Highland mentor call from charity Action For Children as Intandem project offers helping hand at vital moment
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A Highland charity is appealing for volunteers to act as mentors to children who need support.
Action For Children runs a project called Intandem.
Sarah Sproul, a practice team leader at the charity and the project co-ordinator, said they aimed to support young people between the ages of eight and 14 with mentors.
The youngsters that they help can either be the subject of a child supervision order (CSO) and working with a social worker.
Alternatively they can be the subject of a kinship order – where a relative is supporting the young person.
And they can be affected by a range of issues including: bereavement, confidence and self esteem issues, and social issues.
Mrs Sproul said they currently have eight mentors in the Inverness area but need more volunteers.
She said: “In order to carry on supporting the young people in the Inverness and Highland area I am requesting the public to reach out to Action For Children’s Intandem to support a young person who has personal social issues.”
Mrs Sproul said there was evidence that having a mentor over a period of time would help the young person grow in confidence and improve self esteem.
Volunteers are expected to give at least two hours of their time per week for a minimum of 12 months and expenses for mileage and activities are covered.
Mentors are expected to get the young person involved in various activities including: art, a walk in the park, cooking, sports and a beach visit.
And full training is given, which takes about six weeks on a one-to-one basis, with clear guidelines for the initiative fully explained.
Mrs Sproul said that the mentor aimed to be the “fun guy” who helped the young person to develop personally and being a volunteer could lead to career opportunities with Action For Children as well as working towards qualifications.
One person who did exactly that was 36-year-old Kerry Rooney who started as a mentor in 2019 and took up the role of young person worker in August this year.
She said: “I was at uni doing psychology and I knew I wanted to work with children so it was good experience to get. I still mentor and I am with my third young person.”
Deborah Macrae, a 59-year-old former doctor from the Crown area of Inverness, started mentoring in February 2019.
She said she was preparing for retirement at the time and was looking for volunteering opportunities.
Mrs Macrae said the training was excellent and had prepared her for the role. “I’ve had the privilege of giving some fun to a child but also having some fun myself.”
Debbie Zima, the fund manager for Intandem, said it was a national mentoring programme which is funded by the Scottish Government and The Robertson Trust.
She added: “Intandem is a voluntary programme with the young people meeting their mentor weekly to have fun, build a trusting relationship and work towards goals.
“Action for Children is one of our 12 partner charities across 19 local authorities offering a positive impact on the volunteer too.”
Aiden Proctor is 16-years-old and was helped by the scheme – he now acts as a young ambassador for Intandem Inverness.
He said: “Action for Children Intandem have helped me massively over the last four years and continue to help me to this very day, they have been great and will continue to be great.”
