Volunteer Opportunities

Wanted!!

Men and Women who want to give back to the community through volunteering.

Compeer is always looking for caring men and women who would like to become supportive friends to adults receiving mental health treatment, or become a mentor to an area youth who is considered at-risk or has been diagnosed with a mental illness. We have a number of Consumers on our waiting list who are waiting for a friend, just like you! Please consider being a friend or mentor to one of them! Four hours a month can make a huge difference in your life and your new friend!

We are also in need of Volunteers who may be interested in the Dually Diagnosed Adult Mentoring Program. To find out more about this new program, please call the Compeer office at (315) 735-1066.

Youth Program

The Compeer For Kids program matches trained, screened and sensitive volunteers in supportive friendships with youth receiving mental health treatment. Compeer volunteers act as mentors and friends to children with diagnosed mental illnesses and emotional problems. Our volunteers work to improve the child's social skills, ability to problem-solve, increase self-esteem, and improve academic interest and the ability to interact positively with parents, teachers and their peers, as well as provide emotional support. You can make a difference by becoming a friend to a child who needs a little encouragement from someone who really cares!

Youth Mentoring - Youth mentoring is a one-to-one (1:1) match where the adult volunteer and youth spend a minimum of four hours per month with weekly visits together in a mentor type of friendship. How you spend that one hour a week is up to the two of you! The possibilities are limitless!

Lunch Buddies - This program began in 2001 at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, and expanded to include John F. Hughes School in 2002. The Lunch Buddies program allows volunteers to meet a referred child for lunch at the school once a week. Lunch Buddies can play games, read stories, draw, do a craft, help with school work or just talk. Volunteers must be available during the child's designated lunch period and may bring their own lunch or purchase a school lunch from the cafeteria. The volunteer and child remain matched in the program throughout the school year. At the end of the school year, the volunteer and youth have the opportunity to continue the program as a 1:1 match or a Pen Pal match for the summer. The Lunch Buddies program allows the volunteer to act as a positive role model/mentor to the child.

Pen Pals - This program is offered to youth on our waiting list. Volunteers have the opportunity to correspond with a youth and develop a positive relationship through their letters.

Adult Program

In the Adult Program, community volunteers are recruited, screened, trained and matched in supportive friendships with a professionally referred adult receiving mental health services. Volunteers have the opportunity to offer emotional and social support to adults to help fight the isolation and loneliness often accompanying a mental illness. Compeer friends meet on a regular basis to participate in activities such as sports, movies, hiking, shopping, crafts, or just get together and talk. Four hours a month is all it takes to help someone cope with the loneliness and isolation of mental illness!

Lunch Pals - The Compeer Lunch Pals Program is a collaborative effort with the Utica Rescue Mission. Volunteers meet at the Resuce Mission for lunch with their Compeer match once a week.

Pen Pals - This program provides the adults on the Compeer waiting list with supportive written correspondence. Allowing a person the chance to respond and express his or her feelings through letters can help aid in the treatment process and lessen the severity of their emotional / behavioral disturbance.

E Buddies - The E-Buddies Program is just like the Pen Pals program, but the volunteer and their Compeer friend correspond through e-mail. (this is offered only as an Adult Program)

Dually Diagnosed Mentoring - This new program developed in 2006 is similar to our 1:1 matches, with the addition that the Consumer has been diagnosed with either an alcohol or drug addiction. To become a volunteer for this rewarding program, there is an additional two hour training required, presented by a local substance abuse professional

Compeer Calling - The Compeer Calling Program allows volunteers to form "phone friendships" with individuals who are waiting for a Compeer one-to-one match. Compeer callers contact their phone friends once a week to provide support and a listening ear.