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Greta: I've done volunteering in Tensiunea and East Africa as a volunteer teacher
Rachel: I volunteer as a youth peer educator for the YEP project
Alyson: I'm Vice president here at Curtin Volunteers!
Rachel: I've been volunteering as a Reach Out Youth ambassador
Greta: I volunteered at Freedom Centre under the WA AIDS Council
Rachel: I also chair the Red Cross Youth Advisory Committee
I now refer to myself as a serial volunteer [laughs]
Getting Started?
Greta: Mostly I found out about volunteering opportunities through the Internet. I would
just Google whatever I was interested in, whether it was travelling to places like East
Africa, or whether I wanted to meet people like myself.
Rachel: Umm, it started of as just something to fill some time and to give myself a bit
of structure and purpose in my life when things weren't going so well.
Alyson: I received a scholarship, which is called the John Curtin Undergraduate scholarship
and I was very lucky to get that and one of the requirements for the scholarship is actually
that you do two hours of community service per week.
Greta: In High School and stuff I saw people who volunteered, and volunteers as kind of
like, goodie goodies, um, which wasn't really my style. But, um, when I got into it I found
out that volunteers are people like myself who are just interested in contributing to
the world.
Career Opportunities?
Rachel: It was through volunteering that I realized that I loved working with young people.
Alyson: What I want to get into is international relations and becoming a diplomat, so the
communication skills that you develop in volunteering are all very important.
Greta: After volunteering at Freedom Centre for close to nine months, I actually got offered
a job here so it definitely helped me with my career seeing as I want to study in order
to work in mental health services. Rachel: It provided me with lots of different
opportunities for travel. Greta: It helped me get my foot in the door.
Rachel: For me it was a really big part in my recovery from depression, coz I got very
unwell uh, and had to drop out of Uni and wasn't able to work. So I didn't have many
things in my life. So for me it was a really big part of building things back up again,
and yeah and really just the sense of purpose, umm but also feeling connected and linked
in with other people as well. Alyson: From what we are told and learn about
we feel like volunteering is a lot about what we have to give to others and we don't realise
how much it gives to us as well. Greta: Volunteering definitely improved my
mental health because it made me feel useful, and it gave me a direction and of course if
you're a place in your life where you can give back to the community, it does make you
feel better about yourself. I would recommend it to anyone and I do, everyday.