Launch of the New Volunteer Training Toolkit

11th January 2021

One of the key benefits Befriending Networks offers to its members is access to free volunteer training resources. The form of these training resources have changed significantly in response to the need to train new befrienders at a distance during the pandemic. In the springtime of 2020, Befriending Networks made Interim Volunteer Training Videos freely available to any befriending project and voluntary organisation. By November 2020, 470 organisations had registered for the videos, which, by January 2021, has helped train approximately 3,500 volunteers.

The success of these videos inspired the creation of a lasting and comprehensive Volunteer Training Toolkit for our members to use both while distance training and befriending are necessary and when more face-to-face interactions are possible. After receiving feedback on the Videos and information about befriending coordinator’s training needs during 2020, the new Volunteer Training Toolkit is now available!

The Toolkit provides unlimited access to written, video and audio content about Support & Supervision, Confidentiality & Safeguarding, Boundaries, Building a Relationship, and Communication, which volunteer coordinators can pick and choose from to best suit their training style and their learners’ preferences. This foundation information, which applies to every befriending project, can then be complemented by project-specific information that informs volunteers about your specific policies and procedures and ways to best support your befriendee client group.

Ready to access the Toolkit? Make sure you’re logged in to www.befriending.co.uk, then learn more and sign up with your organisation’s details by clicking here! Your confirmation email will provide you with all the information you need to access the Toolkit. We also encourage you to sign up to a ‘How to Session’ to learn how to make the most out of this new resource. (This new Toolkit is a free members-only resource. If your organisation is interested in accessing this resource and our other member benefits, learn more about how to become a member by clicking here.)

Our Team looks forward to hearing how you are using the Toolkit and hopes this new resource provides accessible, flexible and customiseable content that supports you to train befrienders this year.