Volunteer Opportunity: Family Mentors Wanted

news image

An opportunity to support another family through their journey. 

Are you looking for an opportunity to make a difference and volunteer in your community? CTN's Family Mentor Program is looking for volunteers in Simcoe and York to help support families of kids and youth with special needs.

This is a great opportunity for caregivers (eg. parents, grandparents, etc.) of children and youth with special needs to offer their time and experience to support another family in their journey. Whether it's through a weekly check in phone call or email or even a face-to-face visit at one of our monthly community coffee chats, our volunteer mentors are matched with families who want to talk to someone who knows what it's like to care for a child with special needs.

We are looking for potential mentors who have lived experience across a variety of diagnoses, speak a second language and those at various stages in their own journeys raising their child or youth with special needs.

The goal of the Family Mentor Program is to empower and strengthen families by providing resources, information and emotional support to help them through their journey. This volunteer opportunity provides an additional way for current and past CTN families to stay engaged and connected to the community, through working with the extended network team. This Family Mentor Program functions to complement, supplement and extend formal care services.  

One of our current mentors had this to say about why she became a volunteer mentor with CTN:

“When my son was first diagnosed, I reached out to another family who had a child like mine. Talking to that other mom helped me to feel more confident that I could get through those difficult early days, helped me feel less isolated and made me feel empowered to get him the help he needed. Now I'm thrilled to have been trained with new skills to help me be an effective mentor for another family .”

How to become a mentor:

1. Click here to read more information about our Family Mentor Program and learn what qualifications we are looking for. 

2. Complete this volunteer application form.

3. Complete a phone interview with one of our regional coaches and submit a Vulnerable Sector Screen through the police station in their region (only suitable candidates will be contacted).

4.  Attend a two-hour training session and meet current mentors to ask questions and connect!

Once training is completed, our mentors are given a CTN email address and business cards,and then listed on our roster to await a match with a CTN family in need. 

The volunteer mentor time commitment is flexible and based on both the needs of the mentor and the family they are supporting.



Interested in learning more aout other volunteer opportunities at CTN? Email Heather Hamilton, Family Resource Program Coordinator at hhamilton@ctnsy.ca
 


2016-01-04


EVENTS

 
X
Search