Youth offending volunteering

Volunteering roles

There are opportunities at Ealing's youth offending service (YOS) for volunteers to gain experience and knowledge, to help and guide young people. This work benefits the community as a whole.

Volunteers come from all backgrounds and walks of life. Each brings their own skill and experience; they play a crucial role in preventing re-offending, and safeguarding young people.

Ealing Youth Justice Service (YJS) has the following volunteering roles, which are explained in more detail below.

Youth offender panel

A youth offender panel consists of two volunteers recruited from the local community, alongside one member of Ealing YOS. The panel meets with the young person, and their parents or carers, to talk about the reasons for the offending behaviour, agree how the young person can repair the harm caused and agree a tailor made contract aimed at reducing the risk of further offending. Panel members need to be 18 years old or over, and have relevant skills and experience to work with challenging young people.

Volunteers are expected to give a long term 12 month commitment and may spend at least three hours a fortnight working on the panel. Panel meetings can be arranged around your existing work and other commitments. You will receive specific training and on-going support and expenses.

Restorative Justice (RJ) practice support

RJ is a process which supports the victim of a crime and the person responsible to communicate, repair harm, and find a positive way forward. It brings those harmed by crime or conflict and those responsible for the harm into communication, enabling everyone affected by a particular incident to play a part in repairing the harm. This can be by making the person responsible aware of the harm they caused which helps them to make reparations and plan for restoration in the community. RJ can be undertaken face to face between the person harmed and the person who caused the harm, but it can also be done via an intermediary using shuttle communication or indirect methods.

Ealing Youth Justice Service (YJS) seeks to contact every victim of the children that they supervise. Once the police have confirmed the victim is willing to be contacted, Ealing YJS describe the service and establish the extent to which they wish to participate in RJ.

We are looking for volunteers to support with the RJ process and support with facilitating the various methods of RJ that a victim and young person may be amendable to undertaking. We hope to expand the numbers of trained facilitators and increase our ability to offer restorative work across Ealing.

Group programme and reparation project support 

Working alongside our experienced officers, you will help facilitate our group programmes and community reparation projects. These projects support young people to build their skills and knowledge in order to build positive relationships and lead pro-social lives.

Reparation activities include groundworks at an urban zoo, youth club rejuvenation and assisting at a night shelter for homeless people. We are looking to expand the range of activities that we offer and to include communities in these. Reparation is potentially a means of reintegrating a child into their community support networks.

Community Monitoring Group (CMG)

Ealing CMG is a community lead group that is commissioned under the Mayors Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). This group meets on a 3-monthly basis with key police partners to review the use of stop and search in the borough. These meetings review quarterly stop and search data across the borough of Ealing which allows for community oversight of police practice. Body worn footage of police stop and search is also reviewed and the practice of stop and searches directly fed back upon.

It makes no difference where you come from or what you do, as long you are over 18 years old and are willing to make a difference in your community. Please be aware that due to the nature of the role, each volunteer will be subject to an enhanced DBS check. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact us at yjsvolunteering@ealing.gov.uk.