People often say they volunteer because they’ve benefited from a service and want to put something back. People who have received a lot of health and social care services may have additional reasons for volunteering such as
- they want to improve that service for other people in the same situation
- volunteering provides them with opportunities to develop themselves
- to be seen as active citizens rather than recipients of services
This page illustrates various projects and organisations that see volunteering as active citizenship, how they have approached it and what has been achieved.
The Volunteering for Mental Health survey found that the overwhelming majority of respondents who had mental health problems said that volunteering had been a positive experience and helped them to develop:
- confidence and self-esteem a
- social networks and make friends
- skills that were useful in gaining employment
- a sense of purpose after a period of difficulty in life
If you are interested in working with volunteers with mental health problems then ‘You Cannot be Serious!’ provides a comprehensive and accessible guide for Volunteer Managers and anyone who has little knowledge of mental health issues and what they means in practice.
The National Social Inclusion Programme (NSIP) at NIMHE has brought together the work of government departments and other organisations in a concerted effort to challenge attitudes, to enable people to fulfil their aspirations and to significantly improve opportunities and outcomes for people with mental health problems. This includes opportunities for volunteering.
The Mental Health Advocacy Project (MHAP) for older people
The Mental Health Advocacy Project (MHAP) for older people is a three year pilot project funded by the Department of Health and Age Concern England.
The project will develop a volunteer advocacy service for people who lack mental capacity in which it is hoped older people will play an active and central role in providing advocacy to their peers.
http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/mhap.asp
Some of the health and social care case studies involve service users as volunteers, especially
