Support for Volunteers
10 volunteers attended a July session on their motivations for volunteering with older people, what preconceptions they had and how this compared to the realities. Here’s a small selection of some of their reflections
The realities when you started volunteering: The Positives
- I feel I made a difference
- I am verbally told that my visits are appreciated
- forming and developing the relationship
- the connection has formed into a friendship
- The befriending makes me think – by anticipating the person’s needs and how to make the situation better
- I like that who I visit is a storyteller and swears! She is reversing the stereotypes
- It’s a two-way experience, my older person has taken me under her wing, and she looks out for things for me to do
Some of the challenges,
- me being too accommodating
- there are things that can be improved regarding the home, but how do I make the suggestions, how far does my help go?
- communication
- learning what really is ‘help’ e.g. I took a paper, but my older person’s family doesn’t want them to see how negative things are
- not being there to fix them, wanting to make everything better
- learning to ‘read’ the person, i.e. older person says don’t worry about coming and it seems kind, but I push through and she always seems happy to see me
- worried about it becoming too demanding or that the person becomes too dependent on me
What have we learnt about ourselves?
- I am a better listener than I thought I was
- I like the flexibility, don’t have to be committed to the same night every week
- it has to work for me
Chorlton Good Neighbours 