Lisburn woman calls for volunteers for NSPCC Northern Ireland’s Young Witness Service

Heather Cameron, a retired health service worker from Lisburn, volunteers with the NSPCC’s Young Witness Service, assisting children and young people under 18 years old who have to attend court as prosecution witnesses.

t operates in Lisburn as well as every other local crown, magistrates’ and youth court in Northern Ireland and since the start of 2021 has offered support to over 300 young witnesses.

Heather said, “I first heard about the Service at the U3A in Lisburn when Billy Eagleson came along to give a talk about volunteering opportunities. Immediately, I thought I would love to get involved as it sounded like such a wonderful opportunity and so interesting too. I already had experience working with children on a voluntary basis so I believed that I would be suited to the role and I just took the plunge and got in touch.

“It can be so daunting for children to appear in court and my role is to support and help them to be as calm and relaxed as possible during this stressful situation and it’s a real privilege to be able to do this.

“The NSPCC provides really well structured and informative training sessions for volunteers and there are lots of opportunities to ask questions which is so important as the whole court process can be a bit of a mystery for many people. Once the training is over, there is continued support for all volunteers and as well as that, there is always a staff member on hand if you need advice about something or just want to have a chat about the work. The whole Young Witness team is kind, supportive and very approachable so you never feel left on your own.

“I get so much pleasure from volunteering with the Service as it’s incredibly rewarding to be able to support a young person through a difficult time and then help them to move on after the case has finished. I would encourage people who are interested in finding out more about the Young Witness Service to just go ahead and get in touch."