Do you ever volunteer to do something for the community?

I worked recently with many volunteers. These were individuals who volunteered to enter training to work as a face-to-face volunteer in a new Lifeline program.

These individuals devoted many hours a week to their training over a period of months. Most of them served as volunteer Lifeline phone counselors before.

The two main trainers were volunteers also – they are retired psychologists who spend a huge amount of time setting up and administering the training. They also devote many hours to providing supervision.

Here in the Armidale wing of the training, we had several individuals volunteer to serve as “clients” during role-playing practice. My research assistant was one; also one of my PhD students who was visiting from the United Kingdom. Others are friends of the trainees.

Why do all these individuals devote time to helping the community as volunteers?

Here is one possible reason: They find helping others reinforcing. Both the training and actual counselling are interesting. There is great potential for helping others in important ways. I long remember instances in my past when I helped a psychotherapy client make a major change.

There are other rewards for volunteer work. Helping others is a powerful thing to do. It helps a person feel valuable to society. Also, helping others can provide purpose in life.  Having a strong purpose in life is associated with positive mental health and physical health.

Practical benefits can result from volunteering. A person can acquire new skills, increase self-confidence, and improve employment chances. Some of my students who volunteer for an organization get hired when they finish their volunteer time.

The trainee group in Armidale has a good level of comradery. They operate as a social group – a team. At times, they provide social support to each other. Being part of an important, supportive group is valuable to most humans.

Volunteering to provide community service has potential health benefits, especially for older individuals. These benefits can include protection from depression and better physical health, according to study findings.

Psychologists sometimes suggest to anxious or depressed clients that they do volunteer work. Think of the potential mental-health boost of helping less fortunate individuals. Even just interacting with less fortunate individuals can have value. This old saying has stuck in my mind for many years: I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.

Not all do-gooders provide community services. Some individuals volunteer their time to raise money to support efforts to help the community. Almost all community services, volunteer-led or not, need money to operate.

Volunteers sometimes say that they get more out of their volunteer work than they put in. They are not kidding.