How volunteering supports your community and career

Are you considering volunteering with us? Amy Howard shares her experiences of how volunteering supported both her career and community.

The start of Amy's volunteering journey with RCOT 

I’ve been an RCOT member throughout my career, starting with a student membership. I’d read the news and journal articles and saw an advert inviting members to join the Specialist Sections and co-lead the reablement and intermediate care space. I remember thinking that’s an area I’m really interested in, but it sounded a bit scary if I’m honest. I couldn’t see how I could join a Specialist Section and be part of a national committee. 

I’ve always had a tendency for leadership and enjoy supporting people to get the best out of their roles. Whilst it was a natural step for me to join the committee, was a natural step for me, the Specialist Section was quite a traditional model with a formal approach. You had to be seconded by a member, and I wasn’t sure how I could do that. The Chair supported me and I joined in 2018, starting as Forum Lead for reablement and then as Vice Chair. When the pandemic hit, many volunteers moved on, and I became Chair in 2022. 

The benefits of volunteering with RCOT  

I loved my time with the Specialist Section. We’d come together to share, network, create learning opportunities, and improve members’ experiences. It showed that we’re a collective - a community of professionals who come together beyond our day jobs. We learned about the latest developments in our area, shared best practice and discussed what good looks like across different fields of expertise that we wouldn’t otherwise gave access to. For example, when new hospital discharge guidance came out, it was invaluable to share experiences in a safe space with colleagues outside my environment. 

It boosted my CV being on a national committee. It helped me with credibility, being able to hold national executive space, work with partners and liaise with RCOT.  

Opportunities for improvement 

As the Specialist Section: Older People, we talked about RCOT needing to move with the times. We’d been lobbying RCOT to be more creative and more digitally advanced too. It was hard to contact members because of information governance. The formal constructs of executive committees also alienated some members who felt they needed to be very senior to get involved 

We recognised we needed to do things differently. We’re all facing the intense pressures of our working week and time for CPD reflections gets squeezed. Our Specialist Section had a willing committee, but the landscape shifted, with less time available for volunteering. We knew we needed to widen access from Specialist Sections into something new and exciting, with different volunteering opportunities.  

Hopes for the new communities’ and volunteering roles 

I'm really looking forward to thinking about with the new community platform and encouraging members of my committee to look at the new opportunities it presents. We see the new communities as an evolution. It’s more accessible for members and less hierarchical. There’s a space for everybody to feel valued by RCOT for the contribution they can give - whatever shape that is. We’re embracing that we can move forward, with better technology at our fingertips.