Farah’s Volunteering Journey
"I don’t feel that people are judging me anymore which has helped with my social anxiety.”
To build her confidence and improve her social skills, Farah wanted to get into volunteering.
In July 2023, Farah reached out to VAST through her Shaw Trust Employability Coach. Following a couple of quick questionnaires, Gloria, VAST Volunteering’s Inclusive Volunteering Officer, was able to establish how best to help Farah get started on her volunteering journey.
The initial inclusive volunteering questionnaire asked a number of questions centred on wellbeing, loneliness, skills, and access to transport, and the following travel questionnaire meant Gloria could get a good idea about how Farah found travelling around the city and what barriers she was facing.
For Farah, travelling around Stoke-on-Trent with her family by taxi was, understandably, becoming increasingly difficult to afford and completely unsustainable. Between them, Farah agreed to take part in some ‘travel training’ to build her confidence in using public transport—something she had never done before—and welcomed Gloria’s support as it was something she was initially feeling “very nervous” about.
Tailored to Farah, the travel training was created to cover all sorts of travel guidance, from reading bus timetables and recognising road signs to digital travel passes and how to use them. To help Farah with her travel plan, Gloria began with a risk assessment and planning a safe route to the bus station, followed by basic road safety skills and guidance on personal safety when out and about. To put some of this into practice, Gloria accompanied Farah on a short bus journey in the city, demonstrating and discussing basic procedures for using the bus and pointing out easily recognisable landmarks along the way.
About the travel training, Farah said:
“I found out about road safety and how to safely cross the road. We went on a bus going to Tunstall and a bus going back to Hanley. I got to go to a shop and the Hanley Bus Station and found out about how and where the buses are coming and going from. I learnt some landmarks on the way on the buses. I enjoyed my day with Gloria. Thank you.”
Farah has now been able to make solo bus journeys as a result of the training and support from VAST. She aims to continue to build her confidence with travelling. Farah has more freedom to explore her local area, and has even been visiting her local library, where she’s been able to make two friends.
About getting into volunteering, Farah expressed her interest in history and said she’d like to volunteer with VAST at the Dudson Museum. So, Gloria arranged for a tour of the museum, and Farah was “really excited” about starting her volunteering journey.
Following an induction session with VAST Volunteering, including a tour of the VAST offices at the Dudson Centre, Farah began to volunteer at the museum for events, including a children’s Story Quest event ‘Norah the Night Guard’ trail around the centre’s courtyard.
Fast forward, a year to August 2024 and Farah continues to volunteer and has made a fantastic contribution to VAST. She has helped with several more events, such as a Valentine’s Day event; laminating love hearts that individuals used to share a message of love and our summer ‘Pirate’ event. Farah has been helping to archive the Dudson pottery onto a database, learning more about the collections process.
Farah explained that before she volunteered, she “felt confused, lost and had no direction.”
Now she feels “nonchalant, and I don’t feel that people are judging me anymore which has helped with my social anxiety.”
Farah went onto to explain that she “feels able to chat freely about her personal life and interests, can work as part of a team and has even made friends”.
Moving forwards, Farah would like to find employment – and we are sure everyone will agree that Farah will find what she is looking for…
What a fantastic achievement, Farah! Well done!
