Friday, 10 June 2016

Gap Year Volunteering


Gap Year Opportunities

 

Volunteering Matters run a Full Time Volunteering programme for students who are leaving school and looking to gain work experience and skills or for those wanting to take a constructive year out before starting university or employment.  Placements are available throughout the year for a period of 6-12 months.

 

The type of opportunities are largely within health or social care settings. Typically these might include:

 

  • Supporting adults with a physical or learning disability to live independently in their own home
  • Helping disabled students at university e.g. by note taking or helping with day-to-day living

  • Providing respite care for full time carers
  • Volunteering in a group or community home
  • Providing support or help in a homeless shelter
  • Helping in a special needs school
  • Mentoring and befriending young people leaving care
     

Our volunteers move away from home and are provided with accommodation and subsistence which includes £35 per week for day to day expenses plus food (or up to £40 per week to buy food).  Volunteers could be placed anywhere in the UK depending on the project to which the volunteer is matched. There are hundreds of opportunities and a wide range of different activities volunteers can get involved in.

 

Volunteering Matters placements are a great opportunity to gain practical skills and experience, improve employability, make new friends and make a difference to people’s lives. No previous experience or qualifications are required. Volunteers should be aged between 18-35 and be UK/EEA nationals living in the UK.

 

Heidi Boyes, a former Full Time Volunteer was placed at a homeless shelter in London. Her experience helped her secure a full-time job as a trainee Keyworker for a homeless charity based in London.

Without my experience with Volunteering Matters, I cannot see how I would have been able to find work in this sector, and also I would not have had such a fantastic eye-opening year.”

 
Anyone interested in gap year opportunities can apply online at: www.volunteeringmatters.org.uk/gapyear

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