Hundreds of children and young people are in care across the Tees Valley area right now. By volunteering as a mentor you could be that crucial role model who helps a young person build confidence, life skills and self-esteem.
Just be a friend – and help change their future!
As a mentor you get to be a friend to a young person, meeting them for trips out and doing fun activities together that will help them develop the skills they need for getting on with life.
- A walk on the beach = learning how to slow life down when it gets too much
- A visit to a beauty salon = developing social skills and building self esteem
- A trip to the football = showing a sense of belonging and community
You don’t have to be a certain type of person to be a mentor – as long as you are committed to helping a young person, we’d love to hear from you. We need volunteers from every background, ethnicity, gender and status – and our young people do too!
You might be 21 or 81 years old. You might have lots of experience working with children and young people or none at all! What really matters is that you want to guide, advise, listen and befriend young people.
You’ll receive comprehensive training and the constant support of our amazing team behind the scene.
Futures Through Friendship is a volunteering scheme run by Changing Futures North East
Are sports your thing?
Do you love being active and out and about?
Do you love to chillax and be pampered?
Do you see the beauty in everything?
Are you an adventure-seeker? Do you love new experiences?
SIGN UP TO HEAR MORE TODAY
You can volunteer as a mentor from as little as 2-3 hours a month
We understand that time is tight in our busy lives. We have two volunteer mentor pathways to choose from, depending on your circumstances.
AGE: 21+
On this pathway you will be matched with a young person and receive full training and funding to take them out every two weeks on an agreed activity – such as shopping, sports, bowling, beach walks or adventure experiences. This is a longer term commitment, where you will get the chance to become a real friend and role model in your young person’s life. The pathway operates across the wider Tees Valley area including Hartlepool, Redcar, Stockton, Middlesbrough and Darlington.
Leanne’s Volunteering Experience
“Although I work full time I do have free time and the mentoring really suited me because it’s so flexible. We meet up a couple a times a month and spend a few hours together each visit. I just felt I’ve got something to offer a young person, just to be with them, spend some time with them and help them with transitions in their life.”
Find out more info about this pathway
On this volunteer pathway you will have a positive impact over a shorter period – around 3-6 months, but sometimes longer. You will mentor a child or young person to support them in leaving care, this can be to prepare them for the future transition with general life skills, or to support them as that time in their life approaches. As well as meeting 1-2-1, you’ll also get the chance to hang out with other volunteers and young people in exciting group activities. The meet-ups will all take place in Hartlepool, though our volunteers can come from surrounding areas. You will receive full training and support throughout, including help with goal-setting – and all activities are funded through the scheme.
Richard’s Volunteering Experience
“Many of the young people I met had anger issues, which is why they were referred to the service but I found them to be funny, engaging and great team players who often looked after each other. The young people taught me that I should never give up. There are too many fond memories to pick a favourite one. You just had to be there to appreciate the fun times that we had together.”
Find out more info about this pathway
Sam’s Story…
Sam was taken into foster care at 14, after some really tough times at home. It wasn’t safe him living at home any more. Obviously this was a really upsetting change for Sam and it spilled out into problems at school, where he was close to being expelled.
Derik became Sam’s Independent Visitor and over the months built a really close relationship. They did all sorts together – from playing crazy golf and going to the cinema, to walks where they had time to just chat. Having Derik around made a huge difference to Sam. Sam’s foster parent said:
“Derik makes such a difference in Sam’s life and we have strong progress around behaviour and talking about feelings”.
Futures Through Friendship is a volunteering mentor scheme for young people, run by Changing Futures North East – a not-for-profit organisation in Hartlepool that aims to help children in the local area thrive.