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For this success story, we talked to Freya about how volunteer work impacting her life and her wellbeing. Thanks for your sharing your story with us, Freya.
At 19, I was having a tough time. I wanted to reinvent myself, but where do I start? I had no self-esteem or confidence. I dropped out of college three times and I felt let down by services. So, I enrolled onto the self-development programme at Prince’s Trust. They introduced me to Rochdale District Mind. At Mind, they had a young advisor’s group I joined to campaign for better services for young people’s mental health. I wanted to make a positive difference and along the way I listened to many young people’s stories. I was passionate about it and wanted easier accessibility for everyone. This built my confidence and communication skills massively; I was very shy at the time and introverted.
As a young advisor, we were involved in a lot of different and exciting projects. We surveyed service users’ needs and asked what they wanted from a service. We helped create a new service called #Thrive where it prioritised prevention and drop-in services for young people through liaising with stakeholders and managers. This was advocated by us, as the young people often felt like they had to wait until they were in crisis to get the help they needed. I think this is an unfair and cruel thing to make people wait to progress into a crisis before helping them. Services should be flexible and meet a young person where they are.
Mind also trained me on topics such as adult and children safeguarding, suicide prevention, and first aid. This enabled me to save lives, which is pretty awesome – and I still use these skills that were taught to me today! I helped organise events such as the diversity prom, celebrating everyone’s unique differences which was held at the brilliant organisation called Vibe (previously called stories we could tell). I soon started to volunteer at Vibe as they helped young people express themselves through music and art. Volunteering at Vibe helped me in so many ways, giving me a free space to express my feelings without judgement. They also encouraged and helped write my personal statement for university! (I have since got a 1st in my biomedical science degree.) I also made a bass guitar! So, you never know what new skills you can pick up – like soldering iron skills.
Over time, the more time I spent with lots of different people and having a go at new things, things started to improve for me – I got out of my shell. I loved greeting people, making hot drinks for people while they were chatting or playing guitar. Vibe has recently closed, leaving behind an incredible legacy. The impact it had on so many young lives was truly remarkable. It’s core principles sparked joy, built confidence, and empowered people to create positive change. I sincerely hope someone will revive it because the world needs it now more than ever. I’ll always be grateful for everything Vibe stood for and the difference it made.
You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this story. When I felt lost, alone at 19 and I didn’t know what to do with myself, I took a small step forward to doing something positive with my time. It felt totally out of my comfort zone at first. Take that chance today, I don’t think you will regret it. I was giving back to my community, but I received tenfold what I got back in creating great connections and great experiences with people.
I felt like I belonged to a group who wanted to do good things in the world, even if it was in our small corner of the earth. It felt powerful enough to bring me into the light when previously I felt things were bleak for me. It helped me build confidence and taught me invaluable life skills such as project management, managing commitments in a timely manner, and creating friendly and safe group environments. We all have so much to offer the world, we sometimes don’t see it. My community mentors slowly helped me see the potential I had and the potential in others to make this world a nicer place to be in. We can inspire change in people close to us, services, and to ourselves through many small positive actions over time.
What an inspiring story from Freya – which truly shows the impact volunteering can have on your life! Thanks again for sharing this with us, Freya. We were introduced to Freya by Timothy Gerech, Operational Lead at Greater Manchester Better Outcomes Partnership. When we asked Tim why he thought Freya’s story was a good example of success, this is what he told us:
‘Pathfinder coaches young people to overcome challenges that could potentially impact their accommodation, while working to improve their financial stability, support networks, and increasing their engagement in meaningful activities. Freya, in just 4 months, has already made massive progress towards her goals, and from the offset has always taken accountability for the role she must play in attaining these achievements. This proactiveness can often take time to manifest in many of the young people we work with, but is something Freya had right from the very start, and I believe this motivation comes from her participation in multiple meaningful activities over the years, including volunteering. I am super excited to see where Freya will be in a few years time!’
