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Overview

Through our training model and volunteer experience, digital volunteers are increasingly impacting their own communities and the lives of others, by utilising the skills and knowledge they’ve developed to support the people around them and pursue careers in mental health.

To date we've trained more than 17,000 people on our Shout platform and taken more than one million text conversations with people about their mental health.

The nature of our digital volunteering offer means that we are able to provide support at scale; volunteers aren’t limited by the need to be at a physical location or at a specific time; they just need a private space at home and access to a laptop and secure internet connection.

For this report we surveyed more than 700 digital volunteers from across Shout and The Mix to highlight the collective impact our volunteers have not just on the people who reach out to our services, but on their wider communities and society too.

Digital volunteering is helping to:

  • Inspire the future workforce

Volunteers gain vital skills and knowledge that have inspired education choices, career changes, and in our younger volunteers has provided them with a stepping stone to forge careers as mental health professionals.

  • Form positive communities

We know that being part of a supportive, safe community is incredibly beneficial to mental wellbeing, but community looks different for all of us. Volunteers for both Shout and The Mix become part of a supportive, digital community, which helps to combat loneliness, boost connection with others, and enhances their social sphere.

  • Create agents of change

Our volunteers develop active listening skills and understand how to hold positive conversations, vital skills that they can use to help people suffering with a mental health crisis, but also take into their personal and professional lives. Volunteers told us how they’re using the skills they’ve learnt to be better parents, friends, partners and colleagues, as well as supporting people more widely in society.

  • Develop new skills and knowledge

Our volunteers are given ongoing training and development opportunities, as well as being part of a learning loop where they’re given feedback and have continuous engagement with experienced clinicians and people in need of mental health support, helping to boost their learning and experience.

  • Boost mental wellbeing

Volunteering is helping to boost personal mental wellbeing too. Volunteers have told us about the mental benefits it brings, helping boost confidence, develop resilience, increase their sense of belonging and bolster their empathy and compassion for others.

Key insights

Here's a glimpse of what our volunteers told us

  • 49%

    of Shout Volunteers

    told us volunteering inspired them to change careers

  • 100%

    of all volunteers

    told us it enhanced their active listening skills

  • 99%

    of Shout Volunteers

    said it gives them a greater sense of compassion

  • 87%

    of The Mix Volunteers

    said it made them want to work in a field where they can help people

"I wanted to gain experience of what it’s like to work in the field of mental health. I also wanted to have greater understanding and compassion for the challenges people in our society are facing."

Digital volunteer

Find out more about volunteering