VOLUNTEER

Volunteer

Surf Action greatly values its team of volunteers who give up their time to help in various capacities on a regular basis. If you would like to be a part of our story then please read on and find out more about volunteering.
If after reading everything you would like to take things further then please contact Surf Action by:

Send an e-mail to: info@surfaction.co.uk or via the contact page on our website.

Here are some of the reasons why people say they choose to volunteer:

For some it provides an opportunity to:
• Give something back to an organisation that has impacted on a person's life, either directly or indirectly
• Make a difference to the lives of others
• Help the environment
• Challenge themselves and experience new and interesting things
• Feel valued and part of a team
• Spend quality time away from work or a busy lifestyle
• Gain confidence and self-esteem
• Stay involved or regain involvement with those who have served or are serving in the armed forces and blue light services

For some, volunteering can be a route to employment, or a chance to try something new which may lead to a career change. From this perspective, volunteering can be a way of:

• Gaining new skills, knowledge and experience
• Developing existing skills and knowledge
• Enhancing a CV
• Improving one's employment prospects
• Gaining an accreditation
• Using one's professional skills and knowledge to benefit others

For others, volunteering appeals because of its social benefits. These include:

• Meeting new people and making new friends
• A chance to socialise
• Getting to know the local community
• Being involved
• Having fun

The Health Benefits of Volunteering
Research on behalf of the Mental Health Foundation has shown that volunteering and helping others is actually beneficial for the volunteers own health and wellbeing. It can help reduce stress, improve your emotional wellbeing and even benefit your physical health so by helping others you are also indirectly helping yourself.

Mental health and wellbeing benefits

• Helping others feels good!
• When you help others, it promotes positive physiological changes in the brain associated with happiness.
• These rushes are often followed by longer periods of calm and can eventually lead to better wellbeing.
• Helping others improves social support, encourages us to lead a more physically active lifestyle, distracts us from our own problems, allows us to engage in a meaningful activity and improves our self-esteem and competence.
• It brings a sense of belonging and reduces isolation
• Being part of a social network leads to a feeling of belonging.
• Face-to-face activities can help reduce loneliness and isolation.
• It helps to keep things in your own life in perspective
• Many people don’t realise the impact that a different perspective can have on their outlook on life.
• Helping others can provide a real sense of perspective and make you realise how lucky you are, enabling you to stop focusing on what you feel you might be missing.
• This can help you achieve a more positive outlook on the things that may be causing you stress in your own life.
• It helps make the world a happier place - it’s contagious!
• Acts of kindness have the potential to make the world a happier place. An act of kindness can improve confidence, control and optimism.
• Acts of kindness can also encourage others to repeat the good deed that they’ve experienced themselves – it contributes to a more positive community.
• The more you do for others, the more you do for yourself
• Evidence shows that the benefits of helping others can last long after the act itself by providing a ‘kindness bank’ of memories that can be drawn upon in the future.

The physical benefits

• It reduces stress
• Doing things for others helps maintain good health
• Positive emotions reduce stress and boost our immune system, and in turn can protect us against disease.
• It helps get rid of negative feelings
• Negative emotions such as anger, aggression or hostility have a negative impact on our mind and body.
• Engaging in acts of kindness can help decrease these feelings and stabilise our overall health.
• It can help us live longer
• Giving and helping others may increase how long we live.
• Studies amongst older people have shown that those who give support to others live longer than those who don’t.

What will Surf Action do for its volunteers?

Surf Action will obviously take great care in selecting its volunteers so that both the charity and the volunteers get the most out of working together.

The main part will consist of a comprehensive Induction process for all volunteers.

 

How Surf Action supports its staff and volunteers?

• People know what their responsibilities are

• People have authority equal to the responsibility assigned to them

• There are clearly defined standards of excellence

• People are provided with the learning and development opportunities based on identified learning needs

• People are given relevant knowledge and information to be able to carry out their role

• People are provided with feedback on their performance

• People are recognised for their achievements

• People are trusted

• People are given permission to fail

• People always have someone to turn to for advice

• People are treated with dignity and respect