Many thanks to Mark from York Mind for this session on supporting mental health for volunteers
Volunteers from York, Durham and Leeds attended the session
Mark works for York Mind and very kindly offered to run an online session. This meant we could encourage volunteers from all our Move Mates projects to attend. On the night, we had 18 volunteers from York, Durham and Leeds attend. It was a useful session. Mark started off by getting us to think about the strategies we used to help us relieve stress. There were common themes of exercise and getting outside, as well as meditation and sensory experiences. He moved on to talk about the principle of the stress bucket and how these strategies can help relieve stress.
Mark talked about reducing stigma around mental health by making the person you are supporting feel safe. Offering respect and dignity helps reduce stigma. He gave us some really useful hints about starting with ‘I’, ‘I noticed you haven’t been going out as much’. Mark talked about the importance of listening non-judgmentally, of offering support, and encouraging professional help when needed.
The final part of the session was about things that are good for your mental heath generally. These ideas can help volunteers with their mental health. They are also practical suggestions that can be shared with people we are volunteering with. Overall a really useful session and a big thank you to Mark for running it.
“It was a really useful session for our volunteers to be able to look after their own mental health and support others.“
Libby, York Project Manager