Romsey Mill’s Aspire team runs 13 weekly youth clubs that provide space and support for 150 autistic young people, where they can be themselves, have fun and develop skills to start and sustain friendships.

We have a brilliant team of Aspire youth development workers who create these opportunities for autistic young people and offer support to them and their families.

However, our amazing volunteers are also key to the success of the Aspire youth clubs.

Kat Rudge, an Aspire Youth Development Worker, talks about the vital role of the Aspire volunteers:

“Many groups would be unable to run if we did not have volunteers to rely on. We really appreciate the time and effort our volunteers are willing to put into the lives of autistic young people in Cambridgeshire.

We recently had a recruitment drive to find new volunteers, concentrating our search at the Anglia Ruskin University Psychology department with the help of the course Leader. Because of this, we have 8 lovely new volunteers and are still in the process of recruiting.  

One of our new volunteers is Charlie – they help with our Tuesday group in Arbury and, from the moment they joined, have had a big impact on the group and the young people in it.

Charlie brings a sense of calm, kindness and understanding to the group and has worked hard to build strong and positive relationships with the young people within it.”

Speaking about their experience as a volunteer, Charlie says:  

"When I first started volunteering at Romsey Mill, my main goal was to gain some experience to support my psychology degree. But having now been volunteering for just three months, I have learnt so much, met some amazing young people, and finally found something that I thoroughly enjoy.

Every young person I have encountered so far is completely different and they have taught me how diverse autism is from one person to another. It’s extremely rewarding to know that just by having a chat with someone, I could be making a difference and putting a smile on someone’s face.

This opportunity has made me realise that I would love to be able to work with neurodiverse young people as a career, and Romsey Mill is the perfect place for that journey to begin." 

Romsey Mill’s Aspire team is always on the lookout for new volunteers.

If you think that you would like to help make a difference in the lives of the young people we help, through Aspire, and you could spare one evening a week to volunteer in one of our Aspire groups, we would love to hear from you.

Please email: [email protected] about your interest in volunteering with us, and we will get in touch with you. 

Thank you!