Meet A Few Of Our Volunteers!
By Daisy Brown – Volunteer Co-ordinator
Celebrating our volunteers at Leicester Life Links.
This month at Life Links, we created certificates of recognition to give our amazing volunteers more than the “thank yous” that they hear daily from our team.
We gave each volunteer a certificate to thank them for their hard work recently, along with a keyring which says “May you be proud of the difference you make, we are” and is engraved with a sparky. The volunteers have had a much larger presence at events and peer groups, sharing their lived experiences and speaking to the people we support. They have felt that this increase in face-to-face activity has been valuable to develop interpersonal skills and to really feel the impact they have made when helping individuals.
Below are photos of a few of our volunteers here at Leicester Life Links:
Steve
Adrian
Tylar
Here at Life Links, we value and appreciate our volunteers, and we share the great work they do each month through showcasing our peer groups and giving them certificates. However, we realised that whilst they talk about their experiences in person, there is a gap on the online side of things!
So, we had some interviews with our volunteers so they can tell you about what they get up to in their roles, and some of their answers are in this blog! There are a range of experience levels among the volunteers – enjoy the read!
Interview 1: Chloe (Volunteer)
Q. How long have you been volunteering at the service?
Since October 2022
Q . Why did you decide to give your time and volunteer at Life Links (mental health and wellbeing service)?
I decided to give my time to volunteer for Life Links as I was looking for work experience to do alongside my university degree in psychology and I also wanted to help people to improve others mental health and wellbeing.
Q. How many hours do you volunteer per week?
At the moment I volunteer 4 hours per week.
Q. What are your main roles/responsibilities as a Life Links volunteer?
My main roles/responsibilities as a volunteer at Life Links are answering and calling clients, logging referrals, logging information, running and helping out with peer support groups in particular, the student group.
Q. What is your favourite part of the role?
My favourite part of my role is the getting to help and run peer support groups, as I enjoy helping others understand their mental health and wellbeing and how to improve it to.
Q. If you have, how have used your lived experience to help the people we support?
I have used examples from my lived experience to help the people that Life Links support by using examples from my life to explain things in the peer support groups and how I manage these issues such as burnout. As sometimes giving people examples can help them understand how they can improve their mental health and wellbeing.
Q. What have you learned by volunteering at Life Links?
I have learnt new things while volunteering at Life Links such as being able to reflect on a situation and then thinking of ways to improve myself. I have also learnt about the all the different types of services that help with mental health and wellbeing around Leicester which I think will be useful for me to know and share with people that need that support. I have also learnt how to feel comfortable to talk in group situations and being able to give talks to groups.
Q. How have the things you’ve learned helped you to develop as an individual?
The things that I have learned have helped me develop as an individual because I have gained confidence in my ability and that has strengthened my ability to talk in groups and it has also helped me to become more self-aware with my own feelings and thoughts, which in turn helps others.
Q. What advice would you give to a new volunteer?
My advice to a new volunteer would be to take any opportunity that they give you to help with a peer support as they give you a sense of what Life Links is about and I would also say don’t feel afraid to ask questions!
Interview 2: Steve (Volunteer)
Q. How long have you been volunteering at the service?
Where has my Volunteering time gone! It has now been 4 years since my volunteering started.
Currently I have amassed 1920 hours over time, an average of 40 hours a month.
Q . Why did you decide to give your time and volunteer at Life Links (mental health and wellbeing service)?
So back to December 2018, had just finished my support from Life Links, and I decided it was time to give something back. I owed so much in return.
Q. What is your favourite part of the role?
My favourite part of volunteering is getting out into the community and facilitating Peer Groups.
Q. If you have, how have used your lived experience to help the people we support?
It’s great to use my lived experiences to hopefully help others.
My Life has so changed during the last 4/5 years, all for the best, and it is real plus to be able to help others, like my former self.
Q. What have you learned by volunteering at Life Links?
I have learned so many skills, working on providing support both via our Infoline, and Peer groups.
I have attended many events, most recently “Leicestershire Adult Social Care” awards, in November 2022. [Steve was personally invited to present an award to the winner of the ‘Volunteer of the Year’ category. We are very proud of you Steve!]
Q. What advice would you give to a new volunteer?
I have one thing to say,
GIVE VOLUNTEERING A GO, YOU GET SO MUCH OUT OF IT, ITS GOOD TO GIVE.
If you have been inspired by any of the interviews above, please do not hesitate to contact our team. If you want to find out any more information about volunteering at Leicester Life Links, please click here to find the job description and application form.
