MACS volunteer and young person playing frisbee in the park

Volunteer Mentor

Can you spare a few hours a week to help a young person who hasn't had a fair deal achieve their dreams?

MACS VolunteerHaving a positive role model can make a big difference in a young person’s life. As a volunteer mentor, you will be paired with a young person through our wellbeing service and providing a guiding influence to them over the course of your time together.

You will spend a few hours every week with that person over a period of up to 3 months, spending time doing different activities, chatting to them and sometimes most importantly, listening to them.

Our Wellbeing Service provides mental health support and mentoring to children and young people aged 11-25.

This is achieved through one-to-one mentoring support from volunteer mentors and group work.

Thinking about becoming a MACS volunteer mentor? Here’s a few reasons why you should consider it:

  1. It’s great experience for anyone thinking of working in this field.
  2. You will both have fun!
  3. You will be supervised by professionals to help guide you and develop your skills.
  4. You get to be part of the MACS family!
We provide a one day in-depth training programme in Belfast to get you ready to be a mentor.

Key Volunteer Mentor Tasks

  • Support young people aged 11-25 years who haven’t had a fair deal
  • Provide 1 to 1 support to young people, ensuring this is underpinned by the MACS ethos and value base (we will keep you right on this at your training day)
  • Develop purposeful and nurturing relationships with your young person
  • Have fun – we want your mentor session to be a positive experience for you both
  • Adhere to Health and Safety policies and procedures as outlined in your MACS training
  • Adhere to Child Protection, Vulnerable Adult and Lone Worker policies to safeguard young people, staff and volunteers
  • Accept support and direction from Wellbeing staff – we are here to help

Time & Commitment

  • Complete MACS Volunteer training (1 day) and MACS ‘top up’ training (1day) during your mentor programme
  • Meet a young person once a week for 2-3 hours for up to 3 months
  • Meet with a MACS worker monthly for one-to-one supervision
  • Keep in weekly phone contact with a Wellbeing Worker for ‘check ins’
  • Attend quarterly group support meetings
  • Complete an annual Child Protection training day (1day)

Our next recruitment session will be in 2022.

Please note this role is a REGULATED ACTIVITY. Therefore, in order to volunteer you must be willing to undertake an Enhanced Level Access NI check. Please discuss with us if you have any queries with this process.