I am Lindsay 150 and I have been volunteering at TLP for four years. I really enjoyed my time as a Listening Volunteer, meeting and getting to know different visitors. When the new site at Hunter Street opened, I was persuaded by my supervisor who was moving over to a shift there to become the Supervisor on the Sunday Night shift at Meade Mews. I must admit I had some reservations as supervising a team felt very similar to what I do in my day job and I find the interaction with visitors rewarding. However, I am happy to say I’ve really enjoyed the supervisor role. The new volunteers and the Helping Volunteer on my shift are great (aren’t all TLP volunteers!) and the team camaraderie is really growing.
For my day job I work as the UK and Ireland facilities director for an international finance technology company based in London. I am part of the corporate social responsibility committee (CSR). The role of the committee is to give staff the opportunity to fundraise and volunteer for charities that align with the company values. As well as providing a positive impact on those we help, volunteering and fundraising provides staff with the opportunity to get together and creates a sense of wellbeing and purpose that the corporate world can sometimes lack.
The CSR wanted to support the UK’s Mental Health Awareness week 10-16 May and were looking for causes that would resonate with people. I saw this as a perfect way to share the excellent work that TLP does whilst being able to help with fundraising for the charity.
Most of our staff are still working from home and have been doing so since March last year, allowing them to save money on their commute. This gave us the idea of “Fares for Fundraising”. Staff were asked to donate the equivalent of a day’s commute to TLP.
To further spread the fantastic work that TLP does, Sarah our wonderful CEO, hosted a webinar. Sarah spoke about recognising the big gap that exists in mental health services for people thinking about taking their own lives, why the services of TLP are required, how we help our visitors and the hopes for expanding the service. Staff fed back that they found the talk insightful and inspiring, and we raised £1,001, which the CSR matched as part of their commitment to mental health awareness, making a total raised of £2,002.”
