provided with excellent training and ongoing support. For more details please contact Fiona Fraser or Marie Law (Learning Coordinators at E Mail: ffraser@lead.org.uk or mlaw@lead.org.uk / tel: 07741742560 (for Fiona) or 07741899507 (for Marie)

The Partnership works to raise awareness of the challenges faced by people with disabilities and to break down barriers, overcome challenges and improve quality of life. The group comprises approximately 15 members of the public, working with five local councillors, and its vision is to: a) To bring about improvements to the lives of people in Aberdeen City who experience exclusion because of disability by promoting a rights-based approach to disability equality. b) To create a society where disabled people are valued, respected and included in the life of the City. c) To encourage and promote inclusion and equality. d) To create fair opportunity by identifying and removing the disabling barriers which disabled people face daily including prejudice, discrimination and negative attitudes. e) To provide a means of partnership, consultation and joint action with Aberdeen City Council Meetings are held at Aberdeen Town House (entrance from Queen Street, Aberdeen). There is also the option to join the meeting remotely if you choose to do so. The Disability Equity Partnership (DEP) has 6 meetings over the year. Examples of projects we have been working on include the City Centre Masterplan, Union Terrace Gardens, webpage and information accessibility to reduce barriers and improve access to information, goods and services. A fantastic opportunity to make a real difference and all volunteers are greatly appreciated. For further details please contact Baldeep McGarry, Equalities Officer at email: BMcGarry@aberdeencity.gov.uk or tel.: 07767353006.

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 (now part of the Volunteering Matters Family of Brands) 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.

Camphill School Aberdeen has exciting new volunteer opportunities to help. As a volunteer you will become part of a team within one of our 10 residential Care homes, set in beautiful surroundings 5 miles outside of Aberdeen City centre and close to the Deeside Railway line. We are currently seeking people to volunteer as: > Voluntary Coworkers within Residential School and Care Homes: Our pupils age from 12-25 years old and as part of your position, you will be with them when they attend the school, farm and gardens, workshops or even riding stables as part of their personalised daily routines and assist them with their tasks throughout the day. > Voluntary Farm and Gardens Volunteers: Our farm cares for cows, pigs, goats, hens and alpacas. As part of your position, you will be with our pupils when they attend the farm and gardens as part of their personalised daily routines and assist them with their tasks. > Voluntary Workshop Assistants: You will be with our pupils when they attend the various workshops (woodwork, metal, weavery, felt, candle, pottery, bike and Fruver- our food workshop)as part of their personalised daily routines and assist them with their tasks. These opportunities do not require you to have previous experience, we just ask that you are caring, patient and willing to help our pupils, have an interest in people and different ways of communications. Training is provided in induction and support given throughout the volunteering time within Camphill School Aberdeen. Fantastic opportunities to help with all assistance making a real difference and greatly appreciated. For more details please contact Naomi Paton, Recruitment Administrator at E Mail: n.paton@crss.org.uk or tel.: 01224 866162.

Aberdeen in Recovery (AiR) was granted Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) charitable status in March this year. We are now looking to find talented, passionate and skilled people to fill some vacant seats on our Board of Trustees to help us grow and develop our innovative and solution focused new charity. This is a unique opportunity to help lay the foundations to ensure AiR has a long-term future as a charity with solid processes in place to ensure it meets its mission of: “To be a bridge from ‘dependence’ to ‘independence’ for the individual seeking to recover from problematic substance use and addictive behaviours”. This is such an exciting and invigorating prospect for individuals to get involved and be participant in the tsunami of change which is now gaining momentum and being driven by “Experts by Experience” and the vibrant Lived Experienced Communities which are blossoming, not only locally but are now established as a national phenomena. Since its conception, AiR and its members have worked tirelessly to establish and build collaborative relationships with professional services and third sector support agencies. We have consistently driven the message that individuals who have personal lived/living experience of active substance use, including Family members who have been affected by the addictive behaviours of a loved one, and the Recovery Communities they represent have something valid, essential and extremely beneficial to bring to described Recovery Orientated Systems of Care (ROSC). We can provide existing services and clinical structural systems with resources, skills and capabilities that they, no matter how much effort, time and money they invest, will never be able to offer or provide. So, it gives the greatest of pleasure to see this is now recognised on the highest levels that “Recoverists” can productively contribute to the design, development and delivery of truly person-centred ROSC. This being evidenced by the vision, philosophy and content of the Scottish Governments “Rights, Respect and Recovery” Drug and Alcohol Strategy. We also believe it is reaffirmed by the recent success in being granted funding from the Government’s National Development Fund, with our principle partner Alcohol and Drugs Action (ADA), for our ‘Recovery Peer Pathway’ joint two-year project. This collaborative venture will build on three years of pilot work to further establish and build proactive and productive Developmental Pathways within ADA and their Volunteer network while in synergy with AiR membership for individuals who desire to initiate change in their behaviours and outlook as they progress on their recovery journeys within, and imperatively out-with, statutory and formal support services. We believe that the blue sky thinking behind this project categorically and emphatically fits with the expectations, outcomes and concepts of the above Government policy. So, if you have lived experience, or a stakeholder interest, and a passion for recovery and are willing to give of yourself that another may learn, you will not find a better opportunity to indulge your appetite than from within Aberdeen in Recovery. For more information please contact Dermot Craig, Recovery Community Development Manager at E Mail: dermot@aberdeeninrecovery.org or tel.: 01224 638342 / Mobile: 07751 213108.

Lead Scotland, is a voluntary organisation set up to empower disabled young people and adults and carers across Scotland to access learning opportunities. Lead Scotland is looking for two volunteers to support learners with basic computer skills in the ABERDEEN City Centre area. All volunteers are greatly appreciated and provided with excellent support. If you or someone you know would like to volunteer with us please contact Marie at mlaw@lead.org.uk

VSA Friends For Life Club for 11 -14 yrs: Helping with a range of activities at Saturday Fun Club 3.00 - 5.00pm for children with additional support needs. Helping, preparing, and taking part in, construction games, educational activities, sensory play, board games, arts & crafts, music & dance, indoor and outdoor play. The club is established, lively and has a good welcoming atmosphere. For further details please email elaine.michael@vsa.org.uk / tel.: 01224 212021