I went through a bad time a few years ago and I had to stop working through it. When I felt I was on the road to recovery I decided to a volunteer to help me get back into a work ethos. I went into the Clackmannanshire Volunteer Development Agency (CVDA) and it was through CVDA that I met up with CTDU - they were looking for a volunteer driver, and I was able to do that, but Iyaah encouraged me to get involved with the education courses at CTDU as well – and I did.
Coming to CTDU gets me out of the house, and I enjoy the debates on the global citizens programmes, and learning from how others live in the world, and also expressing solidarity with people around the world. I'm more confident and more sociable than before, and I am also more able to speak out in public. CTDU has a very open and friendly way of working – everyone there really is non-judgemental.
What I enjoy most is the social aspect of being involved – before I was very isolated at home. I enjoy meeting other people and hearing what they think about different things. And I’ve met people and made friends at CTDU that I wouldn’t have met otherwise.
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Taking part in the events and meeting people at CTDU helps my self esteem, I feel I’m part of something - before I felt worthless. At CTDU people are all human beings. I’ve always been a caring person, but now I’m caring in a more organised way I suppose. I’ve done volunteer driving for 2½ years for the CVDA as well. I do volunteer driving for a group of 16 people with learning disabilities – meeting people with learning disabilities at CTDU has made me more confident, I would never have done anything like that before. It’s a responsible job but I have great fun doing it as well as feeling that driving the minibus is useful for them. I think that too much in the world is about material things – people take their health for granted and don’t realise how fortunate you are to have good health. If you’re depressed, and isolated at home, then all you can think about is the depression. For me, I think that CTDU’s great because there are all sorts of different people there and we explore and do lots of different things together. It would be negative for me to focus on mental health issues. |
