“It will be challenging, and not always easy, but you learn so much personally and professionally that I would absolutely recommend volunteering at Yellow Door!”
Claire is now one of our sessional counsellors here at Yellow Door working with children, young people and adults, but she started with us as a volunteer. Read on to learn more about her volunteer journey.
“After night school, I started training in 2020, and began seeing clients in 2021. I then began sessional work in 2022.
Before I started my degree, we had to do a presentation on local services. Yellow Door really sparked my interest and it sounded like an amazing place I wanted to be a part of.
What drew me to Yellow Door was working with people that wouldn’t necessarily be able to afford counselling but desperately need it. Some clients who are marginalised do not have a voice, but they do have a voice here at Yellow Door.
I started working one on one with 2 clients, then gradually increased. A special moment that sticks with me was being asked to help with the ‘Then and Now’ group. It was a privilege to be thought of well enough to work alongside another counsellor to help co-facilitate the group.
The group supports individuals who had experienced childhood sexual abuse and looks at how this can affect life now. I love this work so much that I still co-facilitate it to this day.
An important skill I learnt through volunteering is working in a more trauma informed way. On the whole, it helped with all skill aspects including working with empathy, and being able to sit with people in distress. I learnt lot of tools and so much from other counsellors with information that may not have been on my course. There is so much knowledge and support that makes Yellow Door stand out, due to its nurturing environment.
My main takeaway from volunteering at Yellow Door is around the diversity of clients; domestic and sexual abuse can happen to anyone and there are no specifics that make someone stand out. The strength and capacity people have to be able to work through it, learn, reflect and grow is amazing.
It feels like such important work, especially with some of the young people. Being at the point where you can help feels enormous and makes me very proud to be a part of this. The longer you are at Yellow Door, the more you develop a deeper understanding of the work’s importance, what a special organisation it is, and what an honour”