Our CMHA SC volunteer’s experience and Marg Gow, Co-ordinator of Volunteer Resources CMHA SC
Megan Nahuis, 28, moved in January 2020 to be with family northeast of Wasaga Beach in Tiny Township after a stint working overseas in London, UK. “I was planning to stay a few months. Then, the pandemic hit,” said Nahuis, who studied psychology and social development at the University of Waterloo before working in human resources. In November 2020, she volunteered through CMHA’s RSVP program, phoning weekly a client who is socially isolated.
She felt hesitant at first taking on a role supporting clients, as she had sought a more administrative role, but she was encouraged to do so by Marg Gow, coordinator of volunteer resources at CMHA, and that support made all the difference. “It actually went very well,” Nahuis said. “It made me realize how important the field is. (It) gave me a purpose and something to do.” Nahuis has been part of a new wave of volunteers rising to combat the toll the pandemic has taken on people struggling with mental health or addictions.
“There’s been a lot more looking outside the box to get volunteers engaged,” Gow said. Before the pandemic, volunteers typically would phone or text clients once every week or two, but since the arrival of the novel coronavirus, that rate of virtual connection had doubled, with volunteers reaching out once or twice a week, Gow said.
Clients feel more engaged than ever before and at a time when they require support during a pandemic that has stripped many of their social contacts and left them more vulnerable to the psychological challenges of isolation. And it’s not just the clients who have benefited from closer connections; volunteers feel more engaged as well. “Some of our volunteers are isolated so they need connections too,” Gow said.
Those volunteers include Joe Kit, who before the pandemic had volunteered as a receptionist for the Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACTT). When the pandemic struck, Kit was assigned three clients who he phones twice a week to check on their mental health and well-being, serving as a sounding board and a conduit to refer them to needed services. They tend to be open to him because he struggled with bipolar disorder before excellent care in Barrie helped him to manage it well. “I deal with clients in an open and honest manner. They do open up to me,” he said.
The fostering of those relationships will make him even better prepared to return to his old role even if efforts to tame the pandemic succeed. “I learned to be more open with clients … Once we get back to what we did in the past, it’s going to help out to spread that knowledge and understanding with the other ACTT clients.”
Volunteering also benefited him personally since his family lives in other cities. While Kit didn’t feel isolated during the pandemic, the regular phone calls to clients helped him feel more connected. “They help me to normalize myself to have a little camaraderie,” he said. His volunteerism also made the winter holidays a communal experience: He volunteered to hand out box lunches and gifts, at a safe distance, to clients at a drive-through set up at the main CMHA building on Anne Street.
His enthusiasm is typical, said Gow, who said the pandemic has only heightened interest that people have in volunteering for the association. In the past ten months, close to 100 people have applied, more than there were available slots, so Gow and her colleagues have come up with innovative ways to find roles for volunteers who in past years were more likely to help out at yearly events like the Keep Talking Gala, something that can’t happen now because of the pandemic.
One example is an effort led by Kim Bray, the clinical team lead for the addiction program, who gathers volunteers once a month to make hundreds of harm reduction kits that include clean needles, drug-related paraphernalia and condoms.
Not only does volunteer work help the organization, it directly impacts each person who receives CMHA services and supports. The world is better today than it was yesterday thanks to the efforts of our volunteers.
Written by Jonathan Sher