Langley Celebrates 100th Volunteer

Langley House Trust has achieved a momentous milestone with its 100th volunteer coming on board in December 2016.

Jack*, a former Langley client, will become a befriender at one of our projects. His role will be to reach out to current clients as they work through concerns and challenges whilst learning to live crime-free.

His own experience of prison, rehabilitation and being helped by others led him to want to volunteer.

I wanted to volunteer to give back to an organisation who really made a positive change to my life and helped me be a better person. I have seen first-hand how a volunteer can make a difference and I would like to do the same.

Jack will join a rich rank of volunteers in the Trust who make up the wider support team of Langley and Kainos Community (part of the Langley group which runs an innovative behaviour change programme in prison, Challenge to Change). Peer mentoring plays a key part in Challenge to Change and benefits both the mentor and the mentee. The value of peer mentoring is recognised as a whole across the prison system, often resulting in improved behaviour and people believing they can change.

Male Langley volunteer supervising in a woodworking workshop. He is overseeing the work of a client who is planing some wood.

Langley volunteer overseeing a client woodworking workshop

Volunteers provide support across a range of areas in Langley, including mentoring, literacy, cooking, carpentry, gardening and spiritual support.

Volunteer-led initiatives have enabled some projects to produce food to support local foodbanks as well as free transport for vulnerable community groups through a bike recycling workshop.

Most importantly, volunteers provide positive role models for clients to engage with. This is often a key factor in rehabilitation and helping someone to turn their life around.

One volunteer said:

I volunteer for Kainos to meet people who need support as they go through tough times and understand new positive ways to live they lives, breaking a habit of offending. We are not born bad, negative life impacts and personal situations affect lives – that’s why I volunteer to help support positive life changes.

To find out more about volunteering for Langley or Kainos, send an email to: volunteermanager@langleyhousetrust.org

*name changed