Volunteer Spotlight: Denise

What motivated you to start volunteering with us here at Cruse Scotland?

As a student counsellor, I was tasked with finding a voluntary placement, and my first thought was to apply to Cruse Scotland. Working with grief and loss is an area that I felt drawn to personally. As soon as their next intake of volunteer places was advertised, I applied! Following a successful application, I was just so impressed with their dedication to the work they do and their thorough and supportive onboarding process that I knew I had made the right decision to apply. I am now a qualified counsellor, but I look forward to working with Cruse Scotland on a voluntary basis for many years to come, if they'll have me.

Can you share what you’ve enjoyed most about your time volunteering with us?

From very early on in my voluntary role as a student counsellor, I have felt part of a much wider team, not only in my area but as part of the wider organisation too. The regular contact and training opportunities keep us all connected, and although I work online from home with my clients, I don't feel disadvantaged or excluded from the team that sees each other more regularly. The support and encouragement offered are invaluable, and how the organisation operates works so well in supporting not only their service users but those that volunteer with them too. I am offered the freedom to work in the best way I can with my clients independently, but with the added security of a compassionate and supportive team behind me. Everyone I have met through the Cruse Scotland network has been so very welcoming and passionate about the work they do.

Do you have any standout memories or stories from working with a client that you can share?

I have always felt so privileged to have a client share their precious loved ones with me and for me to be in a position to help lighten their load as they move through their grief towards moving on with their lives.

In what ways has your position made a difference for you, for the clients, and for your colleagues?

Volunteering with Cruse has been such a rewarding experience, both professionally and personally. The training and networking opportunities offered by Cruse have allowed me to expand my knowledge of working with grief and loss immeasurably. Working with people to explore their unique experience of loss can be challenging, but I have yet to come across a person that is not up to the challenge. This has reinforced my belief in people having the ability to tap into an inner strength and show resilience as they adjust to the new life without their loved one. 

From the feedback received from my clients, I am reassured that the work we do together has been so helpful in allowing them to process their loss and move forward in their life. Simply by having a safe space to talk about their loss and the people they have lost offers them the opportunity to revisit more difficult elements of their death that have perhaps held them back from fully processing or accepting it. Simply feeling cared for and heard in the work we do together has been all that some have needed to finally move on. Crucially the training and support offered at Cruse, alongside my pluralistic counselling style, has given me the tools to explore different ways of working with clients to help them find the path forward that works best for them. 

What would you say to anyone who is thinking about volunteering with Cruse Scotland?

Everyone will experience loss in their life at some point, and everyone will find their own unique way through it. What you have learnt about yourself and others in those periods of your own life will almost certainly have given you a solid foundation to provide support to others who are finding their own journey through loss difficult to manage. If you are able to listen without judgement, place yourself in another person's shoes to understand what their loss feels like for them, and sit alongside them in their grief, then Cruse Scotland will absolutely and without question support and encourage you to do just that.

Volunteers Week will run from Monday 2 June until Sunday 8 June. Learn how you can get involved here.

Feeling inspired to join our team? Click here to see our current volunteering opportunities.