Member News: More than 200 volunteers join intandem in its first year
12 December 2017
In its first year, Scotland's mentoring programme to support some of our most vulnerable young people has recruited more than 200 volunteers, with over 60 live matches established.
Since launching in November 2016 with 13 delivery partners, the programme has already been recognised for the quality of its service with two charities picking up awards from the Scottish Mentoring Network.
Funded by Scottish Government and delivered by Inspiring Scotland,intandem supports children and young people aged 8-14 years who are looked after by their local authority, but living at home.
For too many young people difficult childhood experiences can lead to a spiral of negative behaviour, which can have a lasting effect on their future chances in life. The relationship between a mentor and a young person is extremely valuable. Having a consistent and trusted adult who listens and takes an active interest can prevent young people from becoming disengaged and can help them to realise their full potential.
"I am absolutely loving volunteering and I can’t believe how well my mentee has taken to the project… he is so excited when I pick him up which is amazing. My mentee’s confidence is improving week by week; he has been attending school every day since our last meeting. He brought the conversation up himself and said that he will always go into school and he is willingly engaging in new things." - A volunteer mentor.
The majority of young people are referred to intandem by social work teams across the country, but the co-ordinators have also developed links with education, health and other charities. intandem have over 60 matches running – the first of which have been in place for eight months.
"He’s like a different boy. Things are going great and he speaks really highly of his mentor. He looks forward to her coming every week and talks about what they do for the rest of the week afterwards. He’s much more of a help at home too and is staying out of trouble. He even has pals he goes out with now and is never home.” A mentee's parent
To find out more about intandem and who is operating the programme, visit www.intandem.scot
