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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Wednesday Jun 15, 2011

My role

My role is to verify that data stored about voluntary organisations on the help direct website  is accurate, to assist me in this process I have created a database to store the information, this should assist other members of the team when they periodically review the data, being a bit of a geek, I find the opportunity volunteering gives me to practice skills learned at University pretty satisfying.

This week I started on the task at hand, there’s an extremely large number of organisations to be checked, before starting I was given a helping hand by another team member who cleared up one or two misconceptions I had, he ensured that I was given all the information and equipment I required to proceed including a nice hot cup of tea. Throughout my time at help direct other colleagues have been extremely helpful and supportive.

During the course of my first shift a number of shortcomings became apparent with the database I’d created to store organisation data, I then proceeded to modify the database at home to eliminate these shortcomings so it will be more useful during my next session and to colleagues when they need to periodically review the information, I’m planning on adding extra functionality to the database to make it even easier to use hopefully allowing the organisational data to be easily checked in the future.

This week’s session continued where the previous week’s work left off, I’m pleased to say that I was able to check noticeably more organisation’s details this week with changes I’ve made to the database bearing fruit making the whole process far more efficient & streamlining, coupled with my greater familiarity with what is expected from me I was able to check over a third more organisations this week , in addition to this I was getting to know my colleagues a bit more this week which certainly makes the work more enjoyable, and I’m continuing to enjoy the work, I’ll not bore readers with technical details of what I’m doing to the database, I’m continuing to add extra functionality to the database as I continue in the role, hopefully by the time I’ve finished verifying all of the organisation details there will be a completely functioning good quality database perfectly suited to the task, which will make the job of my colleagues easier in the future

For me personally one of the most satisfying aspects of volunteering is the sense of direction an purpose I gain from volunteering, I frequently bring the work home and the improved skills and confidence I develop as a result gives me a great sense of satisfaction.

Posted by Carl ( 1:58 PM )
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Joining Help Direct

Prior to writing the blog proper it’s probably best that I introduce both myself and the role I will be undertaking

My name is Carl Potts, I live in North Lancashire and I’m currently unemployed following a serious illness in 2007 which has left me with some disabilities, loss of self confidence is one of the symptoms of both my illness and unemployment, I’d say this is certainly true in my case. I wished to return to a workplace at a pace which would suit me; the voluntary work gives me the opportunity to both develop both new skills & self confidence in a friendly supportive environment.

The service I have volunteered for is called Help Direct, it has been commissioned by Lancashire County Council, the service is run by a number of organisations including Age UK (formerly Age Concern), the service is generally preventative in nature, if people can get the right support & advice before small problems escalate into something more serious, then the service will be extremely useful for the local community.

My role at Help Direct is to verify that information contained in the wellbeing directory section of the help direct website is accurate and up to date, this will involve contacting the community groups in the directory to confirm details and where appropriate taking note of local events which may interest the public.

My first session at the Help Direct Offices in Lancaster was an induction meeting where I was introduced to my Line Manager and other members of the team, who I’m pleased to say, made me feel very welcome, my responsibilities were explained to me and I was briefed on the standards of professionalism expected from the volunteers, the exact purpose of the website was explained to me, in greater detail than was possible at the interview, so now I have a much clearer understanding of exactly what Help Direct is all about and how I will fit in, I have to admit I’m looking forward to getting to grips with the role in upcoming weeks and have designed and developed a database to store Organisation details for the website which was extremely gratifying for my inner geek, personally I enjoy the sense of purpose and direction that voluntary work gives, especially after a period of unemployment

As part of my induction I was required to sign a confidentiality agreement to ensure that private details I learned in the course of my role remained confidential, basically I am expected to behave in a professional manner

Posted by Carl ( 1:54 PM )
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