Volunteers Week 2023: Celebrating our volunteers
National Volunteering Week is an opportunity for us to say thank you to all of our GMMH volunteers for their hard work and support. Their dedication, compassion and support across the Trust has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on those who use our services, their families/carers and our staff.
Our volunteer workforce was impacted significantly by the Covid-19 pandemic, seeing the number of people volunteering across services reduce by over 50%. Over recent months, we have seen that number begin to rise once again to near pre-pandemic levels. The support that our volunteers give to our wards, our community services and beyond is contributing to both the experience of service users and to the resilience of our staff.
We would like to offer a special warm welcome and thanks to all who have commenced their volunteering journey with us over the last year. We hope that you are all now feeling settled, supported and valued in your roles.
So here’s to a successful year ahead. Delivering excellent, collaborative, safe care is our main priority, and we really couldn’t do it without the support of our volunteers!
We spoke to some of our volunteers across the Trust about what volunteering means to them. Here’s what they had to say…
“Being able to give back to the community and helping others on their road to recovery helps me with my recovery and keeps me strong…”
“Volunteering in the Needle Exchange is important to me. It's important that people have access to clean equipment and can talk to someone in a safe space without fear of judgement. It makes me feel good to know we are reducing harm in the world…”
“Volunteering is helping others without any expectations or selfish motives; it gives me a sense of purpose and connects me with the rest of humanity. It helps others less fortunate than myself and in turn helps me develop empathy and understanding…”
“I came through the service myself in 2014. I have remained sober since 2015 and I now support others going through their own recovery journey. It means so much to me, to be able to give something back…”
Find out more information on the Volunteering Agenda at GMMH here: Volunteering | Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT (gmmh.nhs.uk)
Read more about volunteering activity across the Trust through the headings below:
- Supporting Volunteer Development at our Achieve Services
- Volunteering at The Meadowbrook Unit
- Volunteering at No.93 Wellbeing Centre
- Volunteers and Chapman Barker Unit
Supporting Volunteer Development at our Achieve Services
Addictions services have utilised the skills of volunteers for many years, from Volunteer Peer Mentor roles to Volunteer Group Facilitators. In order to recruit, maintain and develop their volunteer workforce, Achieve Community Addiction Services have developed a training programme for their volunteer workforce known as ‘Practically Volunteering’.
We spoke to Ross Darbyshire for more details…
Practically Volunteering is a training course open to anyone that is genuinely interested in volunteering with Achieve, whether they have lived experience of substance misuse services and/or recovery, or not. It is an inclusive course.
Achieve Community Development launched Practically Volunteering in Salford at The Orchard in October 2018. Since then, fourteen cohorts have attended the course. The 130 people that applied to attend include 40 that went on to pursue volunteer roles,15 that have moved to full-time employment, 5 Achieve colleagues and 1 person who now co-facilitates the course.
The course is delivered in a series of weekly sessions. Topics that are covered include: Foundations of Volunteering, Professional Behaviours, Maintaining Motivation, Interpersonal Communication, Working as a Volunteer, Learning Review and Next Steps.
Completing the course does not mean that a person is recruited as a volunteer. However, many people that complete the course, do choose to pursue a volunteer role with Achieve. Other people have completed the course and decided that their interests and goals are perhaps in another direction, however they acknowledge that the course helped them to make an informed decision.
People that have attended the course have gone on to apply and be appointed in a range of volunteer roles at Achieve, including PSI Cofacilitator, Carer Peer Mentor, Meet and Greet (assessment support), Practitioner Support and Harm Reduction (needle exchange) support.
The course content is regularly reviewed.
Here is what our course attendees recently had to say…
“The Achieve training course Practically Volunteering is amazing…so good I went on it twice. It helped me to understand so much more about myself and my boundaries, how to look after myself and others in a way that encourages people to embrace recovery and make a better life for themselves in the future.”
“I enjoyed working as a team in the group exercises…this has reinforced my decision to work in this field.”
“I learnt a lot over the six weeks and feel in a better head space to continue my volunteering.”
“The wellbeing and motivation sessions helped.”
“I found the work on professional behaviours, boundaries and assertiveness really interesting and I think it will be helpful. It has really motivated me to pursue a volunteer position.”
