Mental Health and Well-being in Volunteering Projects

Coordinators of volunteering projects have observed lately that they have to support more often volunteers with mental health problems or with specific needs concerning mental health. However, we are not always aware of the severity of the situation, and/or we don´t know how to react or behave. We can be even afraid to intervene and make it worse.

Based on the current research of mental health and Covid-19, both adults and youngsters experience more challenges concerning their mental health (e.g. depression, anxiety,..) than before.

Thus, we should be prepared that facing new challenging situations concerning the well-being and mental health of volunteers throughout the whole project cycle will become even more common.

The aim of this training course is to spotlight the topic of mental health and well-being of volunteers and discuss possible strategies to support volunteers’ mental health in different stages of their project.

The objectives: 

To get some knowledge and understanding of the topic of mental health 

To learn how to work with the topic of mental health of volunteers in different stages of the project cycle (e.g. what to ask during the first interview with volunteers)

To empower the participants in solving challenging or emergency situations throughout the project cycle.

What we will do:

To look at the mental health out of the box

To get some data about mental health in the young population

To discuss best practices 

To discuss tips to address the topic with volunteers in different project stages (e.g. interview with applicants, preparation stage, a crisis in the project, etc.)

To discuss and plan strategies to prevent or solve emergency situations

Trainers: 

Both trainers Edita Floriánová and Jan Kolář have similar life stories - They have been involved in training courses for volunteers and organizations participating in volunteering projects for the Czech NA since 2014. They work as psychologists in school with both kids and adolescents and offer counseling and psychotherapy for adults in private practice.