Volunteers Week takes place 1-7th June every year. It's a chance to recognise the fantastic contribution volunteers make to our communities and say thank you.
A guest blog from our wonderful support workers Olivia & Jodie who look after and help over 40 volunteers!
How We Support Our Volunteers.
Being an Independent Visitor is such a unique way to work with children, we are so happy we get to support our volunteers through this! There is a whole behind the scenes relationship between us and volunteers. This is as much or as little the volunteer feels they need. We require quarterly supervisions which is our formal opportunity to sit down and discuss what has been going on, any highlights or concerns, anything we need to be aware of or improve on.
However, those supervisions can be so much more! Our volunteers are so emotionally invested in their young people, it’s a lovely opportunity for them to proudly speak about everything they have achieved together. It’s also a great chance for us to feedback how proud we are of our volunteers, to remind them they are doing a great job and that they are truly making a difference to the life of a young person in care.
Alongside our supervisions what we find the most rewarding, is the informal messages from our volunteers that let us know how the young people they are supporting has progressed! Anything from in their sport clubs, that they got over their fear of ice-skating, that they have opened up about something personal that has been going on. It’s such a feel good feeling knowing our volunteers have helped their young people achieve their goals, however big or small! We’d like to think our volunteers feel comfortable enough telling us these things, because we build our relationship up from interviews, to training, to being approved, to matching and then helping to support their match to thrive.
The bunch of volunteers we currently have are amazing! Everybody brings something different to the table, whether it's their humour, knowledge of mental health, personal experiences in care, their honestly, reliability or their refreshing normalness! We don’t need people to be experts to volunteer, we need everyday people with big hearts. Our young people are very lucky to have them as a stable, consistent adult in their lives.
As it states in the name Independent Visiting can feel like a lonely role. However, our volunteers are part of such a bigger picture! We like to remind them we are a charity, and we ultimately wouldn’t be here without them. It’s their hard work, determination and spirit that pushes their matches to be so successful. It’s always a pleasure to watch, be part of and help guide.
If you would like to find out more about getting involved please see below!
