Nightstop Volunteer Mentor

Mentoring is a service within Depaul which supports young people to become more independent, to learn skills that they will use when move on from our services. For example this could be cooking or budgeting skills. The young people using the mentoring service will already have goals they would like to work on, these goals will all be productive for independence such as getting out into the community and building social networks. The mentor will meet with their mentee once a week for up to three hours at a time and complete an activity. The volunteer mentors will always be supported by the volunteer mentor co-ordinator.

More about Nightstop:

Nightstop is a unique project which relies on community hosting to provide a safe, welcoming place for people in crisis. Volunteer hosts open their homes to people who are facing a night on the streets or sleeping in an unsafe place. Nightstop have their own group of generous volunteers who all need regular meetings and contact to support them in their volunteer role.

Aim of the volunteer role:

Every client at Depaul is offered a mentor, for clients accessing Nightstop it can be more difficult due to the short time they are with Nightstop (approx. ten nights). We are asking for volunteer to fulfil the volunteer mentor role but to be designated for Nightstop. We are looking for volunteer mentors who will be able to commit to Nightstop and offer flexibility in time. For example, if you would like to complete this role you would let us know one day of the week that is suitable for you to offer. Once a client is ready to be matched, we would contact you and ask you to mentor this client 1-1 on the days you are available whilst they are with Nightstop. This can be any day of the week including evening and weekends.

We need volunteer mentors who can take the client into the community for coffee, food and support clients in accessing the local community such as libraries and appointments. This will also include offering to support the client with phone calls, applications and anything else that would be a support to them during their time with Nightstop. The focus will be based on health & wellbeing, skills development, creativity and community involvement.

Activities:

• To meet with your mentee once a week to offer support and guidance
• To be a listening ear for the mentee
• To provide Depaul with one day a week that you will be available to be quickly matched as a volunteer mentor with a client and meet with the client on this day during their time with Nightstop
• To contact the staff member after the sessions by either text message, email or phone call. This is logging the sessions and keeping a record of time and activity spent with the mentee
• To email the expense record to the Volunteer and Mentor Co-ordinator to claim back expenses
• To attend one support session every eight weeks with the Volunteer and Mentor Co-ordinator
• To attend volunteer forums which take place once every three months, volunteer forums are a great way to get together and discuss our experiences. We often have guest speakers from other organisations

Skills

• Volunteers should have an understanding of the issues faced by disadvantaged young people such as homelessness
• The ability to work in a non-judgemental manner is also essential
• Good communication, listening and IT skills are important to this role