Lydia

Lydia started as a volunteer whilst studying when she was younger. During the day she is a Marketing Manager at BT but still finds time to work as a volunteer supporting one of our adult groups in the evening.

"LinkAble is very special to me which is why I volunteer now. I started volunteering at LinkAble many years ago because I wanted to try something new. I also wanted to volunteer to learn new skills and help build my profile for applying for study or jobs in the future.

I’m not sure I can put into words how special it is to be a volunteer at LinkAble. I’ve learnt more from the service users than I could ever have taught them. You’d imagine the volunteers/staff members would be the ones to have the impact on a service users life, but it is them that changed mine. I’ve also worked with many great people - volunteers and staff - and met people who are now my best friends, including meeting my partner! I’ve also made lifelong friends with a couple of the families of the service users I worked with. It really is a life changing experience.

For anyone thinking about volunteering I would say DO IT! You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain!"