Furlonteering – Wendy’s Story

In my usual role I work as the Learning and Development Manager for a health care charity in Sheffield. Part of my role is to widen participation and encourage young people into the health and social care professions, by providing workplace experiences, information about job roles and career progression routes.

I heard about Grow through a friend who is also a volunteer. It sounded interesting so I found out more about the charity and how I could help. Grow combines two of the things I care deeply about – helping young people achieve their potential and the benefits human beings experience when spending time in nature.

I am currently furloughed from my usual job. Whilst I am grateful for this, I felt a loss of identity and that my skills and expertise were going to waste when I could help others during the current economic climate. Volunteering has given me back a purpose and helped me to keep my skills up to date. Grow also involves coaching and mentoring and so has provided another opportunity to keep my skills sharp. I also feel I am making a small contribution to society, to help us recover from the impact of the Covid19 pandemic.

I have been helping Grow to develop a new volunteer led mentoring programme called ‘Walk and Talk’. As this is a new programme I have also been able to offer my Learning and Development skills and expertise to develop volunteer documents, processes and a training programme.

I have found the experience very rewarding. It has been really good to feel I am able to help Grow in a small way, to get this exciting programme off the ground. I am looking forward to being matched with a young person and seeing the benefits of social and therapeutic horticulture in action.