Yorkshire & Humber

Photo courtesty of Yorkshire Forward

Mentoring & Befriending in Your Region

At present we work with 914 mentoring and befriending projects and organisations in the Yorkshire and the Humber region. At the end of February 2008 104 of these had taken part in our registration and consultation process. 30% of the projects consulted with were befriending, 55% mentoring and 13% peer mentoring (both pre and post 16). Most of these projects were in the non profit sector with the majority being run by voluntary organisations and charities. The largest client group that these projects work with is socially excluded, isolated and lonely people.  Significant client groups also include pupils and students as well as asylum seekers and refugees. 

Yorkshire & The Humber have many examples of good practice in Mentoring & Befriending, including;

  • The Leeds Asylum Seekers' Support Network is a small local charity aiming to make a positive contribution to the lives of refugees and asylum seekers in Leeds.  Its befriending scheme aims to provide long-term emotional and practical support to asylum seekers and refugees in Leeds by home visiting.  Between April 06 and March 07, over 90 Asylum Seekers and Refugees were visited and helped by the project’s befriending volunteers. The project was awarded the Approved Provider Standard in 2007.


  • The Roshni Asian Women’s Resource Centre is based in Sheffield. This voluntary organisation consists of a range of projects which aim to provide south Asian women with a variety of services including training, advocacy and social activities. The Deeya Mentoring Service, one of the projects Roshni offers, was initiated to support vulnerable South Asian women aged between 14 and 25. Mentors are expected to be able to commit to providing at least 2 hours of one-to-one support, every fortnight, over a 6 month period. They are provided with full training, support and further development opportunities. The Deeya Mentoring Service recruits South Asian mentors to work with mentees from a South Asian background. This makes it a highly distinctive project, as the mentors are able to offer advice and support which is culturally sensitive and informed of the community that the organisation aims to serve. The project was awarded Approved Provider Standard in 2007.
More examples of the real impact of Mentoring and Befriending within local communties can be found at our case studies or regional news pages.

We have representatives in all of the nine government regions throughout England, making a direct impact upon the communities that you live in.  They can help you with a number of things; either setting up a project, developing an existing programme or achieving Approved Provider Status  (APS) status. 

Contact your Regional Co-ordinator