Mayoral Volunteers

Role title:                                    Volunteer Independent Visitor/Mentor

Department:                               People and resilience

Sites:                                          Various

Responsible to:                         Children’s Rights Officer

Role purpose:

• As an Independent Visitor you'll be matched with a child who is in the Care of Barking and Dagenham. 

• You'll meet six times a year, during each school holiday/break, and support them in undertaking a positive activity to help build their confidence and self-esteem.

• You will befriend the child and act as a mentor to them

Main activities:

•    Befriending a child in care
•    Accompanying them to leisure activities they are interested in
•   Trying new activities together
• Sharing experiences and spending quality time together

Benefits of the role:

• The scheme offers thorough training and ongoing support, plus all expenses are paid. Some trips will be outside the borough, so volunteers need to be willing to travel.
• You will be given the opportunity to improve your communication skills and be able to interact with a range of people.

• Travel expenses will be reimbursed
• An opportunity to give something back to the community

We will provide you with training and support for this role using the council’s iLearn training system. Courses include:

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Customer care
• Health, safety and wellbeing awareness
• Equalities and diversity
• Safeguarding children
• Safeguarding adults
• Mental Health Awareness (according to role)

Further training opportunities may become available.

We will also provide you with a reference after three months volunteering.