Ishaa

Ishaa shares why she volunteers with Cruse Scotland and shares the most rewarding aspect of helping support people going through grief.

What initially drew you to volunteer with Cruse Scotland?

I was studying at the University of Aberdeen, and I had to get my hours, but I did not come to Cruse Scotland during my course. I joined right after I qualified and graduated.

The reason was that I really wanted to work with bereavement because I have seen how bereavement has been treated. Grief does not come with time stamps, and they do not really understand what goes on.

It is so complicated. It is complex, and losing someone is not that easy to move on from. The absence is always going to be felt. So, it is so scary for a person to be in that place.

I have seen, not personally, like I have not lost anyone close to myself, but I have seen my best friend lose her father. And I remember when I went to his funeral.

I remember how everyone around her told her to be strong. Her daughter lost her father, and people were expecting her to just be strong and not cry. Just think about her mum and her brother and just take care of others rather than her own self.

Grieving and bereavement can be so lonely; it can be a lonely experience.

I felt I was ready, and I felt like I could give that space to people to just grieve and to talk about the one they have lost and not tell them, do you know, it's been too long, we need to stop and move on.

No, when people come to me, it is not about that. It is about giving them enough space and freedom to just feel. So that is what drove me to Cruse Scotland.

What is a typical day like as a Cruse Scotland volunteer?

As a volunteer, this can be very different sometimes. I do not know what I am going to walk into, how the client is going to feel, but it has been one and a half years now, and so far, I can say that I have seen clients grow so much with the grief.

The first few sessions would be so difficult for them. And then they start seeing things, and they start working on it. And it is just a very beautiful thing to notice how they feel lighter, even though there is an absence and even though they are sad, even though they miss them.

The transformation could be very beautiful, and I see that as a volunteer. I see people transforming. I see people seeing their own strength that they thought they did not have.

What would you say to someone considering volunteering at Cruse Scotland?

I would tell people to volunteer with Cruse Scotland because the organisation is very professional, and I feel very supported.

Even though it is volunteering, I feel like we have so many opportunities to meet beautiful people, to learn, to grow. And the support is so good, the support is so strong.

And at the same time, the rewarding feeling of working with grief. This is something, before starting with grief, I thought, I always used to think that grief is so complicated.

How can someone sit as a counsellor, counselling someone for bereavement? It can be tricky because in the end, it is not going to bring the person back, right? The person they have lost. But then, while volunteering with Cruse Scotland, I realised that it is not that, it is a journey, a life.

We are going to lose people. But who meets you there? Who meets you in your sadness? And grief work can be so challenging. And if a person wants to develop professionally and gain more insight, they should volunteer Cruse Scotland.