Student Volunteering Week 2022
Student Volunteering Week 2022 takes place this February. It celebrates the benefits volunteering can bring, including improving student wellbeing, developing employment prospects and the chance to contribute to community life.
The past year has seen our wonderful student volunteers rise to the challenge of the pandemic by being flexible in their approach and generous with their knowledge on virtual platforms. They helped us to develop new techniques for engaging with young people online, came up with the idea for sharing our favourite local walks #HWNlandWalks on Instagram, made wellbeing calls on behalf of Northumberland County Blind Association and promoted our work to other young people.
Two of our student volunteers have now moved on to university, and we are delighted to have welcomed three more student volunteers to our growing team.
We asked some of our student volunteers to tell us why they volunteer with us and what the experience has meant to them.
Communication Support Volunteer Molly who joined the team recently says “I decided to volunteer as it’s a great opportunity to meet new people and to gain that sense of accomplishment when you help others. I feel like now being a volunteer with Healthwatch Northumberland I can give something back to my community. I would recommend volunteering to other students as it has enabled me to step outside of my comfort zone and I’ve already gained more self-confidence.”
Leah joined us in 2019 and she told us “I have thoroughly enjoyed volunteering for Healthwatch Northumberland over the past couple of years. Most of my time here has been in lockdown, meaning I haven’t been able to be in the office or help with some of the things I would have normally. However, this has meant that I have had the opportunity to engage in activities and help out with things I wouldn’t have otherwise, such as carrying out welfare calls on behalf of Northumberland County Blind Association, or helping with social media and running quizzes on the Instagram page. I would definitely recommend volunteering to anyone considering it. It has been so rewarding for me over the last couple of years; I learnt about so many organisations that I had no idea about, and have met some amazing people.”
Volunteer Jess is going to work with as a Community Engagement Volunteer. She says “I recommend volunteering with Healthwatch Northumberland to experience a working environment that isn’t school related, to help you be that little better.”
We say a big thank you to all of our volunteers for their help and support over the last 12 months.
Find out more about how you could get involved at our Volunteering Page.
