Leeds Autism AIM will be running new volunteer autism mentor training sessions early next year. The sessions will be for anyone who wants to become a volunteer mentor to help an autistic adult in Leeds overcome obstacles and achieve life goals.

An autism mentor meets with a mentee for one or two hours once a week or fortnightly to give support and information, following a set plan. The mentor will receive full initial training as well as ongoing support, training and supervision from the autism volunteer coordinator.

We welcome applications from both autistic and non-autistic volunteers.

About the training

  • Autism Awareness training day: This is co-delivered by AIM staff and autistic adults.  It will be run by Gill Loomes, an autistic academic with a background in advocacy and Jonathan Cravitz, an autism trainer who is also a member of Leeds Autism AIM’s steering group
  • Mentoring training day: full training in the role of a mentor, boundaries, how to help plan goals etc
  • Final training evening/induction to Advonet volunteers: This will cover safeguarding, confidentiality, lone working, equality and diversity
  • You will also be offered optional two-day training on the Advonet Effective Advocacy and Negotiation Skills (EANS) training course and be given ongoing training opportunities

Training dates

  • Autism Training Day: Saturday 27th January – 9:30-4:30pm
  • Mentoring Training day: Saturday 10th February – 10am-4pm
  • Final training/induction: Thursday 15th February: 5:30-8:30pm

The venue is still to be confirmed. We will put the details of where the training will be held in due course.

Register your interest

Places are limited and the next course will not be until May/June 2018, so please contact us as soon as possible to register your interest.  

If you would like more information or an application form, please contact Owen Walker, our autism volunteer coordinator at [email protected] or phone Advonet on 0113 244 0606 and ask to speak to Owen or Wendy.

You can also find more information about the service on our website – www.leedsautismaim.org.uk.