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Could you be a CSV volunteer mentor?
 CSV Full Time Volunteering offers a unique experience of total immersion into the lives of people who need help and support, including adults with learning disabilities, carers, homeless people, young people or children with disabilities. This month our focus is on CSV's mentoring and befriending projects with young people.
CSV has a range of projects where Full Time Volunteers befriend and mentor young people who could be at risk of offending, exclusion from education or of being taken into the care of the local authority. The role of the Full Time Volunteer is to act as a positive role model, engage them in constructive activities such as social, leisure or educational activities, and provide support and guidance where needed.
Read on to discover the impact CSV has had on a Full Time Volunteer and a young person at a mentoring project in Bedford:
Mentoring in Bedfordshire
Nick's story
 Nick Porter, 26, from Edinburgh, spent a year until April 2008 volunteering as a mentor at a project with young people in Bedford.
Nick says "Volunteering as a mentor was challenging and the young people we were mentoring were facing big personal challenges, but it was a really great experience. As a mentor I was able to offer a friendly, considerate, reliable ear and be there for the young person without attachment to their family or friend circles. So when we went to kick a football around in the park or to the cinema it gave them the chance to raise and work through things that perhaps they would not feel so confident doing with someone they already knew and who would perhaps be less impartial.
"This experience proved invaluable and helped me get a paid position with CSV as a Youth Volunteering Advisor"
My time as a mentor has left me in no doubt that if you treat young people with the compassion and respect they deserve as well as giving them support when making choices, they are far more likely to go on to lead happy fulfilling lives that benefit everyone in society.
As a CSV volunteer I have met some fantastic people and have had the chance to develop many of my views as well as gain a huge amount of experience in a variety of different areas. This experience proved invaluable and helped me get a paid position with CSV as a Youth Volunteering Advisor and provided the gateway into a career in the social sector. I would recommend it to anyone!" |
Rob's story
 Rob, (not his real name), is 15 and was matched with a CSV volunteer in Bedford for 9 months. He had several exclusions from school because of behaviour issues and was at risk of permanent exclusion. Rob's father had also served a prison sentence due to violence towards him and his family. The CSV volunteer supported Rob by talking to him about his relationship with his father, linking his own aggression to this experience and helping him think about his future.
Rob says “I really enjoyed going out to different places and getting out of the house. He helped me a lot with my problems.”
Rob's mentor said "The relationship was excellent and I think he was able to reveal a lot more to me than he was to his mother or any other adults he had contact with. I have seen real progress; he has gained confidence, left his past behind and is becoming a responsible adult."
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 Could you or someone you know be a CSV volunteer?
If you have been inspired to take up the challenge of volunteering away from home with CSV or if you know someone who could, please contact us or visit our website for more information.
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Have you been a CSV volunteer?
If you are or have been a CSV Full Time Volunteer and have a story to tell which you would be happy to share in a future newsletter we would love to hear from you! Please click here to contact us. |
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Befriending in North Lanarkshire helps Jodie in her studies
Jodie Bowyer, 23, from Cheshire, recently volunteered at a CSV befriending project in North Lanarkshire and has just started an MA in Social Work where she is drawing on her experience as a CSV volunteer.
Jodie befriended young people at risk of being taken into care by the local authority, building trusting and stable relationships and providing friendship, companionship, direction and practical support.
Jodie says "The CSV experience is proving to be invaluable to me especially in regards to my current studies. I can draw on so many things that I learnt, not only about myself but about the nature of social work as a whole.
I've got a bit of a head start, which is helpful in the MA, as when they tell us that we'll be presented with situations that will overwhelm us and we won't know what to do, I know exactly what they mean by that, and hopefully when it happens in practice I'll be that little bit more prepared than I would have been if I had not been on the befriending placement." |
CSV's wide range of Full Time Volunteering opportunities
CSV has many other exciting volunteering opportunities including:
 Supporting people in their own homes
We need volunteers to assist people with physical disabilities or learning disabilities to live independently in their own homes. Volunteers provide companionship, practical help within the home and support to access activities in the local community.
 Providing respite for carers
Volunteers are required to enable carers of those who are elderly or who have a physical or learning disability to have a break and also provide a new stimulus for those receiving care. Volunteers assist in the home and enable access to social activities in the community.
 Assisting students at UK universities
We have opportunities to support students who have disabilities to enable them to study at university and live away from home. They help with access to lectures, note taking, support in their accommodation and enabling full access to university facilities and social activities.
 Helping in homeless hostels
CSV needs volunteers to help with day to day activities at homeless hostels and night shelters including offering help and advice, befriending and acting as positive role models.
 Inspiring young people to volunteer
People aged 16-25 are needed to liase with local community organisations and the media to promote volunteering among young people and create exciting opportunities that tackle real community issues. More info
Current Opportunties
For details of our opportunities coming up now and over the next few months click here.
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0800 374 991