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Many of our clients who engage with the CARDS Service become curious about or wish to engage in recovery or with dedicated recovery services. In response to feedback from clients and volunteers we now have dedicated Peer Volunteers who themselves are in recovery and have lived experience of that journey and can provide our clients with hope and belief that they can make a positive change.

Human contact is vital. As we are all finding out, without it, life changes. Community Alcohol Related Damages Service is a befriending service run by Rowan Alba. Health care specialists, GP’s, hospitals and mental health services refer individuals to our service. These people, for various reasons have been living the way we experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of them for most of their lives. We need to recruit and train volunteers now so we can respond to those that have been referred to us during this time.

You will be involved in finding out what activities our residents would like to do then help to plan, organize and make it happen for them. You will be running one to one activities with residents but also put on group events. Our aim is to encourage and support our residents to pursue what they enjoy, reduce isolation and hopefully in turn reduce their drinking by engaging them in meaningful activities.

Would you like to volunteer helping older people get out and about for a monthly group outing? We are looking for volunteers who could give a day once a month to support our service users on an outing to a local place of interest. Examples of outings we have already done are: Tea Dances, Smith Museum, Pantomime and Dobbies. If you are friendly and helpful and would like to help older people who feel lonely and isolated, then this is an opportunity for you!

U-Turn is a Peer Education service for young people (12 – 18 years old) across South Lanarkshire. The service is provided by Glasgow Council on Alcohol (GCA) on behalf of South Lanarkshire Alcohol and Drugs Partnership. Peer Educators will be supported to deliver inputs across South Lanarkshire to other young people to incorporate a harm reduction approach as well as addressing stigma/language around drug and alcohol use. Peer Educators are will work alongside the Peer Education Workers & Peer Education Team Leader. As a Peer Educator, you will: • Attend training related to Peer Education role • Work as part of a team to achieve a common goal • Support delivery of Harm Reduction • Work towards a qualification • Attend Personal Development Planning Responsibilities • Participating in weekly workshops

The aim of ‘Friends’ is to help improve the quality of life for our customers and address loneliness and social isolation. We are looking for friendly, outgoing and organised volunteers who will provide a safe, consistent and reliable support service to help customers experience companionship/social interaction on a regular basis either on the telephone, in customers homes or on group outings. You will spend time with your befriendee and simply chat, listen and discuss various topics of interest making the service fun and interesting. You will also have to provide project staff with information on how the time spent with befriendee is going and attend volunteer meetings. Timings - by arrangement. Please enquire.

Make the world a little friendlier! Spend a weekend with an adult international student in your home, learning about their culture, showing them your local area and inviting them to experience your own home life. Volunteer hosts invite students to stay so the student can experience ‘real’ Britain, away from university and heavy tourism, and so the host can meet new people and learn about diverse cultures from around the world. There are no specific expectations from a host visit, other than the student should be made to feel part of your family for the short time. Hosts can show their local area, visit friends, attend local events, or just spend time chatting. So, if you’d like to enjoy an unusual and rewarding activity, meet new people and travel the world from your sofa, get in touch with HOST UK.

Are you looking for a rewarding way of sharing your experiences and life skills in order to make a positive impact in your community and help tackle child poverty? This is the opportunity for you! Part of the Parental Employment Support (PES) programme, Project Scotland is now recruiting volunteer mentors to support an individual in their community to overcome barriers they face in sustaining jobs or progressing in work. Our PES mentors offer one-to-one support to a local parent (mentee) they are matched with for 1 hour every 1-2 weeks. This role will involve getting to know your mentee and the challenges they may face, discussing their future goals, sharing your own experiences or skills and ultimately champion them to progress in life and work. Our volunteers do not need to have any specific career experience or qualification – just a positive and empathetic mindset and a passion for helping others to succeed.

The Link-Up Project provides a mentoring service to vulnerable young people living within the boundaries of Dundee City. The target group are those young people who are involved in some way with substance misuse or offending. The service recruits, trains, supports and supervises volunteer mentors who are then matched with individual young people. Mentoring matches are closely monitored and reviewed to ensure they remain purposeful. You must be able to commit 2-4 hours per week for at least 1 year. Volunteers will be supported by the Mentoring Coordinator and full training will be provided. Having your own transport would be beneficial.

MCR Pathways is a multi-award-winning mentoring programme helping Scotland’s care-experienced and vulnerable young people achieve the same educational outcomes, career opportunities and life chances as all other young people. At the core of the MCR Programme are 1 hour weekly in-school meetings between a young person and mentor, who listens and provides encouragement. MCR Mentors come from all walks of life and commit to supporting a young person in school for a minimum of a year, ideally two. They are trained and supported by MCR throughout the mentoring relationship. External research shows that MCR mentoring has made a significant and lasting impact on young people’s confidence and self-esteem, in addition to school staying-on rates, attainment and progression to positive destinations - college, university, and employment. Share an hour and support a young person to reach their potential. When one person mentors, two lives are changed. Get involved! https://mcrpathways.org/become-a-mentor/