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The Volunteer Newsletter May 2020

Welcome to your newsletter!

Dear Volunteers,

I hope this newsletter finds you all well. I made the decision at the

beginning of lockdown to make the newsletter monthly to keep our

volunteering group connected and share ‘good news’ and information.

I hope you enjoy reading the piece around looking after your mental

wellbeing as much as I did researching and writing it. I know I often talk

about being kind and all the great things that we do, but I often forget

about being kind to myself.

By completing the article, it gave me time to reflect on this and question

why I don’t do it and what I could do, so I discovered the following:

I can say no, and no-one thinks any different of me

I actually like running

Flexibility exercises are good for me and great fun to do with the

family

I have really good neighbours

I can ask others to help, I don’t need to do it all.

There is no reason why I can’t keep doing what I’m doing and not to feel

guilty about taking that time for myself. I have to be honest, I have been

pleasantly surprised how well it has gone.

It’s Mental Health Awareness Week on 18-24 May, so please share if

you have developed or rediscovered any new strategies to get through

the difficulties of social distancing and lockdown, or anything else that

you have been doing.

During this week, I will also be sharing some hints and tips via social

media around how to stay well during the pandemic. Thank you, for

doing the one thing, many of you volunteer not to do: staying at home.

I can’t wait to see you all when this is over!

#staysafe

Esther Douglas,

Volunteer Service Manager

Contents

The difference

you make

Page 2

Looking after

your mental

wellbeing

Page 3

Training

updates

Page 7

Social media

and

Groop app

information

Page 8

Latest news

Page 9

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The difference you make

Richard goes the extra mile to help the NHS

When the difficult decision was made to close the

Horton Wellbeing Café in the Selby District as a result of

the COVID-19 pandemic, café volunteer Richard saw

this as an opportunity to put his online skills to good

use.

He has been posting wellbeing information on our

Horton Housing Selby Facebook page, which has

resulted in a 113% increase in activity.

A WhatsApp group was set up and Cat, the café

manager, uses this to stay in contact with both the

volunteers, and the clients who would normally come

into the cafés.

Not to be deterred, Richard also felt he had the time to give to the NHS in their call for

volunteers. He put his name forward and his application was successful.

He also saw a call to action from a local group and, after speaking to Esther, he accepted their

position of volunteering once each week to be safeguarding lead.

So here is a big THANK YOU to Richard for the amazing volunteering work he does for the

Wellbeing Cafes, NHS and his local community.

I would like to share with you this lovely picture titled ‘Halloween’ drawn recently by Amelia. Her mum is Zulaikha Ali, who is based at our Integration Works service in Bradford. Have you unleashed your creativity? I’d love to hear from you, and we could perhaps showcase your work in the next edition of this newsletter.

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Why is mental wellbeing important?

Mental health is as important to us as our physical health; it influences how you

feel, think and behave in your daily life. It also affects how you cope with stress, overcome

challenges, build relationships and recover from life’s setbacks and hardships.

Good mental health and wellbeing mean different things to different people and each one of us

needs to find what works best for us to lead a life that is meaningful and satisfying.

Having good mental health doesn’t mean you don’t have any of these stressors in your life, it

just means that you have managed to create a self-care regime that works for you, and allows

you to deal with them in a resilient way – with positivity.

What is stress? Firstly, stress is everywhere, and a little stress is ok and also beneficial – stress gets you to

slam on your brakes, so you don’t hit the car in front of you. Stress is the body’s natural reaction

to harmful situations – either real or imagined.

The majority of us will know the body’s reaction to stress as our ‘fight, flight or freeze’ response.

When we are feeling anxious, our bodies release cortisol and adrenaline hormones. We can

cope with this for short periods of time, but if you are often stressed, therefore producing high

levels of these hormones, then you can start to feel physically unwell and overwhelmed.

The stress bucket Visualise that the water in the bucket is not pure water; it contains stress hormones such as

cortisol and adrenaline. If left in the bucket for too long, it will cause our physical and mental

health to get worse. We all have a different sized bucket and we all have different outlets

(activities) to help release the ‘water’.

