Rubens King works as an Enterprise Coordinator to support Careers Leaders in schools and colleges to develop their career strategies. He also writes about mental health to promote equality, diversity and inclusion. As someone with lived experience of anxiety and low self-esteem, Rubens outlines how volunteering can help increase confidence.
“The MindWaves Project supports a lot of young people with ASD who may also experience mental health. Hopefully some of the links here will be helpful to readers.” – Jenniann Davies, Kane Youth Projects Director and MindWaves Programme coordinator.
What is confidence? Confidence could be defined as the ability to believe in something, for example, yourself and your decisions.
Confidence links to trust. Trusting a course of action. One avenue to build confidence is volunteering. Volunteering can create self-discovery, meaningfulness by giving back to the community, heightened purpose and build character.
To capture what volunteering offers, I reflect on my own experience of volunteering during my final year of undergraduate study – Human Resource Management with Psychology (2019-2020). For example, I worked with the University of Portsmouth business school, PM Promotions, the Salvation Army and Autism Hampshire.
I collaborated with the business school’s placement office as a placement mentor from October to March. I supported second year students to stay motivated when independently applying for placement opportunities.
I enjoyed the role’s creative freedom and autonomy. This is something I dipped in and out of. For example, I met once a month with my mentees.
I benefitted from this role by supporting others in the university community.
Two second year law students I supported secured placement year opportunities and a third secured a summer internship. Therefore, volunteering built my confidence in supporting others and guided me into careers education.
I volunteered with PM promotions from September to March. I was an events assistant for the Sunday comedy nights in Old Portsmouth. This was something I thoroughly enjoyed attending. Laughter may indeed be a fantastic medicine!
My role involved assisting the venue managers and company directors by welcoming acts, providing comedians with the tools needed to perform, and facilitating a positive environment.
This unlocked conversations with people I may not have met otherwise. Volunteering allowed personal growth that built my public speaking skills.
I was a home ‘Befriender’ with the Salvation Army in Portsmouth from December to March. I sourced this through a referral from the volunteer co-ordination team at an organisation called The Hive, located by Portsmouth’s public library in its Guildhall.
Volunteering allowed me to give back to the community and improve my gratitude.
With Autism Hampshire, I was a Serendipity Group Co-ordinator and process efficiency consultant from November to March.
For example, I co-facilitated a serendipity group for (but not limited to) people with autism spectrum disorder in the local area and helped streamline volunteer recruitment across Hampshire.
I sourced this by speaking to the volunteer coordinator. Volunteering with Autism Hampshire aligned to my values, enhanced my emotional intelligence, fulfilment and inspired me to try support work professionally.
Reasons to volunteer may include to increase confidence, connect with like-minded individuals, understand what energises you and consolidate professional interests.
Carpe diem – seize the day. (No one will seize the day for you).
There are plenty of volunteering opportunities listed on Voluntary Action South West Surrey’s website. Click here for details. Or enquire by emailing volunteer@vasws.org.uk
Voluntary Action also provides advice (procedures, funding and charity status) to organisations who need volunteers. Click on the Sector Support and Projects tabs on its website for more details.
If volunteering is an aspiration and some support with other challenges like addiction may be useful, Rehab Recovery can provide help and advice 24/7.
If you are a young person between 14-25 you can self-refer to Kane’s MindWaves Project, where radio and music skills are the medium to help build confidence and be a fulfilling activity which can bring about positive changes.
Rubens King has his own blog site Stay Fruity.