The Process of Becoming a Young Life Leader

You will meet with the Area Director to talk about who you are and why you would like to volunteer with us. The Area director will go over the benefits of volunteering, what we have to offer you, and how you could be a great fit for our team.

You will get a chance to ask questions about the specific age group or demographic you are interested in working with.

After meeting with your Area Director if you feel like this could be a great fit, you will fill out a formal application. Please fill this out to the best of your ability and be as thorough as possible. This helps us keep a record of who you are, your former experience with Young Life, and why you are wanting to volunteer.

Upon completing your Application Form, you will be asked to provide references that can speak to who you are and your character. Please inform your references that we will be contacting them (so there are no surprises!). This person can be a former or current employer, a pastor, a mentor, a supervisor or a teacher or a close friend.

We will not accept the references of family members unless you are applying to be a Junior WyldLife Leader.

Young Life is committed to the safety and well-being of the teenagers in our care, as well as that of our volunteers and staff.

If you want to volunteer with Young Life, and you will be working with or may have unsupervised access to teenagers, we require that in advance of starting you submit a current criminal record check. The Area Director will provide you with a letter so you are able to receive your criminal record free of charge.

A vulnerable sector search will also be required for all volunteers born in or before 2002 who will be working with or may have unsupervised access to teenagers.

All staff and volunteers shall provide a new criminal record check (not including the vulnerable sector search) every six years.

If you have current proof of a clean Criminal Record Check and Vulnerable Sector Check, you may provide that in lieu of completing a brand new one.

Whether it is picking up a teen for club or heading to the mall, all Young Life Leaders must provide an official Alberta Driver’s Abstract before being allowed to drive a Young Life owned vehicle, or transport other persons on Young Life’s behalf and/or for the purpose of Young Life. A new Driver’s Abstract will be required every three years.

Drivers with more than two (2) traffic violations within a three-year period do not qualify as drivers for Young Life purposes. Serious infractions such as driving while impaired will automatically disqualify a driver.

Driver’s abstracts for volunteers shall be reviewed and approved by the Area Director and retained on file in the local area. No person under the age of 19 may operate a Young Life owned vehicle, or transport other persons under the age of 18 on Young Life’s behalf.

There is a charge to apply for a driver’s abstract from registries, but we are happy to reimburse you.

Since we work with teenagers and vulnerable persons, we will keep all interviews on file. We will ask about how you would navigate certain situations, talk about your previous experience or training, as well as hear about why you want to volunteer with us.

By this point, we have given you the green light to become a volunteer with Young Life. Congratulations!

You will be invited to participate in New Leader Training (possible alongside other new Young Life leaders) on a date and time that works for you and the others.

Training typically is broken into more than one session and covers Contact Work, Club, Campaigners, and Information about Young Life.

Creating A Safe Place (CASP) Training deals with the best practices when working with teenagers, recognizing mental health struggles in the teens you work with, reporting structures for disclosures, how to refer situations to staff, and how to record incidents.

(Basically, we set you up for success and let you know it is our job to keep teens and you safe!)

At different points in the year, you will have Club Talk training and Camp training.

If you have made it this far, CONGRATULATIONS!!! At this point we would connect you with your volunteer team and ensure you are celebrated for getting on board with this journey.

We hope you get to see the impact firsthand that you will have with Parkland Young Life.