Volunteering to build skills

I joined Volunteering Plus because I have been interested in working in the health sector. I love helping the elderly, and its in line with my career choice as I want to be a Mental Health Nurse. I was nervous when I joined, because it was my first time working with people I didn’t know. I was anxious that I would not be able to volunteer in a placement, because of my inexperience and was worried there may be discrimination of diversity. For my future career, I needed support to have experience in caring for people in need, communicating effectively and to have support and build my skills in interactions with service users.

Through the project, I am volunteering with St Albans, assisting in serving meals and making drinks, cleaning up and make it tidy afterwards. I love to help and I want to get experience of people to help me when I become a Mental Health Nurse. They have supported me throughout and they have helped me know how to help vulnerable people and promoting equality and diversity for people. Through volunteering and the support given, I gained resilience, gained confidence to be more outspoken, I have learned about service users care plans and how they should be completed. This helps build my professional skills for my future. Now, I also feel confident in working as part of a team. I can interact well with people and I feel like I am working with my own family. My next steps are to look for a job as I want to work part time and go back to college for my access to higher education so that I can train as a Mental Health Nurse.