Why I owe everything to volunteering
HannahMckearnen
Member Posts: 8 Listener
Hello! I’m
Hannah, I’m 27 and work for the NHS. In this post I want to share my thoughts
on volunteering and the impact it has had on my life.
I would not be where I am today without the opportunities that volunteering gave me.
Volunteering gave me hope
As a teenager, my health forced me out of schooling and all other aspects of normal life. After three years of socialising exclusively from my bed with my immediate family and one close friend I was a different person to the one I’d previously been.
My first experiences of volunteering were during this time. I found an online community of conservation campaigners and joined in some of their activity, picking back up what I had previously loved doing most – writing. Whilst connecting me with others during a time of isolation, it also allowed me to make a difference and carry on developing my writing skills which had long been shelved whilst out of education.
At the same time, I also began volunteering for a charity called Post Pals, sending regular ‘happy mail’ to seriously ill children and their siblings.
Volunteering gave me a purpose and made me feel a part of the world again. The roles I had found were flexible and allowed me to do something that mattered to me. Volunteering was, and still is, immensely important for my mental health.
The chance to improve my confidence
When I felt I was well enough, I approached a local charity about volunteering in person. I hadn’t really left the house in three years and it was a huge step for me. The charity was so welcoming. They took time to understand my limitations and invited me to look round.
I started volunteering for one hour, one day a week in their office. I did admin, answered calls and worked on promotional material. Once my hour was done, I would go up to Blackpool seafront with another volunteer and we would sit in a café and have a cup of tea together.
Looking back, I owe so much to this volunteering role. Without it I don’t know how I would have picked my life back up again. I started volunteering in December and by the following June I was volunteering 5 days a week. This included helping out at fundraisers and events on the weekend. I was a different person. I don’t think anyone would believe me now if I said I hardly spoke a word my first month. By the summer I was confidently giving speeches and talking to others about volunteering. In September, I was enrolled in full time education and still went to do my volunteering on free periods and through the holidays.
Not only has volunteering helped me grow in confidence and given me the biggest sense of achievement, it also helped me develop important skills which I now use in my career and in my personal ventures, such as my blogs.
The impact of volunteering
Volunteering is such a great way to flex your skills and test the waters in a career that you might be interested in. The possibilities are endless. You can find volunteer roles doing almost anything. People will often tell you ‘it’ll look great on your CV’ but I strongly feel this is still a small aspect. Volunteer doing something that you enjoy and do it because it matters to you.
Today, I still volunteer doing things that matter most to me. Volunteering continues to help me develop my writing skills and explore new subjects. For the past 4 years I have also enjoyed volunteering at music festivals and campaigning for better access to live music for disabled people. I volunteered through university (where it was always a welcome respite to writing essays) and since then, alongside full-time work in the NHS.
Everything I do today can be linked back to what I learnt whilst volunteering. I owe so much to the volunteer opportunities that I’ve had, not least my career. Thanks to volunteering I have my passions and my confidence, and it continues to help me find meaning in the things that matter.
Are you a volunteer? What would be your ideal volunteer experience? Has volunteering helped you? Let us know in the comments below!
Replies
I have enjoyed volunteering before too and was once a Brownies and Rainbows assistant. That involved putting together activities for a group of young girls to do on a weekly basis, from crafts to going to the cinema and carol singing. Volunteering can introduce you to things you would never otherwise do and whenever I have spare time again I intend on looking for another role.
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It's so lovely to read your thoughts on how volunteering has helped you. It very much did the same for me, I've volunteered with the RNIB for a couple of years and Attitude is Everything for about a year.
It very much helped my confidence and gave me valuable experience. Met some amazing people too
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I have also been volunteering with Attitude is Everything (and have also been a trustee for the last couple of years) and this has absolutely been the most fun! I will keep a look out for you at AiE volunteering opportunities in future! 😊
That's awesome, yes I'm looking to get more involved with them later this year, and especially when concerts come back. I was supposed to volunteer at a festival but obviously that's not happening anymore
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I enjoyed every org I was involved with. For over 13 years I volunteered for a well known crisis suicide organisation doing all sorts of shifts, talking to outside groups, helping to train them and other organisations that were being set up to help combat suicide where I live. At the same time I was a volunteer in my local church SPRED group with disabled adults ages ranging from 35 to 60 plus. We helped them with their education learning and played games as well as outings. I was also an editor in a church newspaper with a circulation of 35 thousand. I worked on that for 10 yrs loving every bit of it. I also one night a week helped out at a wee club for autistic children where they'd learn to join in games, sometimes a martial arts lady would come and show them a judo move and they loved that. I remember one night the lady showing them a judo move with the help of one of her students and she threw the guy and landed on him
All the kids started shouting youve killed him. It was such a laugh.
I learned that I am lucky that I haven't special needs and my children haven't. But learned that special needs adults and children are that...they are special and just as good in life as everyone of us are.
I also learned an awful lot with the crisis suicide helpline.
I'd recommend anyone volunteering