About us

Community Volunteers Enabling Youth (COVEY) is a voluntary project which recruits, trains and supports volunteer befrienders for vulnerable young people in the 7-16 age group. We also provide befriending for young people up to 18 who are involved in the Youth Justice system.

COVEY covers the geographically diverse area of urban Hamilton, Blantyre, East Kilbride and Larkhall, and the rural Clydesdale area, and COVEY staff are based in Hamilton and Lanark.

COVEY was established in 1992 as a development of an existing Hamilton and East Kilbride Befriending project. An office was set up in Blantyre, funded through the urban aid programme until April 1997. In 1998 a successful bid was made to the National Lottery Charities Board to fund a base in Lanark to provide the same services in the Clydesdale area.

The Clydesdale project was launched in November 1998 and in 2001 we introduced Next Step Befriending, giving opportunity for young people to be involved in other projects, and Transition Befriending, where young people are supported in their volunteering by an adult befriender.
Our main funder for one to one befriending is South Lanarkshire Social Work Resources and additional support is received from specific partnership work, grants and small donations.

In 2005 COVEY embarked on a pilot project to provide befriending services to young offenders in South Lanarkshire. This project is funded by South Lanarkshire Council Youth Justice Services and was based in our Blantyre office.

At the beginning of 2011 the Blantyre office was relocated to Hamilton.

The project is managed by a Board of Directors made up of local people, representatives from statutory organisations and volunteers. This Board meets on a six weekly basis and sets COVEY policy and is responsible for the governance of the organisation.

See also the following pages for more information about COVEY:

our structure

our aims and objectives

what we do