Mental Health Awareness Week: How volunteering helped Charlie

Charlie, 25, was first diagnosed with depression and anxiety in her first year of university, aged 18. When she began volunteering for Girlguiding that same year, she found a community of friends who uplifted and supported her. For one hour a week things felt brighter.

“To me, mental health is how your brain feels, and the impact this has on your body, way of thinking, and your motivation to do things.” Charlie said. “Sometimes, when your brain is sad, it feels like it’s saying: ‘no, I’m going to do this today’. But sometimes it says: ‘let’s do this!’ and everything feels possible.”

Charlie remembers the milestone of starting university as having a significant impact on her mental health. She says it was volunteering with a local Rainbow unit that helped her cope with the challenges of this.

“When I got to uni, I think I lost a part of myself – it was such a big change. I was just retreating into myself.” Charlie said.

She decided to start volunteering with Girlguiding as her education degree required her to have experience working with children outside the classroom.

“Girlguiding can be as little as one hour a week, where you can turn up and talk to 5-year-olds about their week. Nothing feels terrible when a child is saying to you: “here’s my teddy bear, do you want to know its name?” she said.

“And then you start to meet people in guiding, who are the nicest people that you’ll ever meet. I think I’m a better person for volunteering for Girlguiding. It’s shown me new things about myself.”

Charlie credits her fellow volunteers for how well they supported her through the difficult transition of starting university, and the impact this had on her mental health.

“Once, I walked through the door of a leaders’ meeting and another volunteer just looked at me and said: ‘you’re not ok’, and I’ve never felt so seen.” Charlie said.

“I was so worried that if I told people I was depressed it would be the end of everything. But they just said: ‘don’t be silly, you’re still you. We still trust you. You can still do everything you want to do - you just need a little bit more help’”.

Now 25, Charlie is a Brownie and Rainbow leader in Barnsley. She particularly enjoys running activities from Girlguiding’s Be Well programme theme, which helps girls explore how to stay safe, healthy and happy. 

“We’re currently doing the Be well theme with the Rainbows which covers stuff like talking about your emotions. I think it’s critical to help them, from that early age, to understand their emotions more,” she said.

Charlie is also a peer educator for South Yorkshire, leading interactive sessions for young Girlguiding members on topics like resilience and mental wellbeing.

“Peer education has a Think Resilient topic which is my most requested topic from units. I ran a session for a Ranger unit a week before mock exams to talk about stress and coping strategies. Brownie units have had me in to talk about mental resilience.” Charlie said.

“It’s all about understanding your emotions and your support networks. The idea is that by the end of the evening, at least one technique will stick with them. I think it’s so important to teach the girls what resilience is, to know what techniques there are to help, and that when in doubt – they have a support network.”

Reflecting on how her Girlguiding journey grew from helping once a week at Rainbows to leading multiple units and holding a variety of local leadership roles, Charlie said the connections she’s made have had a big impact.

“You start volunteering for an hour a week for the girls because they need you. You stay for the adult friendships that keep you going. In short, I don’t think I’d be here today without Girlguiding.”

Girlguiding offers a space where all girls and volunteers are welcome and free to be themselves. The organisation is committed to ensuring that all its young members and volunteers have a great guiding experience and can take part in all that is on offer, whoever they are and wherever they’re from.  

For more information about the opportunities on offer, including volunteering roles visit https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/.