COVEY Befriending

Who we are

COVEY (Community Volunteers Enabling You) is a lifeline for children, young people, and families across Lanarkshire.  Formed as a charity in 1992, we have provided one-to-one and group-based befriending, mentoring, and family support services tailored to those who need it the most.   Over the last 30 years we have supported over 5,000 children, young people and parents/carers across Lanarkshire. 

The vision of Community Volunteers Enabling You (COVEY) is for children, young people and families to live happy and fulfilled lives. Our mission is to support children, young people and families to become more resilient, safe and better equipped to reach their full potential. We do this through providing one-to-one and group-based befriending, mentoring and family support across Lanarkshire. Our consistent, tailored, relationship-based support improves health and wellbeing, social connections, confidence, financial wellbeing, and engagement with education, training, volunteering or employment.

Through befriending, mentoring and family support services, we give our children, young people and their families opportunities to lead more fulfilled lives. This support looks different for each person.

That’s why COVEY offer both one-to-one and group sessions, with activities and outcomes that respond to each individual.

Our support is built on strong, consistent relationships and focuses on each person’s needs, interests and hopes. We work alongside children, young people and families to help them build confidence, strengthen relationships and move towards brighter futures.

What makes our support different is that we work with the whole family. We support young people as well as parents and carers, bringing together professional staff, trained volunteer befrienders and mentors, and specialist advice on financial wellbeing. We offer this support in a flexible, joined-up way across schools, homes and community settings. This means families do not have to rely on help in just one place or try to manage multiple services on their own.

We also work closely with local services and community organisations to connect families to any additional specialist support they may need. Our aim is to help families achieve positive outcomes both during their time with COVEY and in the future.

Because of this approach, we are able to respond to the pressures families face, including the challenges linked to poverty, as well as emotional, relationship and educational difficulties. Our evidence shows strong improvements in wellbeing, confidence, family relationships, school engagement, and progression into education, training, volunteering or employment.

Our culture and values

At COVEY, we are proud to be a values based organisation. Our five values underpin everything we do, shaping our decisions, our culture and the way we create impact for the people we support.

• COMMITMENT - having a postive attitutde, reliable and consistent

• COLLABORATION - working together with participants, statutory and third sector partners to deliver joined-up support that helps families thrive.

• RESPECT - accepting and acknowledging differing viewpoints, being non-judgemental

• INNOVATION - forward thinking, actively embracing change, solution focussed

• PASSION - having a stong belief in our missiong, inspiring others positively