At YouthNet we involve volunteers in a variety of different roles all helping to develop and enhance the services we offer for young people. Due to the nature of YouthNet’s work our volunteers are based all around the UK and therefore the majority volunteer virtually. Volunteers are an essential and valued part of our team and we couldn’t reach and support as many young people without their hard work
At any one time we involve over 200 volunteers. To give you the opportunity to meet a few of them four of our volunteers from different roles have spoken about their experience and journey as a volunteer with us.
Jenna Winter
My name is Jenna Winter and I am 27 years old. I am an online peer advisor for YouthNet. As a peer advisor I help answer relationships questions from young people that are submitted to askTheSite. As well as being a Peer Advisor I’ve also helped YouthNet in various other projects such as live chats, submitted a blog entry for Step Finder, helped out at training days, been involved in Radio One’s Sex Night Facebook chat and achieved an OCNLR Level 2 ‘Giving Online Relationship Advice’ NVQ.
I’ve been volunteering for YouthNet for about two and a half years now. I found the opportunity through a friend who also used to be a peer advisor. We both wanted to do regular volunteering but something that didn’t interfere too much with our work and social lives and peer advising fitted in perfectly.
I’ve really enjoyed the whole experience of being a peer advisor – although you get no direct feedback from the users as it is a confidential and anonymous service, it’s extremely rewarding to think you’ve helped someone through a situation that is really affecting them. I have also really enjoyed working with the Engagement and Support team as they’re extremely dedicated to their work and really help the volunteers to feel that way too.
As well as achieving the OCNLR accreditation I feel that being able to get involved in other opportunities at YouthNet has made my experience even better and has shown me how much the charity does as well as how much I can help others.
Gareth Milner
My name is Gareth Milner and I’m 26 years old. I have been involved with YouthNet for around seven years now. My involvement with the charity began when I started using TheSite.org in an effort to find some information online about personal issues I was facing at the time.
I’m currently volunteering as a moderator on TheSite.org discussion boards and as a TheSite.org Leader helping to improve and develop TheSite.org for young people who use it.
Involvement in helping a charity such as YouthNet, allows me to give something back to an organisation that has provided me so much help in the past. Knowing that the work I do for YouthNet contributes to their overall aim of helping young people, gives me an extremely fulfilling sense of worth.
The thing I enjoy most about YouthNet is the friendly and approachable nature of their staff both in person and online (distance based). Having that feeling that no idea is a stupid idea and is worthy of discussion, helps foster an environment that engages both users and providers of YouthNet’s services.
From my time volunteering for YouthNet I have not only learnt a lot about the charity sector as a whole, but also about how wide ranging the issues that face young people actually are.
Matthew Walker
My name is Matthew, I’m 17 and I’ve been involved with the TheSite.org Leaders since late October 2010. As a Leader volunteer my aim is to work with fellow consultation guides to help develop and enhance the TheSite.org for its users.
I got involved when looking to volunteer via Do-it. The prospect of furthering my opportunities is what most motivated me to volunteer, especially since volunteering is a priceless skill in our society today.
I find the issues that are raised and discussed in the live chats and on the TheSite.org Leaders online network really interesting. A lot of them relate to me so it’s beneficial when I come to responding and giving my opinion. Also, the other consultation leaders are friendly and funny! I’ve met some wonderful people that I won’t forget, but most importantly I get satisfaction by helping others and experience in social network volunteering which is invaluable in our modernising society.
Sandra Gayer
My name is Sandra and I’m in my early twenties. I’ve been volunteering at YouthNet for two years and love it. My primary role is to moderate TheSite.org chat room which can be challenging but extremely rewarding. My job is to make sure the users get as much time and space to talk as they need whether it’s about personal problems, politics or the day’s hot showbiz news. Sometimes the chat room can be hectic when everyone has something important to say but my favourite time is when it’s buzzing with chat.
Although I am a chat room moderator, I have had the opportunity to try different roles within the organisation. I am also an online relationships peer advisor and have blogged for Step Finder as well.
I am blind and am able to volunteer virtually by using a programme called JAWS (Job Access with Speech). JAWS is a text-to-speech screen-reading programme that enables blind people to use computers as well as, if not better than their sighted counterparts.
The surprising thing is how much I have learned from working as part of YouthNet for the last two years. I had no idea I could be so patient. I never thought I would pick up information about computer code either. The flexibility of my role is very refreshing. On average, my moderating takes four hours a month. The best thing is that volunteering doesn’t take over your life. It can be an integral part of your life, allowing you to carry on having wonderful varied experiences which means that you can keep bringing them to the YouthNet table.
