I am involved in recruiting volunteers who work with adults with learning disabilities and/or autism to help them achieve their friendship goals. 

Volunteers are encouraged to give the people they work with the skills to make and maintain their own friendships and become less socially isolated within their local communities.  There are a range of volunteer roles at Friends Action North East including one to one friendship mentors, group support and digital volunteers who update the FANE website and can help us with marketing and managing our social media platforms.

Induction training includes a general induction which covers what our project is about, safeguarding training and health and safety training to help volunteers get the most out of their time with us. We also offer an external safeguarding course to our volunteers delivered by Newcastle City Council so they will have a comprehensive understanding about safeguarding issues and procedures. 

We offer placement opportunities to students across the North East including Northumbria University, Newcastle University and Gateshead College. We have strong partnership links with the Psychology department of Northumbria University and offer placement opportunities to Newcastle University in conjunction with their Career Development Module.