Should I start volunteering

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Hey aspies,

I´m a third year bachelorstudent in psychology right now. Since I don´t have that much friends and I spend much time at home ( I am started to get a bit bored now) I decided i'd might do some volunteering. I will probably do something that connects to my study. Something with children/adolescents.

My question: has any of you ever done voluntary work? What did you and didn't you like about it? What did you learn from it? Did you ever face problems because of your ASD? If you could, would you do it again? Would you recommend me to do it too? Just tell me your experiences

Love,
cafeaulait

I volunteered at a nursing home for several months. I played games with the residents as part of the life enrichment program. It was fun. It was kind of hard at first because I was shy and talked very quietly so the people had trouble hearing me, especially during Bingo. I learned to speak up after a while.
Recently, I applied to volunteer at a transition program for young adults with cognitive disabilities. The teacher is very nice. I met with the students a couple of times and they were also very nice and sociable. I hope he (the teacher) calls me so I can really start volunteering there.
I also do Vacation Bible School at my church in the summer. I am a Crew Leader for the 3-5 year olds. It is fun and the little kids like me because I am funny. Plus, they don't care that I am socially awkward.
You should definitely volunteer.

Just before I began my PhD programme (autumn 2010), I had a summertime sort-of free, so I volunteered in my local library. I really liked being at the library while I was 'between time' until I was at my PhD lab. Plus, the librarians were really good to me. They had interest then in my upcoming PhD. Afterward I sent them a Thank you note and they gave me a commemorative canvas bookbag with their logo. In fact, when I finish my PhD this autumn, I might send them another card with an update. Anyway, I mostly helped with sorting titles into genres, even films. Only a few hours a week. Volunteering is non-committal, so enjoy your time.

Go for it, Cafeaulait! Plus, given your line of work/study, volunteering is excellent on your curriculum vitae. Check around, even ask at your university for leads. You may be able to work it into your studies for credit.

I volunteer at various community events, like Run for the Cure. I also donate blood regularly, which I'm told looks good on a resume (I don't know why). For the community events I volunteer at there's always people that I know from my course (Police Foundations) so it's not that bad, and I've never had any bad experiences.
I also volunteer on my school's Campus Emergency Response Team, where I volunteer nearly every Saturday for 12 hours (8pm-8am). It's mostly boring, but we're basically on call for any medical emergencies that occur on campus. The most severe I've had to deal with so far (I've only been on for a few months) are "heavily intoxicated persons". I don't like this volunteer position as much as I thought I would though, mostly because I always feel like I'm going to mess up and get someone hurt. The more I do it though, I'm sure I'll become more competent and comfortable. It's also pretty boring too, I spend the majority of my shifts wasting time on my computer (like now, when I SHOULD be studying, but whatever) and wondering what kind of calls I'll have for the night.

The key is to pick your volunteering duties carefully. I help out once a month in the kitchen at a homeless shelter, but I'm careful not to get involved in the parts that I'd be really bad at, like cooking the entrée. Because I've picked things I'm comfortable with (like the salad, the juice, and the utensils), the experience is very rewarding and I love it when we hand the meals out and people say, "Thank you," in a really heartfelt way.

I've done a good deal of volunteer work. I do stuff pretty regularly with Habitat for Humanity (construction). I've also worked in a soup kitchen, helped clean up trash for the city, and helped the elderly maintain their homes/yards. I would highly recommend it. For one, the people that you meet there, the ones who truly want to be there that is, are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. It is also very rewarding to see how much of a difference you can make in someone else's life, and just see how thankful they are to have people helping them out. Not to mention, it does serve as a reminder that not everyone has the advantages in life that we sometimes take for granted. I would do it again in a heartbeat, and actually will be very soon .

I never had any serious problems during volunteering, due to AS or otherwise. The main one I had was at a Habitat build once we had to get up on top of a roof to do some work. But the roof didn't have shingles yet on it so it was really slippery, and it had a pretty steep incline. I don't normally get scared of heights but that was a terrifying experience lol, I got up to the top of the roof and basically said "Heck no, get me down now!" They were very understanding and gave me something else to do instead. One thing about volunteering is that sometimes you may find yourself just standing around twiddling your thumbs because either there's nothing to do currently or you finished all your tasks. So in that case there's usually someone running things and you just have to find them and ask what you should work on next.

So, I would highly recommend volunteering! As for what to volunteer for, I don't really know enough about psychology to suggest anything in that field. But there are a lot of opportunities out there, so I'm sure you can find something! (I'm sure if you're in school they have an academic chapter of habitat for humanity...I've gotta promote it where I can lol!)

You may want to think about finding something that would give you some experience that would be useful for future employment.

As for AS it is a case of looking for a role that you can do. This is much the same as looking for a paid job however the voluntary organisations are more able to be flexible (and let you choose your tasks more).

I was thrown out of many jobs and called all sorts of names for being weird and different
so for 3 years i just sat at home doing nothing
and finally i got a paid part time job in a NGO
the job gives me income, it helps me while away my time, it helps me give back to society
though i dont have friends at workplace i am bullied and ignored etc
but somehow i am not judged and ridiculed like other workplaces

so i say that you should volunteer.

wow thanks everyone!

Voluntary work is a good idea, especially if you can volunteer somewhere that is related to the field you are studying and want to work in. Employers are always going to pick the person who demonstrates their passion for the field beyond just studying it. I wish I’d been able to do it when I was at University but I was too depressed.

I can't work full time at the moment but I volunteer once a week now at an organisation that gives horse riding lessons to disabled children. My AS has caused a few problems though. Firstly, I’m pretty terrible at interacting with everyone there but especially the children. Although I haven’t disclosed my diagnosis (yet) the other volunteers are wonderfully open-minded and supportive. They don’t force me to do things I’m uncomfortable with and I’m given more duties to do with the horses than the children now. They don’t expect me or push me to talk to the children too much. This suits me better! I’ve had some trouble learning simple things too because of processing issues but everyone has been patient with me. I am building up the courage to tell them about my diagnosis. I know they’ll be understanding because of how they’ve treated me already, plus a lot of the children we work with are on the spectrum.

I’ve done other voluntary work as well. It looks great on a CV and many skills you'll learn will be transferrable, which is obviously a major positive.

When I was a psych undergrad, my situation closely resembled yours (i.e., looking for volunteer work related to my degree). If you want to work with youths, and you are not averse to unpleasant subject matter, then I recommend you try to connect with your state's welfare office. States are always desperate for volunteers. Especially in the foster care system.

That's where I started. By chance, I was able to set-up an internship position and shadowed a social worker for 6 months. Afterwards, I kept moving agency to agency, all to get a good grasp of the field. Volunteering offers enormous opportunities.