Volunteer Mentors
Our volunteer mentors are at the heart of our work. Walking alongside someone can be the key to a meaningful change in behaviour. The work is not easy and can be frustrating, but it can also be highly rewarding to see people making positive changes in their lives.
What’s involved?
As a volunteer mentor you will usually have weekly face-to-face meetings with the person you're supporting. You might also need to offer additional support by phone outside of the meeting. All our volunteers are given a dedicated telephone for their work on behalf of The Footprints Project, and your travel expenses are fully refunded.
You might also visit a person in prison or collect them, along with a member of staff, from the prison gate on the day of their release. You’ll be involved in helping the person develop the motivation to desist any unlawful behaviour, as well as helping them with practical issues such as completing referrals for housing and benefits claims, accompanying them to appointments, and helping them look for voluntary or paid work.
Other volunteering opportunities
We also welcome help from volunteers who can support our community in group settings such as cookery, art and woodwork.
However you choose to support us, you'll always get full training and support from us.
How to Apply
To become a volunteer mentor for our prison and community mentoring scheme or OOCD scheme you will need to attend 18 hours of training and have the opportunity to shadow a member of staff or experienced volunteer before you are matched to a mentee. You will also need to undertake a DBS check.
All our mentors need to be at least 21 years old. We encourage applications from those with criminal records, but we do need you to have completed statutory supervision and for an additional period of 6 months to have passed.
To become a volunteer you need to complete the application form and provide two references. Please tick all the opportunities you wish to apply for.
