Befriending is our largest and most in-demand programme and is designed for children aged 4 ½ – 16 years old who are facing difficult life circumstances.
Children can be referred to our befriending programme by education, social work, health professionals or third-sector partners for a number of reasons including a lack of confidence or self-esteem, social isolation, lack of a positive adult role model, substance misuse in the family home and more.
Befrienders meet with their befriendees twice a month for a couple of hours each time for a minimum of one year to take part in fun activities to help them increase their confidence and self-esteem, learn new skills, reduce their social isolation and show them more of what life has to offer.
Our Befriending programme is split into three projects;
After seeing an increase in the number of children and young people being referred due to poor personal or parental mental health, we established our Healthy Minds Project. The project aims to support children and young people whose parents have poor mental health or are impacted by poor mental health themselves such as anxiety, low self esteem and depression.
Children in our Community Befriending project are referred to us for a number of reasons, including low self esteem/confidence, social isolation, mild behavioural issues and affected by disability, this can be parental or sibling disability.
Through our Tackling Child Abuse project, we work with school aged children who are suffering the effects of abuse and neglect. Over a third of children referred to Befriend a Child suffer abuse (physical, emotional or sexual) or neglect.
Volunteer befrienders should be:
Following an initial interview Befriend a Child provide full training, PVG checks and match befrienders with a child who shares common interests, likes and dislikes.
Copyright 2024 | Befriend a Child
Registered charity number SC005467
