Pain Concern receives Volunteer Friendly Award

Pain Concern is delighted to have achieved the Volunteer Friendly Award. The award is a user-friendly quality standard which supports, recognises and rewards groups who are good at involving volunteers.

We received feedback that our commitment and dedication to volunteers was evident throughout the Volunteer Friendly Award submission, as was our appreciation of volunteers. Our submission was considered excellent and feedback also highlighted how much people enjoy volunteering at Pain Concern, feel supported and get a lot out of volunteering with us. 

Pain Concern Volunteers

Our resources and helpline support are for anyone in the UK who has chronic pain or supports someone who does (including healthcare professionals). To do this, over forty-five volunteers from across the UK and beyond support us in a variety of roles such as helpline volunteer, office, research, illustrations, marketing, social media, website, editorial, audio transcriptions, broadcast assistant and our Listener & Readers Panel members.  

Our volunteers are fundamental to the success of the charity. The submission involved surveying volunteers, who fed back that they felt that their contribution is valued, meaningful and rewarding and 100% of respondents felt Our volunteers are fundamental to the success of the charity. Our Volunteer Friendly submission involved surveying volunteers, who fed back that they felt their contribution is valued, meaningful and rewarding and 100% of respondents felt their expectations, reasons and motivations for volunteering were being met. 

Volunteer Award Feedback

We received the following comments in response to our submission:

‘Overall, the portfolio of evidence submitted by Pain Concern for the Volunteer Friendly Award is exemplary. It highlights the important and outstanding work and volunteering at Pain Concern which is making a real difference for people and the community.’

Mike Melvin, Volunteering Services Manager, ACVO,

‘An excellent submission for the Volunteer Friendly Award from Pain Concern, who have not only met but exceeded the requirements across every strand of the award. It was encouraging to hear the voices of your volunteers, who felt their contribution was welcomed and valued and that Pain Concern was inclusive towards all volunteers, regardless of background.’

Katy Penman, Volunteer Scotland

What is it like to volunteer with Pain Concern?

The Scottish Government recognises that volunteering matters and that it’s all about new experiences, feeling good and making a difference. Here’s some feedback from a couple of volunteers on their experience with Pain Concern: 

‘I chose to volunteer with Pain Concern for many reasons; I really like Pain Concern’s objectives as a charity, and I believe Pain Concern is one of the rare charities providing emotional support, and practical advice for people living with pain. I find it fascinating hearing service users diverse stories on the helpline, and knowing every day is different with different topics of discussion.

I would tell other people who are thinking about volunteering that being with a charitable organisation is rewarding, and good for mental and physical health. Since joining the Pain Concern team, I feel I am not alone with my pain, and I truthfully recognise the pain of service users.’

Jo, Helpline

‘When I first started volunteering at Pain Concern as a research assistant, they explained that it was a partnership and although I would be helping them, they were also able to help me with any skills I wanted to develop or to get involved with anything I found interesting at the charity.

I mentioned during one of my weekly meetings with Sam my supervisor, that I was looking into starting a career within psychology and from reading job descriptions and person specifications, one of the main requirements needed was direct experience of working with services users who had physical and/ or mental health conditions… Sam then very kindly offered to train me on the helpline so I could gain direct experience of supporting people in their chronic pain journey.

This has been extremely beneficial not only to me as I have been able to increase my knowledge and expand my interpersonal experience, but it has also been beneficial to the service users. I love being a part of the helpline team and I have felt a great sense fulfilment.’

Katie, helpline

We are delighted with this outcome and welcome anyone who is interested in volunteering with us to look at our current opportunities.