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The UK's biggest day of volunteering, Make A Difference Day, takes place on 25 October. Gary Flood shows how a spot of mentoring can benefit both you and your community
Don’t just sit there
They say if you're in the Army, never volunteer. But you're not - so why aren't you getting out there and helping in the community with some voluntary work?
Most people would probably answer that they'd love to - the issue is more likely to be which of the literally hundreds of good causes to which they should devote their spare time.
And for all the PR big private sector companies try and get for their 'corporate social responsibility', it seems not all employees feel enough gets done in their name.
This summer the housing charity sector released a survey that claimed 74% of employees say they are unhappy with the limited opportunities they have to get involved with charities whilst at work.
And nearly half (47%of all workers surveyed were unable to recall which charity, if any, their employers currently supported.
The message is clear - volunteering is still really down to the individual, welcome as group volunteering (see case study box, right) can be. And the reasons people give for volunteering - the wish to give something back to the community and help out - are as valid today as they've ever been.
For example, it's hard not to be inspired by some of the successes of national friendship and reconciliation charity 
Toc H. It has launched a new initiative it's calling the Befriending Service.
The idea is to meet people with mental health problems - but instead of just offering day centres where such folks can drop in and meet the same faces, the plan is to get them out and about through excursions.
The real aim, says the charity, is to spark a new interest in something. Or as David Wood, an organiser in its Amersham, Buckinghamshire branch puts it, "The aim is to give the members confidence and self-esteem and to gain interests that may lead to a new hobby or some form of voluntary work."
David tells of how in one group he has worked with this year, one patient decided to join the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds following a visit to a local bird sanctuary; another became a volunteer at Didcot Light Railway after a visit; and another member, who'd helped him transport people to the various events, had gained enough confidence through doing so to start helping out as a driver for Shop Mobility.
Another Befriending initiative from Toc H involves working with vulnerable youngsters in Cheshire, a project that's just won significant financial support from the Lottery fund.
Toc H will use the money to run the Cheshire Mentoring Project, designed help train volunteers across the county to become mentors to young people who need a friend and guide at difficult points in their lives. Some of the volunteering actions coming out as a result will be done through Toc H's national network of volunteering opportunities.
There's an interesting link between these stories, and the wonderful work of charities like Big Brothers and Sisters, a charity just starting off in the UK which is looking for adults, especially men, who can become real friends and mentors to children from single parent families.
This is the way that volunteers can use their life skills to help others through mentoring - and this is something that UNISON members could be ideally placed to help with.
Mentoring (from the Greek word meaning enduring) is defined as a sustained relationship between a young person and an adult.
Through sustained involvement, the adult offers support, guidance, and assistance, usually as the younger person goes through a difficult period, faces new challenges, or works to correct earlier problems. When parents are either unavailable or unable to provide responsible guidance for their children, mentors can play a critical role.
There are two types of mentoring - natural and planned. The former usually comes through occurs through friendship, collegiality, teaching, coaching, and counselling. Planned mentoring occurs through structured programs in which mentors and participants are selected and matched through formal processes.
Volunteering can offer a synthesis of the two, allowing you as an experienced adult to help a younger non-family member gain the benefit of your life skills.
Mentoring, it should be immediately pointed out, is "not meant to replace or undermine the great work done by social workers or other health or social care professionals," says Toc H.
It's meant to act as a complementary activity to the vital work done by social services, while still offering another channel of help to the needy in our communities.
Mentoring in general is aimed at helping the client - to use a very stuffy word - raise their self-esteem through fun and positive activity.
A good mentor, according to experts, should see their role as bringing out the best in the other person by helping them find what it is in themselves. As Toc H development officer Chris Duncan says:
"It's very fulfilling to see these young people's self-esteem grow naturally by being in a situation where they can support one another and offer advice and solutions to each other."
The great thing about volunteering is that if you don't fancy direct mentoring you could still help by setting yourself a massive challenge - and seeing if you can do it.
For example, the National Deaf Children's Society says it's keen to hear from you if you fancy taking part in special fundraising adventure trips - such as trekking the Inca Trail. (Volunteers pledge to raise a minimum amount of money through sponsorship which funds its work with deaf children.)
So you say you don't fancy mentoring, and you haven't got the energy to do much sponsored mountain climbing. Don't think you can get off that lightly!
The reason they said not to volunteer in the Army isn't because it's bad, but because the officers will find you something really stupid to do.
Volunteer and mentor to the extent you want to - and that will be more than enough to help someone else out, believe us.
What else do you need to know? Get out there and help make a difference!
Contact the article's author
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CASE STUDY: CAMDEN, LONDON Robert Fenner is a marketing consultant whose company has joined
such a scheme in Camden, North London. "The council came in
and gave our staff a presentation with a short video, and then those
who were interested signed up. We had to fill out forms, were police-vetted,
and then introduced to our school. "We go in each week, but as we each have a buddy, in practice
we go every fortnight, with each session lasting half an hour to
an hour long - 30 minutes for reading, and up to 60 minutes for
IT. "We each work with the same two or three children every week.
They come to us in the reading corner, and we help them with their
reading. "Our designated school is in an inner-city area, up behind
Euston, fairly poor and there is a large racial mix, with consequently
differing levels of language ability. But all the children are really
friendly, and some of them are very, very chatty!" Fenner strongly recommends school reading help as a practical and rewarding way of getting you and your fellow workers out there giving people some practical help. CASE STUDY: THE PR PROFESSIONAL "I started volunteering at a Brownie pack about five years
ago, literally just by finding the details in the parish magazine
that came through the door and phoning the leader," she says.
After only a term, Laura ended up restarting an old pack that had
closed with another new volunteer. Her verdict? "It has been
a very satisfying, although occasionally rather frustrating, thing
to do, and it is good to get the chance to put something back into
the community, particularly because someone gave up their time to
run Brownies for me when I was little.” Her advice is worth listening to. "If you want to volunteer, they should decide what it is they want to do and then just approach the relevant organisation - scouting and guiding for example are always desperate for people to help. The key to it, though is not to get pushed into devoting more time than you want to. You need to be able to say 'no' because otherwise you can find that it quickly takes over." MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY CSV expects over 75,000 people to get involved this year in more than 4,000 volunteering activities, including promoting sports for the disabled, transforming a garage into an IT suite at a sheltered housing project, to whole communities doing something. 130 people from a deprived estate in Nottingham are coming together to decide for themselves how to improve the area. |
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