MENTAL HEALTH & APPLYING FOR A JOB: FROM HOURS TO INTERVIEW TIPS | MY NEW STAFF ROLE WITH ST OSWALD’S HOSPICE

“Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value”

Albert Einstein

If you’ve been reading, I’m NOT Disordered for a while you’ll know that whilst lots of things go on behind-the-scenes, you guys get a huge amount of insight into my life (and sometimes the lives of those who I collaborate with!), so imagine how hard it was when I had to keep something a secret for OVER A WEEK!!!

On the 4^th February, a member of the lovely Communications Team; Emma, told me there was a vacancy for the position of Kickstart Project Co-ordinator. She told me straightaway that it was neither heavy in mental health nor communications (the areas I’d like to work in) but wondered if I’d be interested. I read the description and some words stood out to me and I thought; ‘this could totally work!’

The Importance of The Hours:

The other aspect of the job which stood out to me was that it was for just 15 hours a week. For a while now, I’ve been saying that getting back into work is going to be so difficult because I knew going from nothing to part-time or full-time would be a huge shock to the system! Which is why I’ve been taking on various voluntary roles – such as my Chair position with the support group, LEAPS, and my role as a Digital Volunteer with St Oswald’s Hospice. I wanted to get used to having a commitment like that, to having some sort of regular routine to my days, to aid my mental health in getting ready for employment. I mean, I’d like to think that from my recent content and especially my social media posts (Twitter and Instagram: @aimes_wilson), it’s obvious that my mental health recovery is very stable, and it has been for a while now (almost six months of no self-harm).

Five Ways to Manage Your Time:

1.      Set yourself deadlines where possible

2.      Utilise the alarm app on your phone to remind you when to switch tasks

3.      Create a routine

VOLUNTEER’S WEEK | TIPS TO GET A VOLUNTARY JOB, WAYS TO THANK YOUR VOLUNTEERS, HOW ST OSWALDS SUPPORT THEIR VOLUNTEERS, & MORE! | IN COLLABORATION WITH ST OSWALD’S HOSPICE | AD

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted”

Aesop

It’s Volunteer Week!! And to mark the occasion – which is a special opportunity to thank those who really are the bread and butter for a lot of charities and organizations – I’m collaborating with St Oswald’s Hospice to bring you this blog post full of tips to get a voluntary job, ways to thank the volunteers in your organisation, and information on how St Oswald’s are supporting their Volunteers through the Coronavirus Lockdown! Enjoy!

So, quite a while ago I made the decision to apply for a new voluntary role with St Oswald’s Hospice; a charitable Hospice based in the North East of England who provide outstanding, specialist, and expert care to adults and children with life-limiting conditions. I saw the position as a Digital Comms and Marketing Volunteer on the www.do-it.org site (a platform where charities and organizations can post volunteer vacancies) and after reading the job description, I immediately hit the ‘apply’ button and was so happy when I received the offer of an interview with some of the Digital staff at St Oswald’s.