At the heart of the VIY model, young people are mentored by, and work alongside, professional tradespeople who share their skills. To date, more than 1,100 tradespeople have volunteered as VIY mentors, recruited locally according to each project’s needs, and all mentors are inducted, DBS-checked and briefed by VIY prior to starting work, and are fully-supported throughout their involvement.
VIY also employs a core team of Lead Mentors, based regionally, who play a key role in site-managing and delivering our projects on-the-ground, including supporting local Volunteer Mentors and leading on all guided learning activities with young people. All of our Lead Mentors started out as Volunteer Mentors and have considerable experience across multiple VIY projects.
Fancy getting involved to do #SomethingConstructive? Get in touch via the contact form below to talk about becoming a VIY Mentor.
Our Lead Mentors
Support Mentors
Our Peer / Trainee Mentors
Imran lives in Birmingham and has many years experience as a self-employed tradesman. He first got involved with VIY in February 2013 after seeing an advert calling out for volunteers on trade recommendation site Rated People. He initially agreed to volunteer for one day on a local project, but he quickly discovered he really enjoyed passing on his skills to young people. Since then he has been involved in more than 375 VIY projects in the West Midlands and across the UK, personally helping over 6,000 young people gain a City & Guilds Entry Level qualification.
Imran is now our National Head Mentor and, as well as mentoring young people on projects, he also helps scope and assess new VIY projects, and brief and train new mentors. He also undertakes outreach work in schools and colleges, delivering assembly talks and running classroom workshop sessions.
Imran makes the point: “It’s great to see how young people develop their skills whilst working on a VIY project. Many of them come to VIY thinking that that they’re not very good at learning, but once involved, they realise they can pick up new vocational skills very quickly, and that finding a job doing something you really enjoy is possible.”
“I’m a self employed painter and decorator from Southend, and I have so far mentored on a couple of local VIY projects and I can honestly say it’s been an eye-opener. The young people really put the effort into the work and learning new skills, and often spoke about how optimistic they were about their futures now that they’re learning a trade. Some even discussed their ambition to embark on a painting and decorating career as a self-employed tradesperson and it became clear to me that this project not only gives young people a trade but also builds confidence and gives them a passion for their next steps in life.
“I’m the Operations Manager at the Wickes store in Perry Barr, Birmingham, and I first mentored with VIY on a carpentry workshop project at Eden School. I think VIY is a fantastic project that helps young people to gain new practical skills. Being a parent myself, it’s also good to see schools trying new ways to encourage young people to learn vocational skills that can open up job and career opportunities they hadn’t previously considered. I only wish I’d had the opportunity myself to take part in a VIY project when I was at school many years ago!”
