About Youth Options
Youth Options is a Hampshire-based charity supporting children and young people to build better futures. Our aim is to ensure every young person has the opportunity to realise their potential, whatever challenges they may face.
How Volunteers Support Our Work
Our work supports children and young people through open access youth work, both centre-based and detached, delivered within the wider community. We offer bespoke one-to-one and group support, outdoor learning opportunities, and help young people find pathways back into education and employment.
We focus on helping young people grow in confidence, strengthen their emotional wellbeing, and stay engaged with learning. Our work is shaped by the young people themselves, offering fun, meaningful, and accessible opportunities that inspire them to make positive choices.
By working together with local families, schools, clubs, businesses, and community partners, we can provide children and young people with the support, encouragement, and opportunities they deserve.
Our volunteers support our work in a variety of meaningful and practical ways across our provision. Their roles are closely connected to our delivery and help strengthen the support we can offer to children, young people, and the wider community.
Community Champions
Our Community Champions volunteers support events at the heart of the communities we work in. They work alongside our fundraising team to raise awareness and funds for the important work Youth Options delivers locally. They help set up events, run activities, and engage with the public, helping us remain visible, connected, and rooted within our communities.
Gardening Club Volunteers
Our gardening club volunteers support the regular maintenance of the sites used for our alternative provision programmes for children and young people at risk of disengagement from education, school exclusion, or social exclusion.
Our Outdoor Learning Centres provide safe, welcoming environments that support learning, wellbeing, and personal development. Volunteers play a key role in ensuring these spaces remain flourishing, maintained, and inviting for young people.
This support is particularly important because the children and young people we work with are not always in a position to contribute to the upkeep of the site. At times, they may need to self-regulate by relaxing in a hammock or pushing a wheelbarrow for sensory stimulation. Not every session allows young people to engage in maintaining the space, so volunteers ensure the environment continues to support delivery.
Community Café Volunteers
We have a community café in Southampton that provides training and employment opportunities for young people who are not currently in education or employment. Volunteers support the day-to-day running of the café, helping to create a welcoming and positive environment while engaging with customers. This helps sustain the café as a safe and supportive space where young people can build skills and confidence.
Early Years Volunteers
Our early years volunteer practitioners support the childcare we provide for children aged 2–5 at our Forest School nursery, Little Owls, based at Itchen Valley Country Park, and our preschool in Andover at the Scott Centre. They help provide a safe and nurturing environment by supporting the care children receive and contributing to activities, storytelling, arts and crafts, and much more.
Volunteer Youth Support Workers
We also have volunteers who support our projects with young people as volunteer youth support workers. They help facilitate activities, encourage participation, and contribute to safe and supportive environments. Their involvement allows us to provide more individual support within sessions and enrich the experiences we offer.
Volunteers are an essential part of how we deliver our work. They enable us to provide more support, maintain welcoming and engaging spaces, and create more opportunities for children and young people.
What Difference Do Volunteers Make?
Our volunteers play a vital role in the impact we have on young people, the wider community, and our delivery sites. By giving their time and sharing their passions and unique skills, they help make a real difference to the lives of children and young people across Hampshire.
As an organisation, we benefit greatly from the dedication and support of our volunteers. They are an integral part of everything we do and essential to how our charity operates. We recognise and value the meaningful contribution they make as part of our team.
Volunteers strengthen and enhance the support our staff provide to children and young people. Working alongside our trained youth workers and childcare professionals, they help create safe, welcoming environments where young people feel comfortable, valued, and able to engage in ways that suit them.
They also make a difference to the environments we work in by helping to maintain our sites and ensuring they remain welcoming spaces that young people want to return to. They help raise awareness of Youth Options within the local community by supporting events, being a friendly and approachable presence, and creating opportunities for people to learn about and discuss the work we do.
In our café, volunteers help create a warm, safe, and welcoming atmosphere where people can relax, feel at ease, and connect with others.
Their impact is invaluable, and their contribution helps us create lasting, positive change in the lives of the young people we support.
Celebrating Our Volunteers
We value the passion, dedication, and individuality our volunteers bring, and the genuine difference they make to the lives of children and young people. By giving their time and sharing their unique skills, they help create safe, welcoming environments where young people feel comfortable, supported, and able to be themselves.
They strengthen the support our staff provide and play an important role in helping young people feel valued, listened to, and encouraged to engage in their own way.
Many of our volunteers are motivated by the opportunity to make a meaningful impact. Seeing positive changes in young people, being part of a supportive team, and contributing to their community are all things that keep them coming back.
We are incredibly grateful for the time, care, and commitment they give. Their contribution is invaluable, and without them, we simply could not make the same difference to the young people we support every day.
Impact Figures
- 10,400 young people supported in 2025/26
- 25 volunteers, including 10 trustees
- 3,671 sessions delivered across all of our work
- 725 sessions specifically delivered through our centre-based and detached youth work provision
Volunteer Quote
“What a great stepping stone volunteering at Youth Options was for me. Now I’m in full-time employment doing a job I love as a gardener.” – Patrick
A Short Story
When Shane first joined our Outdoor Learning Centre Gardening Club four years ago, he was incredibly quiet and found it difficult to speak to others. After finishing college, he wanted somewhere he could connect with nature and quietly pursue his passion for gardening.
Since then, Shane’s journey has been truly inspiring. Through helping to maintain the land and polytunnel for the children and young people we support, his confidence has blossomed alongside the gardens he cares for. The shy young man who once kept to himself is now a valued and familiar face whose personality shines brightly within the team.
Shane now shares his passion and knowledge with young people taking part in our Engage & Achieve: Outdoor Learning provision, inspiring others while continuing to grow himself. His story is a powerful reminder of the difference that opportunity, belonging, and belief can make.