The 1st to 7th of June each year is Volunteers’ Week, a chance to say thank you and celebrate the contributions of the millions of volunteers across the UK.
Project 6 has always relied on a dedicated team of volunteers, seeking to recruit those with lived experience of substance misuse to offer their wisdom and support to others. Many of these volunteers move on to further training and employment within the field.
We caught up with Jo who has been volunteering for nearly a year. Having come through the service Jo decided she wanted to give back and started to take on the opportunities volunteering offered. She is currently engaged in several different roles within Project 6 including Hospital Mentoring, the Buddy Scheme as well as organising and facilitating a whole range of activities. Jo can be volunteering 3 or 4 days of the week but despite all the hard work she feels the most important thing she is able to contribute was a welcoming smile and a friendly word to whoever comes through the door. As well as seeing the positive impact her commitment has on others she reflected on how volunteering has helped enrich her own life. Being a volunteer has opened Jo, a trained nurse, up to new possibilities and is now considering how she can combine her professional experience with the new skills and learning she has taken from volunteering with SASS.
You can listen to some Jo’s thoughts on volunteering here. Each year volunteers contribute hundreds of hours to SASS in a whole range of different ways and without them a lot of what we do just wouldn’t be possible. Thank you to you all, this really couldn’t happen without you.
If you are interested in volunteering with Project 6 or feel you have something to offer, please get in touch via the Contact Us on the website.