Overview
Change Grow Lives’ Independent Visiting Projects recruit, train and support Independent Visitors (IV) for children and young people who are looked after by the Local Authority.
For many children and young people, living in foster care can be an unsettling experience. Children and young people may have little or no contact with their birth family or be placed in an unfamiliar area to where they have grown up. This may lead them to experience feelings of confusion, low self-esteem and isolation.
As a volunteer, you are someone ‘totally independent’ in their life, distinct from the professionals paid to support them. Our Independent Visitors encourage young people to demonstrate resilience and support them to gain skills required to make the transition to independent living. The volunteer acts as a positive role model and provides the opportunity for them to spend quality time with a person independent of all other services. This allows a trusting companionship to develop, offering stability and continuity in what can sometimes be a very unstable lifestyle. This will promote their self-esteem and make them feel a valued member of their community. The IV can promote long term outcomes such as reducing social isolation, raising aspirations, increasing independence skills and provide support to build social skills, confidence and self-esteem.
A volunteer independent visitor meets with a child or young person once a month to offer support, encouragement and guidance. This could be in the form of an activity or going for a drink and a chat. The support package is tailored to the individual, as each young person will have a specific need or aim that they want to overcome or achieve.
We require Volunteers who will;
Meet with their young person, as directed by the project, (with project staff and or/any referring agency)
Create a positive relationship between themselves and the young person
Contribute to the young person’s development and confidence
Assist and advise the young person in developing skills and appropriate attitudes that will assist them in achieving the goals in their life
Encourage and motivate the young person to make positive changes and encourage their personal development (In liaison with the project, the referring agency and the young person concerned)
Encourage young people to make positive use of local resources and activities, such as local parks and leisure centres
Maintain principles of confidentiality, especially in relation to the young person, the project and any referring agency
Operate at all times within the Health and Safety, Safeguarding and Equal Opportunities policies of Change Grow Live and any relevant referring agency
Complete all paperwork and attend supervision meetings as directed by the project
Attend young people’s reviews as required
Participate in providing feedback to Change Grow Live
Willingness to attend additional training
About Change Grow Live
About Change, Grow, Live (CGL) - Community Volunteering
We are a social care and health charity that supports and enables people to change their lives for the better and achieve positive and life-affirming goals.
Our service users are adults, young people and families whose lives are affected by substance misuse, homelessness, poverty, unemployment, domestic abuse, mental health issues and offending.
Our goal is to help people change the direction of their lives, grow as a person and live life to its full potential.
We fundamentally believe that everyone has the potential to change and that everyone deserves, not only a second chance, but as many chances as it takes to find the key to their own success.
We are driven by a belief in social justice and are passionate about creating opportunities for all our service users to make positive improvements to their lives. We respect our service users and support their right to self-determination and independence.
As a charity, our aim is to make our expertise available to as many individuals and communities as possible that need our support and have the potential to benefit from our life-changing work.
