ACVO News March 2022
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19<br />
<strong>ACVO</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />
<strong>March</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
NEWS<br />
Befriend a Child launch appeal to<br />
find new volunteer mentors as<br />
demand for their services grow<br />
Befriend a Child’s intandem<br />
mentoring programme<br />
offers support to young<br />
people aged 8 to 14 years old, who<br />
may be experiencing turbulent home<br />
lives and are lacking in a positive adult<br />
role model.<br />
Through the support of a mentor<br />
these difficulties can be alleviated and<br />
allow the young person to have the<br />
chance to look forward to their future.<br />
"We would love to hear from those<br />
who want to make a real difference to<br />
the life of a local young person to help<br />
build skills, nurture interests and share<br />
new experiences together" – Aleisha<br />
Douglas, intandem Mentoring<br />
Coordinator, Befriend a Child.<br />
Volunteer mentors meet their young<br />
person weekly on a one-to-one basis<br />
to give them the support and<br />
attention they may not be getting at<br />
home. Befriend a Child are looking for<br />
kind, caring and reliable people to<br />
bring positivity into these young<br />
people’s lives across Aberdeen and<br />
Aberdeenshire.<br />
“I had already had so many<br />
professionals in my life at 14 and I<br />
thought that the mentoring would be<br />
the same as my experience with social<br />
work, that I would have a mentor for a<br />
few months and then they would<br />
move on. The fact that the mentoring<br />
has kept going through those years<br />
and is now an amazing friendship is<br />
great. I never had anyone stay in my<br />
life long term and I would like to<br />
continue the friendship with my<br />
mentor outside of this.” – Sophie,<br />
mentored child.<br />
These meetings help with self-esteem,<br />
confidence and give young people<br />
experiences they may be unable to<br />
have otherwise. Over time they build<br />
a strong and supportive friendship<br />
which can have a transformational<br />
effect on both of them and their<br />
outlook on life.<br />
"Being able to work with such a<br />
resilient, funny and outgoing young<br />
person has really been inspiring.<br />
Getting to watch him grow and gain<br />
confidence in himself has been<br />
incredible. I feel that I have definitely<br />
changed as a person since I started<br />
volunteering with Befriend a Child<br />
more than a year ago - my young<br />
Befriend a Child mentor, Ellen, and her mentee<br />
person's outgoing attitude and<br />
confidence has had such a great effect<br />
on me personally. Volunteering is<br />
definitely the highlight of my week!" –<br />
Ellen, volunteer mentor.<br />
Befriend a Child provides all<br />
volunteers with full training and<br />
support, so volunteers don’t need to<br />
have any previous experiences<br />
working with children, they just ask<br />
for a minimum commitment of a year<br />
after training.<br />
If you want to help a local child, make<br />
sure to get in touch by emailing<br />
volunteer@befriendachild.org.uk or<br />
visit www.befriendachild.org.uk to<br />
find out more.
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