Volunteer Palmerston North

Palmerston North

Helpline Counselling

Volunteers play an essential role in making sure Youthline is able to help the thousands of young people that contact us each year. We are always looking for passionate people to join our teams of generous, enthusiastic and awesome volunteers.

We know if you decide to become a volunteer you will gain a great deal of satisfaction and develop new skills that often form a solid base for future careers in counselling and related fields. Youthline training is widely known and respected in these communities. For more information, or to register, please contact the team.

What do volunteer counsellors do?

Our volunteer counsellors work over phone, text, email and web chat to support people of all ages (predominantly young people) who need help. The reasons people contact us vary, but these topics are covered extensively in the training as well as appropriate processes and counselling techniques.

What training is involved?

Our training takes place over 12 weeks, for 11 week night classes and one weekend. On completion on training a potential volunteer will understand and be able to demonstrate:

• How Youthline operates
• Client centered counselling
• Self-awareness
• Affective communication
• How to manage difficult issues
• Peer and self-assessment
• Empathy and rapport building
• An ability to encourage disclosure and gather information

What is the volunteer commitment?

We require you to attend all of the training, to ensure you are well equipped to manage the contacts we receive.

Your commitment to Youthline requires you to stay with Youthline for at least 1 year, to cover two shifts per month and to attend compulsory monthly supervision/trainings.

We aim to provide a professional and a high standard of training for our counsellors; and the training programme is facilitated by a professional counsellor.

How much does training cost?

The bulk of the training cost is covered by grants, however there is a short fall, therefore we ask for a $120.00 registration for the Basic Training however if you are unable to meet this financial commitment, please let us know and some other arrangement can be made.

In the office, at events, in the community

We are also really interested in those looking to get involved in other ways, whether it is helping out in our offices, assisting at events or doing something in your school. Everyone has different skills and interests and we love hearing from anyone interested in helping us out! Some of the ways to volunteer with Youthline CNI are:

• Administration
• Management Committee
• High school seminars
• High school presentations
• Holiday programmes
• Stalls and displays
• After school Programmes
• Youth development and leadership programmes

To learn more please get in touch!