Volunteer stories: Meet Shaun
"My name is Shaun, aged 47. I started volunteering with Healthwatch North Yorkshire in 2020 during a lockdown. I was in my 1st year at CU Scarborough, studying for a Public Health degree, and I was attracted to Healthwatch North Yorkshire after completing an assignment on contemporary public health studies, where I learned the structures that keep the patient at the centre of health care and health strategies.
I have lived in Scarborough since December 2018, and I relocated to North Yorkshire from my hometown - Rotherham - after completing a 6-month rehabilitation treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. Once I moved to Scarborough, I engaged with the local anonymous fellowship and enrolled at University via the widening participation programme, access to higher education.
Throughout my studies, I have found myself being drawn to tackling inequalities in health and social care, particularly those that exist in the UK. I would like to pursue health promotion and facilitate positive lifestyle changes in the poorest of society in an attempt to level out these disparities.
Despite my struggles, I have not always been disadvantaged, and I consider myself fortunate in having a loving, safe and supportive family that I am grateful to have grown up with. I believe that environment allowed me the freedom to become my own boss of two independent opticians in Sheffield. However, addiction does not discriminate, but with the help from a strong local recovery community, I today can say I am almost 3 years clean.
I volunteer for Healthwatch North Yorkshire because I like the concept of “taking the nation's pulse” by talking to patients about their health and social care experiences. By talking to people and gathering these experiences we can highlight health inequalities that would only become apparent after long periods or harmful incidents."
Shaun became a member of the Healthwatch North Yorkshire volunteering team during the pandemic. And that itself is one reason to say thank you to Shaun. He is one of the greatest student-volunteers, who is currently volunteering with Healthwatch North Yorkshire and has continued to support us over the past year. His support is amazing and we are grateful for the huge variation of projects that Shaun has been involved with. We send our thanks and appreciation to Shaun and to all our student volunteers - for making a difference across North Yorkshire.
Shaun has been a great support to the work at Healthwatch North Yorkshire, and he has contributed to many projects.
He recently attended our event at Scarborough Football Club, and he was superb in handing out leaflets and engaging with members of the public.
We are grateful to have such a supportive volunteer on our team and we really appreciate all the time Shaun has dedicated to supporting our work.
Some other tasks he has been involved with are, reviewing documents, sharing surveys, helping out on stalls, and getting involved with our planning for 2021/2022.
I would like to say a big thank you to Shaun, and all of the Healthwatch North Yorkshire volunteers who dedicate their time and expertise to supporting our work. Without the support of our volunteers we wouldn't be able to do what we do best, improve health and social care.
If you would like to find out more about the volunteering roles we offer at Healthwatch North Yorkshire, download our volunteer role descriptions handbook.
