A couple of years ago, the simple act of getting out of bed and having a shower was enough to leave Holly Watson completely exhausted.

The ambitious 22-year-old, from Wellow, experienced a major setback in life when she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, forcing her to abandon her A-level studies. But now well on the road to recovery, her dreams are coming back into focus, with the help of the confidence boost she has received from being a volunteer for the British Red Cross.

Holly has been telling her story to tie in with Volunteers Week, which took place

between 1st and 12th June, with the hope of inspiring others in Bath and North East Somerset to step forward and become Red Cross volunteers with a service that helps older people to take back control of their lives after a crisis. And getting through a crisis is something Holly knows all about.

At the worst point in her illness, she was exhausted and sleeping for 22 hours a day. She missed her exams and had to put her hopes of going to university and becoming a chiropractor or osteopath on hold. Gradually, her health improved and she learned to manage her condition. She started working in customer services, but wasn’t satisfied, so she started volunteering.

“I was doing a job that was not completely fulfilling and I’d spent the last four years in limbo, because of my health,” says Holly, “I had some spare time and wanted to do something productive, so I started volunteering with the Red Cross.”

Holly signed up as a Red Cross Support at Home volunteer and, for the past year, has given two or three hours a week to help older people in B&NES after a

crisis, or when facing isolation because they live in a rural area. The service, which is funded by Land Rover, provides up to six weeks of support during which volunteers help people reconnect with their community and regain their confidence, dignity and independence – feeling more able to face the future.

Holly said: “It’s been brilliant. I really enjoy it. The service users I’ve visited have been lovely and I enjoy listening to their stories. I’ve done everything from helping

people to go shopping to helping them do puzzles, and I’ve even done a spot of baking – helping one lady to make her Christmas cake. We use a ‘top three goals’ approach, working with people to identify goals they want to achieve. For some people, it might be to play a game of cards each week. Others feel isolated, so their goal may be to catch a bus to the library. For them this might present a huge

obstacle, especially if they’ve spent life with a partner and they’ve recently been

bereaved.

“You hope that, in that window of support you give, you help someone to build up their confidence and feel like themselves again.”

The Red Cross wants to recruit more volunteers like Holly. Volunteers receive lots of support, including an introductory three-day training course teaching them about the values of the Red Cross and useful skills for life, like providing emotional support to people in crisis. The experience of volunteering has also cemented Holly’s resolve to continue her education and become an osteopath and she starts a degree course in London in September.

The programme in B&NES is funded by a national partnership which sees

Land Rover UK providing £2 million worth of support to eleven Red Cross projects in rural locations.

If you live in the Bath and North East Somerset area and want to find out about volunteering, call Liz Folkes on: 0117 301 2604 or email: WAGP&[email protected]

For more information about the Red Cross, visit: www.redcross.org.uk