Last night (December 8) the Wokingham Borough Council Youth Offending Service (YOS) held a special evening to celebrate and recognise volunteers who willingly give time and effort to help young people in the Wokingham Borough.
The event was held at Cantley House Hotel and certificates were awarded to 14 volunteers who live and work within the local community. In addition to these certificates, two outstanding contributions were specially recognised in the awards. The first award for an outstanding contribution was presented to Oliver Reynolds who has given considerable time to young people who have been detained in police custody and who have no ‘appropriate adult’ who can act on their behalf.
The second award was presented to Adam Dotchin, a local businessman, for his support and development assistance to Wokingham YOS. Adam has represented Wokingham Borough residents on over 100 community panels for young people who have offended, offering guidance and support.
The YOS works with young people (typically teenagers) who are subject to a court order following an offence. The main aim of the service is to stop offending and re-offending, as well as offering rehabilitation into the community. Many young people who enter the service will work with fully trained volunteers as a requirement of their court order.
The YOS volunteers are residents of the borough who are completely independent of the police and have a good understanding and experience of dealing with vulnerable young people.
Wokingham YOS volunteers work alongside professionals to ensure the views of Wokingham Borough residents are heard regarding crime and disorder as well as allowing the young people who enter the service to understand the effects of their actions on their local community.
Claire O’Leary, youth offending service manager, said: "We wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you and let our volunteers know how grateful we are for the hard work and dedication they give to our service. In particular we wanted to recognise Oliver and Adam who have gone above and beyond the expectations we have of our volunteers.
"The majority of our volunteers have worked with us for a number of years now and provide a service to the local community which is often unrecognised by others, because of the confidential work we undertake with vulnerable young people. We hope that volunteers will continue to take an active role in local youth justice. They are very important to the successful running of Wokingham YOS.
"If you want to see less crime in your community, this is the perfect opportunity to get involved. You could be included in tackling youth crime and its consequences. The YOS needs people who will help make the difference. You need to be over 18 and have an interest in the local area."
If anyone would like to find out more about volunteering please contact Joanne Drinkwater, restorative justice worker, on (0118) 974 6672.
