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A CHANCE to help young people learn basic driving skills attracted volunteer mentor driver Wayne Lentsment initially, but, 6 years on, he has gained so much more.

Spotting an ad calling for drivers in a local newspaper, Wayne, who was already busy with commitments as a Marriage Celebrant, bus driver and arthritis group volunteer, was quick to put his hand up.

Completing a 2 day training course through VicRoads, Wayne has been with the Licencing the Wimmera program since its inception, and says he gets a lot out of the sessions.

“Experience is wisdom. I really enjoy sharing my life experience and skills with the young person, as well as hearing their stories and sharing their lives,” he said.

“Seeing their confidence grow and building a rapport and friendship is wonderful, as is working around different learning styles. It’s definitely a two way thing.”

From hill driving, using the Wawunna Road overpass, to driving on different road surfaces, long distance driving and parallel parking, Wayne, like the other mentors, tries his best to present learners with an overall driving skills package.

“But, while a lot of my mentees are receptive to these interactions and aren’t afraid to ask if they can try something else, I insist they learn to use and trust the vehicle and their own abilities above all else,” Wayne said.

“Licencing the Wimmera benefits the community by getting young people into the driver’s seat not only earlier, but with the correct skills, confidence and a sense of responsibility.”

Volunteering weekly, Wayne said the shortest period he trained a learner was just 2 days while the longest, to date, has been 14 months.

“I get a lot out of these interactions and enjoy seeing the young person learn how to live as a civic person and develop their driving skills. I also appreciate how flexible the program is, I can fit it around my other commitments and the flexibility to change days is there, if needed,” he said.

Telling others about his experiences as a volunteer driving mentor, Wayne said in the past he would leave it up to the individual to sign up as a volunteer if they chose to do so.

“However, after personally experiencing the positive impact the program has on both the young person and the mentor, I would definitely encourage more people to put their hand up,” Wayne said.

To register your interest in volunteering as a mentor driver, or to find out more about the program phone Licencing the Wimmera Coordinator Marieke Dam on 03 5382 5607.

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Join like-minded women in a positive, safe and nurturing learning environment to gain confidence in setting life goals and ambitions, enhance interpersonal skills, develop effective communication and develop effective communication and develop a positive self-image while identifying personal strengths.

The course runs from February 2 to June 29 from 9.30am to 3.00pm.

For more information please contact Centre for Participation on 03 5382 5607

A major new research project has been launched in a bid to measure the value of volunteers for people with disabilities.

Also looking at identifying models of best practice that will pave the way for volunteer services in the future, the research is being undertaken by Interchange Incorporated, in partnership with the University of Melbourne and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The first of its kind in Australia, the project aims to provide an evidence base to inform policy and practice nationally and comes amid a period of uncertainty around funding to support volunteerism under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Interchange Incorporated executive officer Kerry Uren said the aim of the six-month research project is to gather evidence about the benefits of volunteering in the disability sector in Victoria.

“The NDIS is saying that they are supportive of social capital retention but they are uncertain about how the funding looks or where it fits and have been non-committal about how they are going about doing that,” Ms Uren said.

The idea is to provide an evidence base so that we can provide some information about it and help them decide,  she said.

Prior to the NDIS, community service organisations for people with disabilities received and distributed funding for services on a group basis, known as block funding.

And volunteer programs were typically funded through these block grants, however, under the NDIS, payment for securing volunteer services are not included in the individualised funding model.

It is unclear how the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building funding component will support volunteer services for persons with disabilities, with Ms Uren commenting that the ongoing uncertainty around funding was having a significant impact on the sector.

“The uncertainty has put a lot of pressure on the ability of service providers to transition to the NDIS and to strategically plan for moving forward with their volunteer program, which has been a bit of a challenge,” she said.

Researchers believe part of the problem is that volunteering is “underestimated and undervalued”.

Ms Uren said she believed volunteering had been undervalued as there was no clarification about the size of volunteering: “So there has actually been no research undertaken that can demonstrate how many people volunteer, how many hours are provided or how many people with disability are supported or benefit from community inclusion because of volunteers.”

“That’s what we’re hoping this research will help us to provide,” she said.

And researchers are now calling on volunteer supported services, volunteers and people in receipt of volunteer supports to take part in the project to provide a better understanding of the current profile of volunteerism in Victoria.

Services that have recently made the decision to discontinue using volunteers because of the uncertainty around funding are also encouraged to take part.
Stage one of the project will see participants complete a five-minute online survey including questions like whether the organisation offers any volunteer supported services/the number of programs offered.

For more information or to take part in the research project register here.

The Licencing the Wimmera program aims to assist Learner Drivers who have been identified as facing a significant barrier or disadvantage which may prohibit the from gaining the necessary driving experience required to apply for a probationary licence. Many people lack the support networks to facilitate such driving experience or face issues with finance or lack of access to a vehicle.

Volunteer Mentors are required to assist Learner Drivers to gain the necessary driving experience to obtain their probationary licence. Volunteer Mentors are required from Nhill, Dimboola, Horsham, Warracknabeal, Hopetoun and Goroke.

Mentors will need:

• to have a full drivers licence
• participated in training our mentor training
• to have a police check
• working with children’s check and
• other checks as required by the program.
• to commit to at least one hour of driving per week

Driving times and days are worked out according to the suitability of both Mentor and Learner. Organisational vehicles are used both the vehicles and volunteers are fully covered by our insurances. To register your interest, please call or email the Centre for Participation on (03) 5382 5607  or info@centreforparticipation.org.au to register for the next round of volunteer training.