Katherine

Katherine is a Cruse Scotland volunteer, helping children and young people of all ages to cope with grief.

"Volunteering with Cruse Scotland as a Children and Young Person supporter is great. I've really enjoyed the many training modules on offer and the people I’ve met since volunteering are the loveliest of people, from all different walks of life. There's a meeting of ideas and a social aspect of working in this field. That feeling of belonging to something and the friendliness of the whole organisation within Cruse Scotland has been terrific for me."

“I love working with children and young people, and have done for all of my life. They have a special energy and when they're struggling with grief, it's important to try and help them through that by giving them additional support and help. When you see them progress and come back to the energy and light that they had previously, it's an extremely rewarding thing to do.”

"Recently I read an article about volunteering, and if you volunteer your time to a cause that is valuable to you personally, it helps lower your blood pressure. It gives you a longer life apparently as well, which is quite optimistic. 

If you can get a buzz from helping somebody across the street when they're in trouble, or if they are carrying a heavy load, then what you get out of working with children and young people, is tenfold better than that. I'm really pleased that I've had the opportunity to return to working with young children and young people. Thanks to Cruse Scotland for that.

I would say to anybody, this is great for opportunities, for your career, for your training, and later in your life when maybe you've got more time to give something back as well. But by offering your time to support bereaved individuals in Scotland, you're getting a lot out of it too."