Forward Leeds volunteers now have support from two new, experienced Volunteer Coordinators.
Sam Lindley and Dane Gould both began their new roles as Volunteer and Peer Mentor Coordinators in December 2018.
Sam has worked in alcohol and drug services for 16 years including time as a Recovery Coordinator with Forward Leeds.
Dane has over 30 years of experience in the third sector, advising organisations on developing volunteer strategies and learning. Dane will continue his freelance work as an Investing in Volunteers (IiV) Lead Assessor and Assessor.
Dane said: ”I wanted to get back in touch with on the ground volunteering and have the chance to work face-to-face with volunteers again. Working directly on a one-to-one basis with volunteers you are able to see their progression as they gain in confidence and skills and that’s really rewarding.”
Dane added: “The volunteers at Forward Leeds often bring lived experience with them and I think helping them use that knowledge is going to be really pleasing .”
Sam said: “’I’m so excited to be in my new role. I feel this new challenge will be both fulfilling and very different from my previous role as a Recovery Coordinator. I’ve already met some fabulous people and I’m really proud of how dedicated and hardworking our volunteers are. I can’t wait to continue working with our volunteers to help them towards whatever goals they have.”
Dane and Sam are both looking forward to developing the Forward Leeds volunteer programme in 2019 and evolving what is already a very strong structure.
They observed that, as a team, they have a great blend, bringing together experience of volunteering across the third sector with an in-depth understanding of substance misuse services.
Forward Leeds currently has almost 30 volunteers working across most it’s different departments.
In the last nine months five Forward Leeds volunteers have got a paid job with Forward Leeds and five others have found roles with other organisations.
Volunteers together contribute an average of around 450 hours a month to Forward Leeds.