Become a Youth Leader
One of St John Ambulance's biggest but
least publicly known about charitable objectives is the development
of young people.
Over two-thirds of our members are under the age of 26, and
we have a comprehensive development programme for young
people from the age of five.
First aid training to fire fighting
In order to provide these activities, we need
high-calibre volunteer Youth Leaders and
assistants. Like every similar organisation, these are in short
supply.
Being a Youth Leader, or assistant, can be a real challenge; but
the rewards are tremendous. You get to see young people
develop skills and gain confidence in front of your
eyes. From sleeping under canvas for the first time, to
learning the phonetic alphabet; it is you that could make that
happen.
We regularly take groups of young people on residential
and training weekends and we have an annual week-long
camp held at different locations every Summer.
Training
All our Youth Leaders and assistants are offered comprehensive
training and support. We have a Youth Leader
development programme which consists of a structured induction, a
days training on youth work and regular opportunities to develop
and expand your skills. This means we don't need you to
have any previous experience in working with young
people.
We'll even fund you if you want to complete external
qualifications to do things like abseiling and canoeing.
We need people who genuinely have an interest in working
with young people, and can commit either to helping at one
of our 30 youth units across the county which meet each week,
or on our regular weekend events. Many of our Youth Leaders also
have a first aid role in St John Ambulance, but we have no
expectation that you should, and we're always keen to recruit
people who simply want to commit to doing youth work.
As with all youth organisations, we take the welfare of our
young people very seriously. Anyone who has regular contact
with young people will be required to undertake an enhanced
Criminal Records Bureau
disclosure and also complete a mandatory Working safely
with young people course, as part of their training. We'll
guide you through these processes if you choose to
volunteer with us.
If you'd be interested in becoming a youth leader within St John
Ambulance, please contact Mary King on 07949
937133 or by email.