For any further information regarding the course, please get in touch with ross.darbyshire@gmmh.nhs.uk
We spoke to Dan Nolan, Community Development Coordinator, about volunteering and the Next Steps Project across Bolton…
“There are currently 12 peers with lived experience who have been closely involved in setting up and supporting the Next Steps network. They have all taken a hands-on role in shaping our identity and what we want to achieve, making sure the network meets the needs of community members and is informed by people’s real challenges and goals. They have all contributed their experience and insight to making sure Next Steps has a credible, relatable presence in Bolton. This will continue, as the peer members have committed to being involved in community events, drop ins, talks, workshops and other activity as the network grows.”
“Having peers involved in our network helps makes recovery seem more relatable, more accessible and more achievable for community members who are currently facing their own challenges. Being able to speak informally to someone who has had similar life experiences, and who has been able to make positive changes, can be hugely motivating for people at all stages of the recovery journey. Feedback from our focus groups and co-design workshops was overwhelmingly positive about the value of lived experience and peer involvement.”
One peer group member added:
“The reason I love being a part of Next Steps is that having come from an addiction background personally, I understand the difficulties in getting well. I love to see people get their lives back on track and rediscovering a new and exciting way of life. It’s a ‘we can do it together’ project.”
In addition to the above, our Achieve Services have rolled out a Peer-to-Peer Naloxone Group utilising the skills of volunteers. We spoke to Anita McWilliam, Service Manager at Bury Achieve about this project…
“The Peer-to-Peer Naloxone group are continuing to provide Naloxone kits and training across our communities in Bury, four days a week. Naloxone saves lives and the peers bring the attention of naloxone to members of the public, raise awareness of opioid overdose and opioid overdose prevention, empower people with lived experience of addiction and to challenge the associated stigma, promote harm reduction, widen the supply of Naloxone and provide peers with opportunities to raise their own self-esteem, self-confidence and to “give something back”.
Volunteering at The Meadowbrook Unit
The Meadowbrook Unit in Salford has been a long-standing advocate of the Volunteer Agenda and for several years had a well-established group of volunteers in various roles. The role of Volunteer Activity Assistant on the wards has been used to great effect in addition to Volunteer Peer Mentor roles across Meadowbrook. The number of volunteers across the unit was hugely impacted by the Covid pandemic as restrictions saw a large number of volunteers moving on to paid work or to give their time and skills elsewhere. Meadowbrook Unit are currently working to build back their network of volunteers.
We spoke to Frances Reekie, Deputy Matron, about the impact volunteers can have on service user care…
“At the moment we’re working hard to establish a network of Volunteer Peer Mentors across Meadowbrook. We have a number of those who had to pause their role due to the pandemic very keen to return. We also have a number of new peer mentors currently working towards their Level 2 Award in Peer Mentorship and a further 2 former Meadowbrook patients wanting to utilise their time and experience in a peer mentor role…we’re working with the volunteer team to get them on the Level 2 Award and into post. We’re also looking at developing the post of Volunteer Activity Coordinator on the wards here to support the therapeutic offer to our service users.
Peer mentors offer a range of support and interventions on the ward depending on their own experience, interests and skills. We have had a peer mentor qualified in beauty therapy who has delivered pamper sessions across the wards, another who enjoyed supporting people to attend AA meetings, as well as somebody helping people get involved in a range of sporting activities. The Peer Mentor role at Meadowbrook has facilitated craft sessions, music groups and supported patients through 1:1 work.
Our Volunteer Peer Mentors bring a unique perspective for both the patients and staff regarding what is helpful on the wards in order to improve service user experience. Through their shared experience with the people they are supporting, they provide a space where people feel accepted and understood.
We plan to commence a monthly peer mentor forum starting in June which will be offered to peer mentors across the Salford district (as well as staff in the teams supporting them). We are currently waiting on people completing the course/returning to post to start this up and look forward to the future of peer mentorship here at Meadowbrook.”
Volunteering at No.93 Wellbeing Centre
The last 12 months have seen a steady rise in our volunteer workforce across our Manchester services. One such service that benefits from the input of Volunteers is the No. 93 Wellbeing Centre, a community space in the heart of Harpurhey.