Resource: https://mentalhealth-uk.org/blog/the-stressbucket/

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The exhaustion funnel

Resource: https://livinglessstressed.com/f/theexhaustion-funnel

Burnout is not an official diagnosis, but it is associated with depression, anxiety and heart

disease.

The exhaustion funnel was developed by Professor Marie Asberg, an expert in burnout at the

Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

The circles at the top represent our life when it’s full and balanced, but as we get busier we

give up the things that don’t seem important – going to the gym, meeting friends, leaving

work on time, taking lunch. Instead, we focus on what we see as essential, staying late at

work, working weekends, not having a lunch break or taking time out. As the stress

continues, we give up more and more, and the circles get smaller. Our life narrows; we are

merely surviving.

We often unknowingly allow ourselves to become exhausted, vulnerable and unwell because

we do not ask ourselves to stop, step back, gain perspective or relax. There will always be

times where we need to stay late to complete a piece of work, and now, more than ever, we

are being challenged due to social distancing rules and dealing with a pandemic. But what

we need to understand is that, if we keep doing it so that it becomes the norm, it will soon

catch up with us. We are not meant to live a life where we do not stop.

As both models show we can prevent or minimise stress by self-care, taking pre-emptive action

by looking after ourselves and being more compassionate to ourselves. By developing our own

self-awareness, we are building emotional resilience to deal with difficult situations.

Websites to help improve your mental wellbeing

The NHS website (www.nhs.uk) contains a wealth of knowledge and has lots of updated

information regarding mental wellbeing and COVID-19. The ‘Every Mind Matters’ section

of the website gives useful mental wellbeing tips and advice. Visit and complete the five

questions on ‘Your Mind Plan’ to receive emails giving tips on how to manage your

mental wellbeing.

Mind (www.mind.org.uk) also has lots of up to date information, leaflets and contact

details of where you can get mental health support.

Elefriends (https://www.elefriends.org.uk/) is an online peer support group for people to

connect, share their experiences and listen to one another to improve their mental health.

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Five steps to self-care We need to accept that there has been an unprecedented amount of change that happened

almost overnight for many. We are all now dealing with roles, worries and situations that a

month ago we had never dealt with. We should understand that its ok to be feeling anxious and

to have some emotional exhaustion, but we also need to accept that we may have to find some

different ways of dealing with them due to social distancing restrictions.

We need to find out what works best for us, whether it’s meditation, walking, running, taking the

day off social media or even bingeing on Netflix.

It should be an activity that doesn’t add to your stress – don’t put yourself under pressure to

learn a new language, create a masterpiece or write a novel (unless you want to!)

These five steps to improving our wellbeing can help us to develop our own matrix and

understanding of self-care.

1. Connect

There is strong evidence that feeling close to and valued by other

people is a fundamental human need and one that contributes to

functioning well in the world.

It’s important to keep in regular contact with family and friends

by picking up the phone, messaging, or using video chat apps. The

Groop app can be used to stay in contact with other Horton

volunteers.

You could also inject a bit of variety and fun into group conversations

by running quizzes, fun bingo, guess the location etc.

2. Be active

This is still really important and there are tons of apps and

online videos for exercising indoors. Use the permitted time to

go out and exercise in line with Government recommendations.

Dance to music while making a cup of tea, walk up and down

the stairs a few times more than usual or just stand up and walk

around.

You can use exercise as a reward for completing tasks which

will help you to stay focused by making the tasks more

enjoyable and rewarding.

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3. Take notice

Stop for a moment, look around you and breathe.

Be kind to yourself – it’s normal not to feel ‘normal’

in these times. Let go of what you can’t control and

focus on what you can. Create new routines and be

mindful of not making new ones that are bad for us –

drinking too much alcohol, smoking and increased

levels of caffeine will all have a negative impact on

our wellbeing.

Also reduce the time spent watching, listening or

reading the news regarding the outbreak, including social media, as rumour and speculation

can increase anxiety. When you do access it, ensure you are only accessing good quality

information from sources such as Public Health England, gov.co.uk or from the NHS.

