Jo's story

“Before I was in recovery, I really ripped a hole through this community. Volunteering was a way of giving back.”

“Everybody’s got a different experience, a different perspective, and different reasons for wanting to volunteer. 

This is the only service like this in my area, and I wanted to volunteer to do something that gave back to the community. 

I applied for volunteering earlier into my recovery than I thought I would. I always knew I was going to volunteer eventually, because I felt I was unemployable.  

Before I was in recovery, I really ripped a hole through this community. I didn’t know how to conduct myself and was very chaotic. So this was a way of giving back.  

Inspiring change  

I find it inspiring when I see people want to make change. As hard as it is to see people come into the service, they want help but they might not even know what that help is or how to reach out and ask for it, and just to see them coming on and engaging, getting more conversation out of them each time. They start to open up and start talking. Especially the women, because they can identify with me. 

And that’s what was done for me. It was women who worked with me in this service who encourage me to attend groups and to do rehab, to make small changes at first that led on to bigger changes the more my self-esteem built up. 

My worker here was very straight to the point, she didn’t mess about. I was intimidated at first, but I quickly realised that I needed that. With other people I knew I could manipulate them or tell them what they wanted to hear, but that didn’t fly with her! If I took anything from her it was that. Give people the truth. Always do it with kindness, and in a loving way, but give them the truth. 

Every Friday I co-facilitate a women’s group, and at the start we do a check in where we go round everyone and ask how they’ve been, how their week has gone for them. And sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, I give them a bit of feedback based on what I’ve learned. And on a good day I’ll see a realisation in them that they hadn’t thought of things that way. And I can only see it like that because I learned it from other people. When I see those ‘penny drop’ moments, that’s very inspiring. 

Building belief 

I’ve got a few different roles here, but an inspiring moment that sticks in my mind was to do with my Peer Mentor role.  

I was matched up with this girl because we had very similar experience. I’d come through 20 years of heroin addiction, and she’d been through a similar time. 

What I recognised was, and this was my experience as well, when you first sit down with a key worker or a 1-2-1 worker or whoever, you have no self-belief in yourself. They’re telling you that you have the belief to do things, but you don’t quite believe it yourself. Because we came through similar lived experience, she was able to relate to what I was telling her.  

That’s not to diminish how other people do it, but she believed me when I told her that her life could get better, because she’d seen mine get better. She knew where I’d come from, I was at college and volunteering and starting to apply for jobs, so she started to believe that was possible for herself. We’re the same age, and all these small details helped. We were able to identify with each other. 

Looking forward 

Two weeks ago, she told me she’d put an application in for college, she’d sat her driving test and had passed it, and this was someone who before wouldn’t have left the house. It’s unbelievable really, just how far she’s come. That’s one of the best moments I’ve had here. 

18 months ago, I applied to college to get a health and social qualification. I’ve just finished my first year, with the support of this place. My manager and my supervisor at Change Grow Live supported me with applying for my first job this year. They helped me to prepare for the interview, and that same afternoon I got a phone call telling me I’d got the job.  

So, I’m in paid employment now, and I wouldn’t have done that without everything I’ve learned from volunteering. I wouldn’t have been able to sit there and talk about myself and what I’d done, and how far I’ve come.”  

If you want to help other people change their lives, we'd love to have you on the team. Our amazing volunteers help us make a real difference to people’s lives. You'll give people support and inspiration that will help them change their lives for the better.