I doubt we need to extol the value of volunteers and carers to most people – we all know that they’re a special breed of person, giving so much of themselves to helping other people, often to their own detriment.
Yesterday was the first day of National Volunteers’ Week (1st-7th June) and National Carers’ Week begins on Monday (12th-18th June) – so today, we’re taking the opportunity to celebrate the vast and unique contribution both volunteers and carers make to the lives of people who are living with mental health conditions, substance misuse issues, learning disabilities or any enduring health condition.
At our Involvement Centre in Ollerton, we’re holding a Garden Party to thank our incredible volunteers and carers for everything they do. Friday at the centre is usually our volunteer’s busiest working day – planning their volunteering for the next week, catching up on their emails, debating and organising how we can work together to improve services. Today however, they’re banned from doing anything official and encouraged to just relax and enjoy the day!
If you want to read about the amazing and often unseen contribution made by volunteers in health and social care services, The Kings Fund wrote a paper in 2012 which talks about just that. You can download it here: The Kings Fund – Volunteering in health and social care, 2012
We’ll post a blog soon with photos from the day, and we’ll be tweeting from the @InvolveT1 Twitter account today and throughout next week.