Ross is a volunteer mentor with Aberlour Attain – Renfrewshire and currently supports a young person within his local area. Find out why Ross wished to become a mentor and about the process he completed to become one.
Ross’ Volunteer Mentoring Story
My name is Ross. I am from Paisley and I have been a Mentor with Aberlour since February 2019.
I was looking for a volunteering role in an organisation that worked with children and young people as I wanted to further increase my life experiences, bolster my CV for greater career prospects and give back to the community I live in. When I came across the role with Aberlour I knew this would be the perfect opportunity.
I enquired about the role by contacting one of the mentoring coordinators. He gave me some more information and organised a meet up for an informal chat and to iron out more details about this fantastic opportunity. He was extremely friendly and really welcoming. This made me feel even more excited about taking on the mentoring role.
Training
We soon got into training where I got to meet my fellow mentors. Despite a lot of information being put forward it never felt as if it was too overwhelming. There are six compulsory training sessions, as well a couple of online modules to complete and of course further optional training available too.
The team that organised the training were great and really took time and effort to make sure we were equipped and ready to carry out the role.
Highlights
I have many highlights with Aberlour already: meeting the coordinators, meeting my mentee and the training itself.
The biggest highlight happened fairly recently. My mentee had a number of difficult issues to deal with at school however, in our most recent meeting he told me things were improving and he was just trying to get his head down and make better choices. He also mentioned that he really had a great time hanging out with me.
We then proceeded to make a lot of plans for the weeks ahead, so we have plenty activities to look forward to. This was a real positive moment for me: it makes me feel that I am starting to make somewhat of a difference.
Not every meeting has gone so smoothly. My mentee mentioned to me recently that school had become problematic again. We spoke about everything that happened that week and how he could work on turning this around.
My mentee has shown some great progress, so I do hope we can keep going in this positive upwards trajectory. I have spoken with my coordinator about this and they have given me some techniques and some great advice on how to combat days like that.
The difference you can make is immeasurable
My advice to someone that was thinking about applying for the role: there is a great support network at Aberlour; you would be really looked after in the role and if you have a spare couple of hours a week it would definitely be worth your time.
It can be fun and really enjoyable but there are some tougher days. The good days outnumber the bad and if you have the drive and the enthusiasm to help a young person then I think there is a real chance for you to gain incredible benefits for yourself, and of course the difference you could potentially make to a young person’s life would be immeasurable.
Find out more about becoming an Aberlour Volunteer>>