The Bungalow Partnership
Rod Lyall, Director of The Bungalow Partnership. My role involves the overall management of the organisation, monitoring of case referrals, recruitment, mentoring and training of volunteers, mentoring for students and liaising with schools and outside agencies.
The Bungalow Partnership was established in 2012 and became a registered charity in 2015. We work with over 40 schools across Middlesbrough and Stockton supporting children, aged from three to 17 who have emotional, behavioural and social needs and their families.
We provide a range of early intervention strategies and therapeutic support for children experiencing a range of difficulties which have a detrimental effect on their progress in school. This helps them to navigate various social and recreational activities, learn new skills and make functional progress for making effective handling of peer interactions and decision making.
Volun-tees has allowed us to promote our organisation and advertise our volunteering opportunities, view potential candidates through access to their website, invited us to take part in various micro-fairs and presentations at the University, provided appropriate interview accommodation, kept us informed of forthcoming events and opportunities for volunteer recruitment.
Teesside University Psychology and Counselling volunteers are offering much needed support by providing additional mentoring provision for children in our local schools and their families which the organisation, being a charity, would not be able to fund. The schools welcome the additional support the volunteers provide and are very pleased to have them in their schools. They have had a positive impact on the individual child or children, their families and the staff in the schools. Without the volunteers the schools would not be able to otherwise afford this additional support.
Volunteers use the opportunity to gain practical experience, knowledge and skills whilst being closely mentored, trained and supervised by staff in schools and members of The Bungalow Partnership. The volunteers have developed positive relationships with staff in schools which promotes The Bungalow Partnership and the work we do.
The advice I would give to any voluntary organisation looking for University volunteers is, if your organisation would like to expand the service it provides and you have the time to invest to mentor, train and supervise the volunteers, then why wait?
