Not Volunteering

[athanasius]

Today I had an alarm set for mid-day to remind me to make phone calls to the couple of places Mandy found numbers for yesterday.

I just couldn't do it, but did look at the Voluntary Services Surrey Heath website as she'd provided the URL as well. I pootled around a little, looked at the FAQ and saw, under "Some things to remember when you are

Comments

[athanasius]

Well, yes, I'm already capable of the "being social to some degree" level. And the fact that it does stress me some... but I can cope, and thus it could lead to being more able to cope with strangers, is a big part of why I do it. Even when the anxiety is starting as I'm leaving the flat.

But right now the thought of just popping into the charity shops here in Fleet and asking if they need a hand for a few hours gives me the screaming heebie jeebies.

[mhw]

* You must be reliable - people are depending on you!

Well, that's me shot down then, isn't it ?

I think they may not have phrased that as well as they might have.

Yes, at Willow View we do emphasise to our volunteers that it is a commitment but we also make it clear that we understand that people do have bad times, and that we can't ask people to come in if they aren't able to. It helps us if they can call us as soon as possible, so that we can try to put alternatives in place, or reschedule things, but again we acknowledge that that isn't always possible.

I think that's true of many places where volunteers are most useful.

You're doing great to have got this far - don't beat yourself up over not being completely confident just yet, please!