Volunteering with the Green Hub Project for Teens
Like all community organisations, volunteers sit at the heart of what we do, so naturally we are really keen to talk to you if you have an interest in teenagers, mental health, or gardening. Or even all three!
Of course, spending time in the garden with our teenage volunteers is super important but there are other roles too, depending on your skills. Click through you our ‘Key roles’ page to find out more about what’s on offer.
We have grown from just a handful of keen people in early 2021, to a substantial local local charity in a very short time. We’ve done that in no small way due to our volunteers – right from the start we took the view that there were no bad ideas and that everyone has the power to make a difference. We like to spot people’s unique gifts and experience and see how we use that to grow what we are doing.
With humble thanks for your interest in our project.
Tone Tellefsen-Hughes & Vanessa Lanham-Day
Co-Founders of The Green Hub Project for Teens
Key roles>>
Apply here>>
What happens next:
- Once we receive your application, we will connect with you to arrange an informal chat / interview with the most suitable person. If it’s for a garden role, then you will have an interview in the garden (usually straight after a teen session), so that you can see what it’s all about. If it’s for a support role, it will probably be via Zoom or Teams. The aim is to find out a bit more about what you are looking for, and to match it with our needs.
- Assuming all that goes well, we will then contact your two references; in your application we ask you to provide the details for two referees who can vouch for you.
- To help you to decide who to ask to be your referees…
- Employers: this option is fine if you are either employed or have been so recently
- Other professionals: this could include tutors, religious leaders or anyone else who knows you in their professional capacity
- Personal friends: A character reference from a personal friend can provide useful information. Close family members are generally excluded
- We will also invite you to engage with the DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) service; we always do our own searches from scratch, as DBS certification is very specific to the individual role. We cover the costs for this.
- Assuming your references come back to us positively, we will make an appropriate volunteering offer – this is still dependent on a successful DBS clearance, but we often using the ‘waiting time’ as a good opportunity to support you with your volunteer training.
- Every volunteer is given a structured training programme, much of which must be completed BEFORE you can begin volunteering – things like safety, safeguarding and teen mental health awareness.
- Depending on your role, this can take up to 5 or 6 hours.
- Teen-facing garden volunteers have the highest training commitment.
- It may be that you already have relevant certifications, and we invite you to share these with us, so that we can exempt you from relevant modules.
- One you have completed all the relevant training you will be able to start volunteering.
- It’s worth noting that all volunteers are asked to engage with ongoing training; any teen or parent facing volunteer is asked to attend 2 out of 4 Volunteer Continuing Development (VCD) training sessions each year.
