Celebrating our volunteers’ achievements

Volunteers are at the heart of Healthwatch Brent’s work – whether that be attending community events, carrying out Enter & View Visits and other tasks. They are dedicated and give up their time to support our mission as they want to play a part in improving health and social care services in Brent. We also have volunteers on our Advisory Board to support us in prioritising areas that truly matter to local people. 

Many of our volunteers have been with us for several years, working with us on research and projects throughout the ever-changing landscape of health and social care. We are proud to welcome volunteers from different communities, each of which has their own goals they wish to achieve. But ultimately, we all have a joint goal, which is to positively impact our local area. We’re also proud of their achievements and personal journeys, so here are some things we’d like to share with everyone.  

Winning a Healthwatch Network Award 

Our volunteers Mary and Margaret won a Healthwatch award for a project on sheltered housing. The housing that they visited had problems with drug users visiting the area harassing the residents. Therefore, Margaret and Mary understood that people living there were very scared of outsiders, and they carried out some of our interviews through locked doors as the people were not comfortable leaving their rooms. 

A positive result of the project was asking the service to install a security door, and they also put up CCTV cameras to keep the residents safe. 

You can read an interview with Mary and Margaret to understand more about the project and what volunteering means to them. 

Margaret: “It was upsetting to visit the sheltered housing and see that people were living in fear. However it made me so happy to see the changes that could be made as the result of our work.”  

Building skills and confidence 

Healthwatch Brent opens our doors to young people, students and career changers and we are so blown away by their passion and enthusiasm for the health and social sector. In our volunteering programme, volunteers are supported by our dedicated Volunteer Manager to achieve their goals.  

One volunteer we want to spotlight is Madalina. She showed great commitment to her university assignments and volunteering tasks by attending outreach events.  

Madalina: “I was able to complete my university course assignment by visiting an event in Brent. I made connections with community groups and people, which helped to build my confidence.”