To mark Volunteers Week, Emma shares her story of how giving her time for free changed her career path.  Her experiences as a volunteer led her to return to university and go on to work in mental health roles across the charity sector and the NHS. Now, she is senior volunteer coordinator with Second Step’s Crisis Safe Space service in Somerset. 

“When I first started volunteering I wanted to do something to give back to others with organisations that reflected my values, so I volunteered as a Samaritan and with sexual violence charity SARSAS.  

I wasn’t looking for a new career, just the chance to contribute my free time – little did I know I would get so much more than that! 

Sense of fulfilment 

I loved the training for both roles and felt in my element in a way that I hadn’t felt in other workplaces. The first time someone thanked me after speaking with me, the sense of fulfilment was so overwhelming. The fact I had made a positive difference to that person and that they had trusted me enough to share their difficult thoughts and feelings felt like an incredible privilege.  

I realised in that moment that I deeply valued real human connection and found a sense of purpose in working with people to support their mental health. 

Since then, I have gone back to university to complete a psychology conversion course, graduating in 2017, and have explored different mental health roles in the NHS and third sector. I’ve now come full circle to working directly with volunteers as senior volunteer coordinator at Crisis Safe Space. I trained as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner and took on some assistant psychologist jobs – I did want to pursue a career as a psychologist but now I am getting so much out of working to support volunteers. I’m so excited about the possible future options for my career! 

Knowing how much they are valued 

Our volunteers will be starting work with us soon and it has been wonderful to be part of their journey so far. I love witnessing their enthusiasm and energy for supporting our clients and learning what we’re all about at Second Step. 

I know that volunteering can be both personally powerful and professionally life changing and I know the positive impact volunteers can make in turn.  

My biggest hope for my volunteers and for all volunteers in Second Step is that they know how much they are valued and that their volunteering experience is as meaningful for them as it was for me.” 

Volunteers Week is a national campaign to recognise and celebrate the contributions of millions of volunteers – a time to reflect on the impact volunteers have and to get involved in local community causes. This year it runs from 1 to 7 June.