Volunteers’ Week: Thank you to our volunteers

I have been a volunteer for Versus Arthritis for 7 years or so now.

I decided to volunteer for Versus Arthritis since I attended the Versus Arthritis pain management course at the absolute worst time of my life. I believe in the program, and it was the beginning of my journey to recovering. The thing I most enjoy about volunteering is sharing my knowledge and seeing participants absorbing the benefits of the program.

I deliver the pain self-management programme in Northern Ireland, as well as being a ‘Changemaker’ which is about influencing health decision makers and campaigning to raise awareness of arthritis. I also lead the ‘Lisburn Versus Arthritis’ peer support Group. We meet every Friday morning and do activities together such as Chi Mi, laughing yoga, boccia and crafts.

My interest in volunteering for Versus Arthritis began during lockdown, when all the activities I enjoyed stopped. As I suffer from osteoarthritis myself, I started to look for some activities to help maintain my mobility & manage my pain.

I met volunteer Caroline, a fellow volunteer, through Zoom and as we live in proximity, we decided to deliver a class together - our first was held at Fleming hospital in Aberlour. This has now been running almost a year. We ran a six-week taster session of Seated Yoga, Tai- chi and QiGong.

I enjoy volunteering alongside Caroline as she has lots of experience in all aspects of delivering a class and this helped me gain confidence to consider taking a class myself in my hometown of Fochabers. I now have delivered two six-week sessions and about to start another block which has been a great success.

I’m a Versus Arthritis volunteer in Northern Ireland and began my journey as a service user. While on a waiting list for the pain clinic, my doctor referred me to a Self-Management course with Versus Arthritis. Led by training volunteers, I was taught amazing tools and along with the peer support, I managed to turn my life around.

Seeing the difference this had made, I was determined to let as many people as possible know about this service and became an Information Hub Volunteer. As my confidence grew, I took up more opportunities and am now an accredited Self-Management Instructor and trained in a series of physical exercise courses such as Chi Me which I deliver online every week. I also help with campaigning and was honoured to be one of the volunteers to address Northern Ireland Politicians at a Parliamentary Event in November 2022.

Helping people make positive changes in their lives and go from just existing, to living again, is one of the most rewarding things any volunteer can do. Seeing the weekly improvement in participants has inspired me to further my own training and start my own business again, teaching exercise classes to people with various complex needs. This new chapter of my life would not have been possible if not for the confidence, skills and support I received from Versus Arthritis Volunteers and staff, not only as a participant of Self-Management but as a Volunteer.

Jasmine, 23, lives in Liverpool and was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) at the age of one and has uveitis at the age of 2, an inflammation of the eye which can lead to sight loss. She is a member of the Versus Arthritis Young People’s Panel – a group of young people aged 16-25, who are living with arthritis and influence our support, campaigning, and research work.

“I love being on the panel as I feel I can really use the platform to raise awareness of living with arthritis as a young person and reduce the stereotype that arthritis only affects the elderly. The panel has also allowed me to meet so many other young people like myself.”

“A lot of people with arthritis have uveitis. We need to talk and share information about uveitis in the same way we do with arthritis.”

Jasmine has helped to shape a much-needed resource on how employers and further education settings can support young people living with musculoskeletal conditions. Jasmin has also recently been recognised with a Coronation Champions Award, which celebrates extraordinary volunteers across the country who have been contributing to their communities.

I have been a Versus Arthritis volunteer since January 2019. I have undertaken many roles which started by sharing my story as part of entering the London Marathon for Versus Arthritis. I have since done a photo shoot which has been used on Psoriatic Arthritis advice booklets, a TV advert, assisted with many pieces of work, promotion of Anti-TNF medication, written blogs, campaigned for change with local MP, written articles for the website, been in a variety of publications, ran London Marathon raising £5,500, helped team with Open Letter hand-in at Downing Street, spoken at a legacy engagement event, featured in Facebook adverts and spoken at a few events online and locally in the community.

I decided to volunteer for Versus Arthritis because I suffer from Psoriatic Arthritis and the knowledge and the support I have received from Versus Arthritis has been amazing. My goal has been to give back as much as I can and raise awareness and help as many people as possible.

The people at Versus Arthritis are amazing, their support and organisation cannot be beaten. As a result of the work I have helped with, I have had a number of people thank me as it has helped them and that means the world to me.