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ReachOut
At ReachOut, we believe that socio-emotional skills are overlooked foundational skills which improve success at school and the everyday, personal lives of children. Our aim is to transform outcomes for young people constrained by circumstance by building their socio-emotional skills. We define these skills as empathy, responsibility, problem solving, initiative, teamwork and emotion management.…
Description

ReachOut is a national mentoring and youth development charity. We build socio-emotional skills that transform outcomes for 9-14 year olds. We define these skills as empathy, responsibility, problem solving, initiative, teamwork and emotion management. 

Volunteering as a mentor provides a rewarding opportunity to make a difference to the lives of young people in your community – watching them grow in confidence and develop their socio-emotional skills as a result of your provision. Meet and work with like-minded people, your fellow mentors, as you support a small group of mentees within the group and help facilitate activities led by the Youth Development Lead. Our approach combines positive peer support with supportive adult role models, allowing us to have the most impact.  

Choose from our after-school projects that take place for 2 hours a week over 12 weeks during term-time. With a regular day and time a week, choose a project that easily fits your schedule. By showing up weekly and bringing confidence and enthusiasm, you’ll be helping your mentees to grow in confidence, develop their skills and have fun! 

Duties

Our volunteer mentors support a small group of mentees to grow in confidence and develop key socio-emotional skills. Sessions are led by our Youth Development Leads (YDLs) who are there to support you and lead the session activities. Each project will typically have one YDL, 4-6 volunteer mentors and 12 mentees. Support your mentees through collective mentoring activities from our curriculum and help to facilitate fun group games and activities that build your mentees’ skills with your YDL and fellow mentors. 

Who will the volunteers be working with?
Our sessions are led by the Youth Development Lead (YDL) - our trained practitioner who is there to help and support you. Project groups typically comprise of around 12 young people (the mentees) and between 4-6 mentors, each supporting a small group of mentees.
You will have the opportunity to work with the other mentors in group activities and to support the YDL with activity facilitation.
Training
Mentors receive full training during onboarding which involves an e-learning module and online training course. Their YDL will be there to support them throughout their time mentoring, in addition to the volunteer team. A full range of training resources are available on their platform. Mentors also take part in a debrief at the end of every session with their YDL for support and reflection.

Time commitment

Our projects run for 2 hours a week over a period of 12 weeks during term-time, providing 24 hours of volunteering per project (plus around 3 hours of training). Each project has a regular weekday and time which will be made available for students to choose their preferences from.

Students looking for more volunteering hours can choose projects at schools with back-to-back projects or can complete two projects simultaneously running on different weekdays. However, please be aware that we require students to complete the full duration of their projects and commit to attending weekly.
Application deadline

Causes

UCL Departments

This organisation is one of our community partner organisations.

Like all volunteer recruiters we work with, they have signed up to our service standards, agreeing to abide by our policy on partnership working to keep you safe and supported whilst you volunteer.

You’ll never be out of pocket for volunteering through us – with in-London travel expenses to and from your volunteering guaranteed.

In addition, the team here at Students’ Union UCL Volunteering Service is here to support you throughout your volunteering journey – you can get in touch with us at any time.