Health and social care is one of the largest volunteering sectors in the UK. This includes organisations like the NHS and charities which improve the wellbeing of people of all ages. So what do helpers actually get involved with? The opportunities are more diverse than we imagined as our bloggers reveal.

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Monday Nov 23, 2009

Touching a Life

My last visit to the carers' support group was the most fulfilling and moving yet.  I had one of those light-bulb moments that you sometimes get as a volunteer where you think to yourself, 'this is why I bother giving up my time for free'. 

Just to explain, there are three of us volunteers that run the support group and we have between four and twelve carers attending the group per month.  Sometimes everyone will chat as a group; other times smaller numbers of people will break off into their own conversations. 

For the past few months I've noticed that a really sweet, quiet lady who attends called Anne* seemed a bit reluctant to join in conversation and I suspected it was because she was a bit shy.  So in the last meeting, I purposely sat next to her thinking that I could try and engage her in one-to-one conversation in case she found group interaction intimidating.  I really didn't want her to go away at the end feeling like she didn't get anything out of the support group because she couldn't bring herself to talk. 

The meeting started off with two representatives from Wiltshire Farm Foods bringing in brochures and samples of the ready meals that they sell (the group co-ordinator occasionally organises talks like this that she feels may be of benefit to the carers).  I took the opportunity to pluck up a conversation with Anne by commenting on the food that we were sampling.  She told me that she has to eat a gluten-free diet, so we ended up leafing through the brochure together working out which meals she could eat. 

We got on to talking about all sorts of things from her daily visits to her husband who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease to grandchildren, Christmas shopping and my hopes to become a teacher!  Three hours later the two of us had been chatting to each other non-stop and I felt that we were really beginning to strike up a friendship.  The other volunteers commented afterwards that they had never seen her talk so much! 

When Anne thanked me for her company at the end of the meeting and told me that it had made her day, I was delighted.  Before I became a volunteer, I used to think that volunteering that didn't make a difference on a grand scale was insignificant.  This experience made me realise that touching the life of one person who is in need of support, like Anne, is what really matters.  It's no small feat because to that one person it means so much.  I was so pleased to be able to bring some companionship and enjoyment into Anne's life, knowing how heartbreaking her husband's illness is for her, even if it was just for one day.  That is what I love about volunteering; not only does it provide invaluable support to those who require it most, but it has a real feel good factor for the volunteer too.

* Name changed to protect identity

Posted by Sarah ( 4:32 PM )
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