4. Keep learning

We are learning new ways of doing things and also how to

enjoy ourselves and keep our families entertained. We can

use this as an opportunity to do new things or go back to old

skills you don’t normally use which work well for you.

Reward yourself with knowing that at the end of all of this we

may have developed some new life skills that will enable us

to manage, cope and be flexible in the future.

5. Give

Staying at home, or working and observing social distancing rules, is the best gift you can give.

There are lots of volunteering groups that have been set up so, if you have the time and can

carry out volunteering in a safe way, then get in touch with them.

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Training updates

Horton Academy training courses It is really important that you complete your core training in your first six months of volunteering with us. It is our responsibility to ensure that our volunteers are able to carry out the roles you have been recruited to do.

If you are looking for something to keep you occupied during lockdown and you have access to a PC, laptop or smartphone then please log in and complete the six core modules listed below. If you have any questions or need any help, then please get in contact with me.

Core courses for all volunteers to complete:

Professional Boundaries

Health & Safety

GDPR

Data Protection

Basic Personal Safety

Equality and Diversity

You can log in to Horton Academy at home via the link below using your name e.g. joesephb and password: https://hortonhousing.learningpool.com/login/index.php

Please note: If you do not have your log in details to hand please contact Esther and she can arrange for them to be sent to you.

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Keep up to date on social media

If you are not already on social media, why not sign up and follow us to keep up to date with the

latest volunteering opportunities, news and events and get to know other Horton volunteers.

‘Like’ us on Facebook ‘Follow us’ on Twitter

Horton Housing

Association Volunteers

@hortonvolunteer

Horton Housing Association

@hortonhousingassociation

Horton Housing

Association Volunteers

@HHAVol

Horton Housing Association

@HortonHousing

Groop app Earlier in the year, we introduced the Groop app for all our

volunteers.

You will be able to use this app to contact your supervisor and other volunteers, log the

number of volunteering hours you have completed and book yourself onto our forums and

other events.

If you have any issues or concerns, please speak to either your supervisor or Esther.

Please be assured we are not sharing your data with everyone and only you will be able to see

your personal details.

I would love to know what you think about your volunteer

newsletter!

Please get in touch with me via the details below to give any feedback, or if you

have any news stories or suggestions for future editions.

Get in touch

Esther Douglas

Volunteer Service Manager

Email: volunteer.applications@hortonhousing.co.uk

Phone: 07525 667895 or 01274 753348

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Latest news Donation helps school produce more PPE equipment Horton Training Centre kindly

donated their collection of spare

plastic wallets to Hanson Academy

in Bradford. Students and teachers

at the school’s Design and

Technology department have been

busy making masks and other

Personal Protective Equipment

(PPE) for local health organisations

and hospitals in the Bradford district

during the pandemic.

At the time of writing

(April 2020) Hanson has produced an

amazing 4,000 items so far.

VE Day celebrations Friday 8 May 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of VE (Victory in

Europe) Day. This year the Early May Bank Holiday has been

moved from the first Monday in May, to Friday, 8 to celebrate the

milestone anniversary.

Public events across the UK during the VE Day bank holiday weekend have had to be cancelled

or postponed due to the pandemic.

However, you can still take part in VE Day celebrations at home. The Bletchley Park website

has published lots of inspirational ideas for you to celebrate at home in their VE Day activity

pack including: decorations, recipes, music and print outs. You can download the pack via their

website: https://bletchleypark.org.uk/blog/celebrate-ve-day-at-home-with-bletchley-park

You can also join the official Nation’s Toast to the Heroes of WW2 at 3pm on 8 May by

raising a glass and saying “To those who gave so much, we thank you” to pay tribute to all

those who joined and sacrificed their life in the war.

Volunteers’ Week 2020 Unfortunately, due to the pandemic this year’s national

Volunteers’ Week will not be going ahead as planned.

Visit their website for more information:

https://volunteersweek.org/

I look forward to a time when we can all get together to

celebrate Volunteers’ Week and the amazing work you do.

Please contact Esther if you have any ideas for activities and

when and where you would like them to take place.

Training Centre receptionist Kristina visited the

school to deliver the plastic wallets.