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To support the Scottish Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee, Young Scot and Skills Development Scotland are looking to engage with recent Higher Education and Further Education leavers aged 16- 25 around your experiences of COVID-19 and its impact on your transition out of education, your career, employment, ambitions and aspirations. We know the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the lives of young people in Scotland. We are keen to engage with recent Higher and Further Education leavers to find out what this has meant to you, what barriers and challenges the pandemic has raised and what support you feel would benefit you in your next steps. The Young Person’s Guarantee offers the opportunity of a job, placement, training or volunteering for every 16-24 year old in Scotland – based on your own goals and ambitions. By taking part, you can directly inform what support is offered to young people to help you access opportunities and careers. No previous experience is needed to take part, as we will guide you through everything you need to know. The sessions will take place online over zoom, throughout March. You’ll join a team of other young people who have recently left Higher or Further Education. We will give you some information about our work and lead you through a discussion around key themes and questions about your experiences. We are particularly keen to hear about how the pandemic has affected you and your plans for the future (accessing the labour market, career, access to opportunities) and what you think you and others like you need in order to support you to access a positive destination at this time. We are hoping to run up to four sessions, but you would only be required to attend one of these. These sessions sit alongside some wider survey work that Young Scot and Skills Development Scotland are delivering, in support of the Young Person’s Guarantee, to understand the impact COVID-19 is having specifically on young people in this group. Taking part in one of these sessions means you will be joining a supportive and inclusive team, with opportunities to have your voice heard around issues that are important to you and meet new people from across Scotland. No special experience or skills are necessary to take part, and you don’t need to know anything about the wider work of Young Scot or the Young Person’s Guarantee. You don’t need to have any previous experience volunteering either! Dedicated staff members at Young Scot will support you to take part. We are happy to make reasonable adjustments to enable all young people to take part, and there will be an opportunity when you register sign-up to tell us about any support or adjustments you need to contribute fully. Find out more and sign up here: https://young.scot/get-involved/national/yshive-young-persons-guarantee Any Questions? Email YSHive@young.scot

To become a qualified Walk Leader and lead health walks in the Scottish Borders. Organising a planning walk routes (with help from the project officer). Checking risk assessments. Setting up a new group or running an existing group (with support from the Project Officer). Working with the Project Officer to qualify as a Paths for All Walk Leader. Leading a walking group (preferably weekly). Completing and submitting relevant paperwork.

Street Friends Helping the Homeless Aberdeen is working towards a brighter future for homeless people, vulnerable and people in poverty in Aberdeen. Here at Street Friends, we know that sometimes all it takes to change the world is a little support. Volunteering is one of the best ways to help. People can assist volunteering in a range of ways such as checking, sorting and packing food donations, helping cook meals for homeless people, assisting with admin. tasks, as a volunteer driver collecting food donations for our stalls, as one of our outreach volunteers at our Aberdeen city centre stalls distributing food to people who are homeless, chatting, initial befriending, checking people are okay and signposting people to other support services that may be required. Whichever way you wish to help us you will be providing much needed support for homeless and vulnerable people in Aberdeen. All help makes a real difference and is greatly appreciated. All volunteers are provided with relevant training, guidance and ongoing support. If you want to help or for more details please contact us at email: admin@streetfriendshelpingthehomeless.com or visit our website at https://www.streetfriendshelpingthehomeless.com and https://www.streetfriendshelpingthehomeless.com/initial-volunteers-registration

Everyone can feel lonely and isolated at times, especially if experiencing hardship. This year, in response to the crippling effects of loneliness and isolation on peoples physical, emotional and mental health, that the pandemic has only exacerbated, TLC are setting up a befriending service to combat loneliness and isolation in Aberdeen. Our aim is that our expertly trained and compassionate volunteers will not only provide a lifeline to people, in the form of friendship, but also a helping hand to reconnect to the community, bringing joy and passion back into people’s lives. Due to Covid-19 government restrictions, the project will run differently than usual with the use of video conferencing or by phone, however, once restrictions are eased and it is safe to meet in person, befriending sessions will operate face-to-face in people’s homes or in the community. If you would like to be a beacon of hope for someone in need, please apply to become a TLC Befriender. For further information please contact Jonny Astill, Development Manager at EMail: jonny@tlc.org.uk

Talkable offers a talkline to anyone suffering from panic or anxiety. We noticed some of the users were too anxious to call at first so we decided to open up a messenger service over Facebook so they can ease into phoning. The message line role would require you to provide the listening service over Facebook. You would be required to talk to people to put them at ease and offer to call them over Facebook. You would also be encouraging people to schedule a call in with the phone line or just encourage them to use the phone line themselves but if they are too anxious you would just continue to talk to them over messenger . An excellent opportunity to help in our vital work. All help makes a difference and is greatly appreciated. For more information please contact Chelsea Birkett at E Mail: info@talkable.online or tel: 07999 453655.

Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland is Scotland’s health charity supporting people and their families across Scotland with chest, heart and stroke conditions. We want to make sure life living with a chest or heart condition or after a stroke is a life lived to the full. To help in this we are currently seeking people to volunteer with us as Rehabilitation Support Volunteers. As a Rehabilitation Support Volunteer you will support people who have had a stroke to develop autonomy and confidence in self-management, enabling them to fully engage with their community and activities of their choice. The service is delivered to provide specified person centred support for those with a communication difficulty and/or to support a specific physical or everyday task. The role includes: • providing specified support for the service user, this will be dependent upon their individual goal(s). • supporting with specific physical and/or everyday activities. • supporting with specific use of communication strategies. This may involve either one-to-one or small group support or a combination of both. To undertake your role you will be required to undertake membership of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Adults) Scheme in Scotland (PVG) (there is no cost for this for volunteers). Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland will provide all necessary training, provide excellent ongoing support to all volunteers and all authorised out of pocket expenses will be reimbursed. For more details please contact us at volunteering@chss.org.uk or visit our website at https://www.chss.org.uk/volunteer-with-chss

Dates-n-mates is a friendship and dating agency for adults with learning disabilities offering social events to enable people to socialise, make friends and form meaningful relationships. People with learning disabilities are particularly prone to being lonely and socially isolated and recent events have seen our members become increasingly anxious and confused. It is not possible in the current climate for dates-n-mates to have large groups of people going out to the pub or a nightclub etc. In order to stay connected and continue to offer events to our members, we have moved to online events. As an Events Volunteer, you would host zoom events. It’s all about helping members to have a safe, enjoyable and friendly time online– and that means it’s a fun, rewarding, relaxed and sociable role. You would generally host the same events so that the members get to know you, but that will depend on when and how often you are available. Ideally you should have a basic understanding of platforms such as Zoom and Facebook Groups. We're looking for a volunteer who is sociable, friendly and confident and has excellent people skills. You will be a good communicator; kind and patient when interacting with people who have different communication or mobility needs. You will be able to interact respectfully with people from a range of different backgrounds. As you will be representing dates-n-mates, you will be courteous and professional as well as being reliable and punctual. We offer a variety of training and support to all of our volunteers. For further information or to apply, please contact us at: email volunteering@c-change.org.uk or tel.: 07720 591229 visit our website: https://dates-n-mates.co.uk/aberdeen/

Are you a good listener, non-judgemental and empathetic with an ability to relate to traumatic life experiences that some of the children/young people referred to us may have faced? Befriend a Child is a local charity that provides 1:1 befriending and mentoring services for school aged children and young people. We recruit caring adults who act as role models for school-aged children who face some kind of disadvantage. They spend time together on a 1:1 basis, talking, sharing and having fun. Could that be you? If you are reliable and fun-loving, with a positive disposition and you can commit to sparing a few hours each month, you could make a huge difference in a young person’s life. Excellent training and support is provided and all our volunteer roles adhere to COVID-19 safety guidelines and restrictions. For more information/to register your interest please visit https://www.befriendachild.org.uk/get-involved/befriending/ and/or email us at volunteer@befriendachild.org.uk

Talkable offers a talkline to anyone suffering from panic or anxiety. We currently have a range of ways that you can help as a volunteer and as we continue to grow and provide ever more vital support to people. Opportunities to join our team of volunteers include: *Call Handler Volunteers. *Message Line Volunteers. *Legal Advisor Volunteer(s). *Mental Health Consultant Volunteer(s). *Policy and Procedure Advisor Volunteers. Excellent support and any relevant training is provided to all volunteers. There will also be an Area Manager to oversee everything and volunteers will be a part of a group of others who all help and support one another. There are flexible times available to assist. All help makes a difference and is greatly appreciated. For more information about any of these volunteer roles or any other ways you wish to help us as a volunteer please contact Chelsea Birkett at E Mail: info@talkable.online or tel: 07999 453655.

Dates-n-mates is a friendship and dating agency for adults with learning disabilities offering social events to enable people to socialise, make friends and form meaningful relationships. People with learning disabilities are particularly prone to being lonely and socially isolated and recent events have seen our members become increasingly anxious and confused. It is not possible in the current climate for dates-n-mates to have large groups of people going out to the pub or a nightclub etc. We have therefore developed a Friendship Matching service to help small groups (2-4 people) meet online via Zoom. We're looking for a volunteer who is sociable, friendly and confident and has excellent people skills. You will be a good communicator; kind and patient when interacting with people who have different communication or mobility needs. You will be able to interact respectfully with people from a range of different backgrounds. As you will be representing dates-n-mates, you will be courteous and professional as well as being reliable and punctual. As our friendship matches will take place online you should be comfortable using technology and familiar with Zoom. As a volunteer chaperone, you will join one of these groups and help the members to meet and interact while they’re together. It’s all about helping them to have a safe, enjoyable and friendly time. It is a very rewarding and fun role. We offer a variety of training and support to all of our volunteers. For further information or to apply, please contact us at: email volunteering@c-change.org.uk or tel.: 07720 591229 visit our website: https://dates-n-mates.co.uk/aberdeen/