5 ways volunteering can help your mental health

Wanting to make positive and lasting changes in our lives often comes up at this time of year. Whilst many focus on diet and fitness goals, there are ways to help improve your mental health too. You see, volunteering doesn’t just help make the world a better place; it can help boost your happiness as well! ‘Mind’, the mental health charity, agrees. Volunteering with Little LifeSavers only takes an hour of your time – here are five ways to help your mental wellbeing in the year ahead…

1) Volunteering helps connect you with other people and helps you make new friends.

Volunteering is an excellent way to meet new people in your community, as well as enabling you to connect with like-minded individuals who share your values.

Little LifeSavers has a wide variety of volunteers from all walks of life, united in the shared goal of teaching the next generation how to save a life. We’re all incredibly friendly and love welcoming new individuals to our ever-growing community!

2) Volunteering can be a fun and rewarding activity that can help improve your mood.

Amongst all the gloom, it’s always great to find that spark, that something that feels fun and positive! Volunteering with a charity can be a great way to spend some of your time and it will most likely make you feel all the hits of dopamine and other feel-good chemicals – it feels good to be good!

Volunteering with Little LifeSavers shows people how fun and rewarding helping others can be! When you volunteer with us, you are almost guaranteed laughter working with children, and fantastic other like-minded volunteers.

3) Volunteering can help you to advance in other areas of your life such as your career which can help boost overall life satisfaction.

In today’s job market, you want to shine! Employers are often on the lookout for the candidates that have gone that extra mile. Volunteering can help give you a competitive edge when looking for a new job – showing you are passionate and often equipping you with new skills too.

Little LifeSavers’ volunteers can put teaching, communication skills, leadership skills, navigating difficult questions and more, all as skills from their sessions teaching young children in schools. The volunteer experience from being a Little LifeSaver volunteer extends further than just medical knowledge and can really aid you in your quest to be the best!

4) Volunteering can help boost your day by providing a stimulating new environment and helping you find new interests.

We get it and we’ve been there… sometimes all we want to do is put our feet up, disappear under a blanket and put that Netflix on autoplay… however sometimes, it can do wonders for our mood when we get out of the house and do something new. Volunteering with a charity can help introduce you to a whole new world of activities that you may never have tried before!

Little LifeSavers’ goal is to teach children across the nation basic lifesaving skills, meaning the location of the school is new all the time. Seeing new faces and new places can do wonders for rejuvenating a tired soul (plus how many Netflix shows realllyyyy do you need to binge?!?). 

5) You can truly make a difference, finding fulfilment and purpose and saving people’s lives.

Helping others, even in a small way can make you feel like your time and efforts have been worth it. For those fuzzy feel-good feels and for finding a new purpose, helping people can be the perfect recipe. You help others and you get the smile factor!

Volunteering with Little LifeSavers could give you a whole new purpose – teaching children and adults critical, basic lifesaving skills that could make a difference. Our Little LifeSaver Henry saved his dad’s life after he was trained by Little Lifesavers and shows how volunteering with our charity truly does have a tangible impact.

Volunteer with Little LifeSavers

Volunteering is one of the most rewarding things you can do, and it’s sure to improve your day, improve your mood and improve your mental health. With us, you do not need to be medically trained to teach children basic lifesaving skills as we offer convenient online training sessions for you to join from the comfort of your own home. To run a session, it only takes a single hour of your time so you can volunteer on your own terms too!

If you’re looking for a charity to volunteer with or want to boost your mental health, check out our pages on how to volunteer here. We can’t wait to welcome you to the Little LifeSavers’ family!