I started volunteering in Ireland in February 2021, having returned from living in the UK where I was also involved in Volunteer roles, so I knew it was right for me and would be a good way to re-integrate into Irish life.
The groups I have volunteered for are – ALONE; Bray Area Partnership; Age & Opportunity and I am also on a waiting list with Failte Isteach, as I would love to be involved with teaching English.
The service I’m most involved with is ALONE, Visitation Support & Befriending, in which I call people from a list of older people who want to avail of the opportunity to have a short chat,10 to 20 minutes ideally. I do 2 hours once per week and I really enjoy it. Often we have great craic, sometimes people recount tragic situations and one hopes that may be helpful to them. The time flies by and I always get something out of it and hope the recipients do too. I have also visited an older person who was a bit isolated after a long spell in hospital. We spent about an hour chatting in her home, went on a shopping trip once and had plans to go for coffee, but she became ill again so is no longer on the programme for the moment.
I have had short-term involvements with Bray Area Partnership. With them, I have given an informal exercise class to a disabled group over Zoom. With another lady, my role was to communicate by phone, and the conversation was mainly to do with increasing her mobility which had seriously declined. This intervention was very successful. My last client with them was again a lady who had become somewhat isolated after a long spell in hospital. We established a great relationship and continued to meet even after she was discharged from Bray Area Partnership.
All of these roles have been very enjoyable and very satisfying. The appreciation of the participants far outweighs the minimal effort from me and the social interaction is definitely mutually beneficial. I found it nothing less than therapeutic during lockdown. I would, and have, recommended it to friends as it has been such a positive thing in my life. If one is in any way outgoing and enjoys dealing with people, you can turn it into a really useful resource. I hope that if one day I am limited in my social outlets I can be a beneficiary of such service.