Page 11 - Ashgate Hospicecare News: December 2019

Volunteering and its benefits to you
With busy lives, it can be hard to find the time to volunteer. However, there are some enormous benefits of volunteering. Volunteering at Ashgate Hospicecare offers you the chance to help people in need and those in the wider community. However, the benefits of volunteering can be even greater for you!
Matching you and your skills to the right role can help you to find friends, connect with the community, gain new skills, and advance your career. Volunteering can also have some amazing wider health benefits, including reducing stress, combating depression, keeping you mentally stimulated and providing a sense of purpose.
You might think that you need to volunteer more than the time you have available to feel the benefits, but volunteering doesn’t have to take too much of your personal time or involve long-term commitments.
Here’s what some of our volunteers have said about the benefits they get out of volunteering:
I’ve suffered with depression and I know how tough life is when we’re going through these parts of our lives and it’s simply given me my confidence back.
David
Dronfield Shop Volunteer
Volunteering at Ashgate was never just a placement for me. It’s always meant something more. In the two years I’ve been here, volunteering has helped to broadened my horizons and has given me personal growth.
Alex
Volunteer Counsellor
Volunteering is good for your mind and body in a number
of different ways. Volunteering has been shown to increase endorphins. These are chemicals that your body releases in certain situations, which interact with your body and trigger positive feelings. Volunteering can also help decrease stress, as it provides another focus from a busy life. It can also (depending on the role) help keep you active and on your feet, which is great for your physical health.
I felt that I needed something to put the spark back in my life and working as a volunteer has definitely done that.
Chris
Clay Cross Shop Volunteer
Volunteering can help to advance your career by helping
you gain and develop new skills and talents. For example, volunteering in our shops may help you on the way to a career in retail. Volunteering with patients may give you interactive skills that could help on a pathway to a career in health and social care. You may even use the skills you develop in any hobbies you have. For instance, you may love gardening and volunteering in our grounds could help you to develop your own garden by sharing knowledge.
Benefits
Volunteering brings fun and fulfilment to your life. Most of our volunteers have fun, regardless of the role they play. In our most recent People Survey, 90% of those surveyed said they would recommend Ashgate as a place to work and volunteer. This is because we are passionate about all our people.
Volunteering connects you to others and increases social interaction, which can help to decrease the risk of depression because of the support systems and relationships you will build.
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