Lauren, one of our No. 93 volunteers was instrumental in setting up the Mindful Mums Support Group. She recently won the Hobin’s Community Fund to further develop the group.
We spoke to her about her role and what it means to her and other mums:
“Mindful Mums support group was a group started as I have always suffered with my mental health, but after the birth of my daughter things progressively got a lot worse. After I started to recover, I could look back on all the support the NHS had given me and I decided to pay some help back into my community, through my lived experience.
I was a service user and attended the Crisis Cafe at No. 93 and was asked what I would really like to do with my time. I suggested a group for mums suffering in the local area and before I knew it, I was introduced to the Recovery Academy and did some training. After that I was kindly offered a safe place at No. 93 to run it, we advertised and the ball began rolling.
We meet every Friday morning from 9.30 - 11am and offer a safe confidential space to share worries and issues, we support each other through the wonderful network of mums we have built, we engage with different services, provide creative lessons and I apply for necessary funding. It’s proving very successful....peer to peer support is a wonderful way to be mindful and get back to being kind to yourself.
The positive impact to all our lives shows every week with the atmosphere in the room. It’s broken down barriers, built trust and we’ve all gained confidence and social skills. It’s bridging a gap between the services and having a ripple effect by improving the mental wellbeing of my mums and in turn their home lives and their children’s wellbeing.
I hope I can always run Mindful Mums…I’d love to expand and reach more women and families. We will continue to fund raise and apply for help and support. But for now we will continue as we are, making a difference every week.”
We also spoke to Alice Munby, manager at No. 93 for additional information about their commitment to volunteering there:
“We have a wide mix of people regularly volunteering their time with us here at No. 93, and in a variety of roles to suit them. These roles range from centre volunteers to supporting with our popular walking group and various drop-in sessions.
We also have a number of people volunteering for other organisations or service user groups based here at No. 93. These include supporting the hearing voices peer support group, mindful mum’s peer support group, Harpurhey & Moston alcohol support group, self-help depression and anxiety support group and a digital drop-in volunteer. Volunteers are also supporting the chair-based exercise group, No. 93’s gardening group and the Central Manchester food bank."
Alice continues:
"There are real benefits having a volunteer workforce offering us their time and dedication. Because our volunteers are often residents of the local community here, they bring a wealth of local knowledge with them. We also find that many people feel more comfortable with familiar faces they recognise from the community in addition to paid staff. The volunteers have a positive impact on staff also and support the team with setting up community rooms, preparing information for community events, generally helping out and providing creative activities.
We are always looking to recruit additional volunteers here at No. 93. We feel that having additional volunteers available to support our weekly health walks and the continued development of the service we offer here would be very beneficial. Watch this space!”
For further opportunities to get involved as a volunteer across GMMH, please visit: Volunteering | Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT (gmmh.nhs.uk)
To receive electronic updates around wellbeing support/activities in North Manchester, email harpurhey@gmmh.nhs.uk
Volunteers at the Chapman Barker Unit
Chapman Barker Unit truly appreciates the important role Volunteers play in our service. At present, the Chapman-Barker Unit (CBU) has 9 active volunteers (but we have had as many 15) who are involved in supporting the patients journey of recovery. Volunteers work alongside staff in therapeutic groups, relaxation sessions, arts & crafts, one-to-one introduction and recovery resource sessions.
Many of these volunteers have previously been CBU patient themselves (or have accessed other drug, alcohol and mental health services). They are able to provide excellent insight through their own lived experience and act as positive role models to people who are not as far along in their recovery journey.
We are very proud of the contribution our volunteers make to CBU - quite frankly, we don’t know what we would do without them!
CBU values their commitment and enthusiasm. Our fabulous volunteers always go the extra mile! Encouraging our patients to believe that recovery is not only possible but desirable and achievable!
We love having the volunteers as core members of the team – they are a breath of fresh air and make the days fly by with their passion and enthusiasm!
One of our regular volunteers, Mark, who has been volunteering at CBU for nearly 5 years said the following about his experience:
“After being a service user of the unit on numerous occasions. The staff never gave up on me and welcomed me back as a volunteer. I am now part of a team and staff there. I’m now honoured to call them my friends. The volunteering I have done for the last few years on CBU and continue to do is an integral part of my life and I love trying to help others that are in the same situation I once was in.”
