Contact Person

Volunteer Coordinator, Ann Henderson

Organisation Address

Your Voice Counts
Greensfield Business Centre
Mulgrave Terrace
Gateshead
NE8 1PU
United Kingdom

54.963032553541, -1.6070584383952

Your Voice Counts is a charity that works across the North East to provide support to people with learning disabilities, autistic people and people who are at risk of exclusion due to disability, illness or other challenges.    

We provide a range of independent statutory and community advocacy services to help people who need support to be involved in important decisions about their lives (including their care, treatment and housing plans), making sure their wishes are heard and their rights are upheld.  We can also help people who live in Gateshead who need assistance to make a complaint about an NHS service.   

If you have a learning disability or are autistic and live in Gateshead, we can offer: 

  • social/activity groups and day trips 
  • independent living sessions, such as cooking and travel training 
  • skill building and information sessions, such as learning about benefits, employment or digital skills 
  • one to one support with everyday issues and concerns, such as paying bills and dealing with benefits 
  • health and wellbeing support. 

We also support self-advocacy and user-led groups to help people be  connected and speak up for themselves.     

Volunteering

There are lots of different ways you can support Your Voice Counts to help people:

  • You can help out at our drop ins or with one of the groups we support.
  • You can become a Travel Buddy and teach people to learn to travel independently.
  • You can support a person with a learning disability get out and about to access the community.
  • You can run sessions if you have a special skill you wish to pass on.
  • You can support our clients on day trips and build confidence to do new things.
  • You can help with skills building and confidence building.

Volunteering with us is a fantastic way to build your own skills and confidence in a friendly and supportive environment. Our team of volunteers helps us to reach more people who need our support. In return, our volunteers benefit from valuable and rewarding work experience, training and certificates relevant to their role and mentoring and support from our staff team. We can also provide references and endorsement on LinkedIn.

For our most up to date roles, please visit our website: Your Volunteering Counts! (yvc.org.uk).     

Areas covered