Volunteers’ Week spotlight: Jane’s story
Volunteers’ week (1 – 7 June) is an annual celebration of the fantastic contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK. Volunteering isn’t just about offering your skills, knowledge and expertise to an organisation like ours – it’s about what you can get back too. Throughout the week we’ll be sharing inspirational stories from people who have offered their time to change other people’s lives, and have in turn managed to change their own. Here’s Jane’s story:
“I joined the maths class held by the Wakefield and 5 Towns Recovery College and discovered that maths was fun. Through the maths class I came across the Recovery College’s prospectus and saw that there was a Reading for Pleasure group.
“I love reading and was interested in joining the group held every Monday at Featherstone Library. I phoned the tutor to say that I would like to join but emailed the college later to say that I changed my mind; I simply didn’t have enough confidence to go.
“The tutor, I believe, intuitively knew I was struggling and called me at home. She was so kind and agreed to meet me in the library car park and accompany me in the following Monday. I went onto become a regular at the reading group and loved every moment.
“There was an opportunity to become a volunteer at the library in Fieldhead and I jumped at the chance. The Reading for Pleasure tutor was going to be my line manager so I knew there was nothing to worry about. I began to mix with other people in my new role and learn new tasks and my confidence grew.
“I had to give up my role in the library as I decided to move to Harrogate to be near my son. Now that I have been stimulated and have had a positive experience in the work place I am applying for jobs as a support worker. My anxiety and lack of confidence is now at a manageable level and it no longer gets in the way of achieving.
“By becoming a support worker it will give me an opportunity of giving back some of what was given to me.”
Find out how to become a volunteer for our Trust here.