Purpose and Aims of the role
Could you spare a few hours a fortnight and make a positive difference in a child’s life?
Aberlour is looking for volunteer children’s befrienders to spend one-to-one time with a child doing fun activities you both enjoy in the local community. This could be something simple like going for a walk in the park, playing sports, enjoying a tasty treat at a café and having a chat, or getting creative with arts, crafts or music.
These shared activities help build trust, confidence and give the young person something fun to look forward to.
How often will I be volunteering?
This opportunity is flexible – you could plan to meet a couple of times per month, every week, or every 2 weeks depending on what suits your schedule. In any case, your time spent with the young person can make a real difference.
How long does the volunteering opportunity run for?
Usually, befriending matches have a planned duration of around 6 months. This means for example if you started in April, you would likely meet with the young person until October, and if you did activities together every fortnight you would have done around 12 activities in total together.
What will I be doing?
- • Spending regular one-to-one time to build a positive and trusting relationship.
- • Taking part in fun, child-led activities & introducing new experiences to try
- • Encouraging participation in activities to build confidence
- • Being there as a trusted adult they can talk to and help develop communication skills
- • Being a consistent figure in the child’s life to support with life transitions, like moving school for example
What skills can I bring to this role?
You don’t need formal qualifications, we want to hear from you if you have patience, understanding, and the desire to help a child thrive. You’ll benefit from having:
- · A genuine interest in the wellbeing of children and families
- · Experience (formal or informal) of supporting children or young people
- · A non-judgemental, empathetic approach
- · Good listening and communication skills
- · Respect for confidentiality and clear professional boundaries
Location
This opportunity is available across multiple areas in Glasgow.
What qualities do I need?
• Positive, encouraging, empathetic
• Patient, reliable, and understanding.
• Open-minded, non-judgemental, and respectful.
• Ability to act with integrity and maintain confidentiality.
• committed to making a consistent contribution.
What will I gain from the role?
· A sense of satisfaction from helping to make a lasting difference in a child’s life.
· valuable experience in supporting children and young people.
· Have fun! Our volunteers often tell us that volunteering is one of the most rewarding things they have done
What support will I be given?
• Training so that you feel confident to start your role
• Ongoing supervision, guidance, and support from our experienced staff team. We will always be available to offer support while you are on your activities, and you won’t be left to deal with challenges on your own.
• Activities will be paid for by Aberlour and we will reimburse you for travel expenses to and from the activities too
Additional Information
You must be at least 18 years old to volunteer in this role.
This is a regulated role with children and/or vulnerable adults. Successful applicants will be required to obtain membership of the PVG Scheme (Protecting Vulnerable Groups) in accordance with the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020.
Two satisfactory references will also be required before starting.
Contact Details
Contact Name: Amber Lambie
Telephone number: 07849088247
Email Address: volunteering@aberlour.org.uk
