About

Befriend a Child’s motto is ‘turn a frown upside down’.  We support school-aged children across Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire who are growing up in difficult life circumstances. We match them with a trained volunteer who supports them and helps them develop resilience, self-confidence, self-esteem and to experience more of what life has to offer. Over time, this has a transformational effect. We are the only dedicated befriending and mentoring service for children in the North East.  Children with the greatest need for support are referred to us by social and education services and other third sector partners. We match them with a volunteer befriender or mentor who commits to seeing them for at least one year. Our Services

• Befriending
• intandem Mentoring
• Group work
• Family support

Locations

Our intandem mentoring service offers community based mentoring around Aberdeen. Mentors meet with their mentee weekly doing activities that they both enjoy, either in person or remotely.

Aims

intandem seeks to help children and young people aged 8-14 years who are looked after at home. Most of the young people that intandem match face a number of difficulties and many have had experiences of relationships which have been inconsistent or unreliable. intandem seeks to offer these young people a different experience, one where they have opportunities for new and positive activities, where they have choices, where they can learn to trust their own judgement and where they can have fun. We work together to provide:

• Regular weekly visits with a volunteer mentor who holds the young person in positive regard
• Access to safe appropriate activities
• Support from experienced and informed staff
• Enough time to build a relationship which allows the young person to develop confidence, skills and resilience