Volunteer wellbeing and support

Your wellbeing is very important to us and is a priority when volunteering.

We're here to support you as a volunteer at every step of the way so as well as us checking in with you, please do contact the Volunteering Team if you have any questions, or if you would like to discuss anything to do with your health and wellbeing, and the support you may need.

Resources 

We will keep you informed of any additional information and resources we create and add to this page.

5 steps to mental wellbeing

The NHS have outlined 5 steps that can help improve your mental wellbeing. In line with these steps, we've listed some opportunities below that you may like to get involved with.

1. Connect

Connect with people around you; having others to talk to and share experiences with is important for mental wellbeing. 


2. Be Active

Physical activity can boost your mental health alongside your physical. 


3. Learn

Set yourself a goal and learn something new to help raise your confidence and self-esteem. 


4. Give to Others 

No matter how small, giving back to others helps provide a sense of self-worth and purpose. 


5. Be Present 

Mindfulness is important; it means having an awareness of your body, thoughts, feelings and environment. 

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Volunteer wellbeing check-in

Please fill in the form below to tell us how you're doing. We suggest thinking about what you're finding challenging or encouraging in your volunteering at the moment, or whether there's anything we can do to better support you.

Would you like us to set up:

Putting the day to bed really matters

Dr Mike Scanlan is a retired therapist and lecturer in mental health at the University of Northampton and De Montford University. In this podcast he talks to Lymphoma Action’s Anne Hook about sleep and achieving good, restorative sleep.  

Many people worry about getting a good night’s sleep and the more you worry about it, the harder it is for your brain to allow you to get to sleep. In this podcast Mike covers the architecture of sleep, difficulty getting off to sleep and how this varies from insomnia, and getting back to sleep after waking during the night. He also addresses the particular problems people may have if they have symptoms of lymphoma, such as itching or peripheral neuropathy.

In this podcast Mike talks through a number of techniques that people can try that may prove helpful. The first of these is the technique of writing things down that are playing on your mind, so your brain feels that anything troubling is being addressed. He then talks about cognitive shuffling, where you create pictures in your mind to help you try to get back to sleep, and later Mike provides visualisation techniques where you place your worries on a ‘Leaves on a Stream’ and let them float away.

Mike explains that we have a sleep window when people are more likely to be able to achieve good restorative sleep. He talks through a number of gentle changes that can have a big impact. These include sleeping in complete darkness, controlling the time you have caffeinated drinks and cooling the body in preparation for sleep. He also talks about the benefit of exercise, especially if it is taken in the morning and outdoors. For many people, having dropped off to sleep, they wake up during the night. Mike provides ideas to try and minimise the disruption of this and offers strategies to drop off again quickly. In this podcast to nap or not to nap is discussed as well as alternatives that may prove valuable. This includes NSDR (non-sleep deep relaxation), which is a type of meditative yoga which puts you into a relaxed restorative state which feels like a nap but without going to sleep.

Find out more about sleep and achieving restorative sleep by listening to the podcast. (Also available on Apple Podcast and Spotify.)
 

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