By Tom Green

Sometimes the best person to help a young person is someone of a similar age. Whether it's working with people with disabilities, offering advice or helping those in care, there are numerous volunteering opportunities that offer this peer-to-peer approach.

One of the main benefits of peer-to-peer volunteering is the personal experience the volunteer can bring. 

Leanne Stevenson, aged 24, is a CSV full-time volunteer helping 16-24 year-olds in care. Leanne went through the care system herself and at the age of 22 found herself homeless for a year and a half.

"It was a really hard time for me," she explains. "I shared a hostel with lots of other homeless young people but there was never any space or privacy. Many took drugs too, which made it more difficult for me because I have never been into all that.

"The one good thing about my experience is that I understand what the young people are going through. I was only able to move on with my life because I had the support of key workers who looked after me, and I like to think that I am now helping others get on with theirs."

CSV is a national organisation providing thousands of volunteering opportunities across the country. "I've signed up to volunteer for six months," says Leanne, "but I hope I can stay for longer because it's excellent experience for my future career in social work. I'm enjoying volunteering; it's a different challenge every day and it's great to meet so many different types of people."

Heidi Browne, aged 18, is another CSV recruit volunteering with a young person. Her role is to support a student at Reading University lead an independent life.

"Along with two other volunteers, I support a student with muscular dystrophy who needs 24-hour care as he can't move any of his muscles," she says. "It can be very demanding and it can take up to two and half hours just to get him ready in the morning. I also found it difficult at first to look after a male student, but I quickly got used to it. It's good to know you are making a difference to someone's life and I've enjoyed living on campus and mixing with the students."

Heidi is volunteering as part of her gap year between school and university. "I didn't want to just take a gap year abroad and have an extended holiday," she says. "I feel I can do that at any time. I wanted to do something that helped other people and so I decided to volunteer with CSV in the UK. I also want to join the police after graduating university and I think this year in the community will help my application."

Here at YouthNet (the charity behind do-it.org.uk) we have our own peer-to-peer volunteering opportunities with askTheSite.

askTheSite deals with questions on different topics and young volunteers are trained to answer questions in the relationships section.

It requires a reasonable time commitment - about 4-5 hours per week - and you'll need to be in the London area. In return, you will gain new skills in web communication, web journalism and providing online advice as well as receiving a comprehensive training programme.

Best of all, you will have the satisfaction of having helped other young people.

Find out more about volunteering with askTheSite or CSV. Or search the do-it.org.uk database for opportunities in your local area.

quick search