“Being a volunteer for TASC is my way of giving something back to the green family I work alongside daily – ensuring that we look after each other and ourselves so that we can look after everyone else out there.”
Wendy, Paramedic, Yorkshire
“My name is Wendy, I am a paramedic with Yorkshire ambulance service and have been in service for 16 years. I, along with many others, have experienced mental ill-health during my career – as a result of work-related incidents, but I had never heard of TASC until a few years ago when a colleague ( and now fellow volunteer) asked if I knew about TASC and the benefits they offer to ambulance staff.
I was amazed that I had never heard of them. I looked into the support offered by TASC and knew immediately that I wanted to increase staff awareness. I put myself forward as a volunteer and set to work.
I organised a new health and well-being board on station and placed leaflets on the board, passing word round to staff about them and when the opportunity arose to develop further as a peer supporter volunteer, I jumped at it. The workshop was extremely informative about the services TASC can offer, including financial help, as well as how to look out for yourselves as volunteers and peer supporters.
The staff from TASC were fantastic, always helpful, very knowledgeable, and completely understanding of the nature of ambulance work.
I have represented TASC at CPD days, handing out information and gaining further volunteers. During the pandemic, I was lucky to be part of the TASC volunteer network in YAS that helped organise and distribute food parcels to staff in need and to every ambulance station, all donations organised by TASC. We are now campaigning for staff to pay £1 per month to TASC from their pay and for TASC to be represented as part of new staff induction events too.
TASC have assisted our colleagues in the last 12 months in ways we never thought we would see or experience due to the COVID pandemic – their support and assistance throughout has been astounding and I am proud to be a volunteer. Being a volunteer for TASC is my way of giving something back to the green family I work alongside daily – ensuring that we look after each other and ourselves so that we can look after everyone else out there.”
Join us!
Volunteers are at the heart of everything we do. Whether it’s raising awareness in their workplace, encouraging others to get involved, supporting staff at events or speaking at conferences, all our TASC volunteers make a big difference to the people in the UK’s ambulance community. If you’d like to join Wendy and become one of our volunteering superstars, you can learn more and register to become a volunteer at: www.theasc.org.uk/volunteer.