{"id":6362,"date":"2023-02-20T03:18:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T11:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/?p=6362"},"modified":"2023-01-02T11:27:30","modified_gmt":"2023-01-02T19:27:30","slug":"volmentalhealth-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2023\/02\/volmentalhealth-2\/","title":{"rendered":"When volunteering is bad for your mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is an excerpt from a comment on a Quora post from last year, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I read it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, volunteering was really bad for my mental health.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing was, the bosses all thought they were doing my a favour by letting me work with them. They appreciated their other volunteers but they didn\u2019t really want a depressed and disabled person working with them. They didn\u2019t see it as me giving up my time to support a charity I cared about – they saw it as them \u2018finding me something to do\u2019, that I needed this in order to fill my time, that they were kind to let me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t need to fill my time. Filling my time has never been an issue for me. I just wanted to help others, to contribute to a cause I cared about…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m very shy and not a natural chatter. I also had limited life experiences so I had nothing to contribute to most of their conversations… I\u2019d been there 4 months before I discovered there was a weekly trip to the pub which everyone else went to but which I had never been told about. I just happened to be within earshot when it was explained to someone else on his first day…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mental health got worse and worse. I felt humiliated… I quit in the end because I couldn\u2019t take it anymore… Volunteering makes me feel depressed, anxious, worthless and a total freak. I wouldn\u2019t do it again. I will happily donate money or possessions but I don\u2019t want to be made to feel that way ever again… This probably isn\u2019t the sort of reply you\u2019re looking for and I know that a lot of people find volunteering a really valuable and helpful experience but I thought maybe it was important to hear all points of view?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This should give pause to every person who works with volunteers, and every person who promotes volunteering. This is why I have so many cautions regarding people who tout volunteering as a great way for a person to improve their mental health issues<\/a> – the reality is, volunteering, in the wrong circumstances, can make mental health issues WORSE. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote about this before, back in 2019<\/a>, quoting people who were posting online looking for volunteering and had wildly unrealistic expectations about how volunteering might help them, as well as about their abilities to step into a volunteering role, especially one abroad. And as you see at the end of this blog, I take protecting the mental health of volunteers very seriously. We need to not only make sure we aren’t being unrealistic about what volunteering can do positively for a volunteer’s mental health, but also make sure we are better ensuring volunteers’ mental and emotional safety while volunteering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s be realistic about volunteering and mental health. Otherwise, we’re going to turn more people off to volunteering – and that’s not helpful for anyone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also see:<\/p>\n\n\n\n