Case Studies

Meet Kaddyjatou Jallow

Community Volunteer

My name is Kaddyjatou Jallow, I am 26 years of age, from Gambia, West Africa. I moved to England in 2012 and now live in Horden with my husband.  I decided to volunteer for wellbeing in the hope of meeting new people and learning new things. I expect to gain experience, new skills and friendship.

Meet Shane Britton

Soon to be Community Health Champion

Hi my name is Shane, I am volunteering to gain experience and help others in the process. I bring up my daughter as a single father and hope that volunteering can help me meet new people.

Meet Helen Duffy

Community Health Champion

Helen Duffy, age 44, living in Hawthorn; I decided to start volunteering when I returned to education to study Public Health after having my four children. I was hoping to gain experience working with the public in a healthcare setting but also to fit it around my family life and studies. I began volunteering in 2014 and completed the Health Champion course; I joined the Wellbeing for life team in July 2015 as a Community Health Champion volunteer, supporting awareness campaigns and assisting healthy cooking skills sessions with a variety of service users.

The work I have participated in has given me much needed insight into healthcare as a whole and has also given me new skills especially confidence for public speaking; this has enabled me to lead a healthy cooking skills session recently, nerve racking but also enjoyable!

I hope to further enhance my skills and knowledge, with the end goal of employment in the future.

Meet Sarah Howells

Community Health Champion

I started volunteering for Wellbeing for life after a massive lifestyle change set me on a path to want to help others do the same.

Six years ago I was 20 stone in weight and very unfit and took it upon myself to make the changes to lose weight and lead a healthier lifestyle, it was so tough at first but so worth it.  Finding a new lease of life has made me passionate about health and wellbeing and I decided I wanted to work towards training to be a Health Trainer. I have never been a fan of fad diets so was keen to get involved in something that promoted being healthy and helped people to make sustainable lifestyle changes; discovering wellbeing for life gave me that.

Being able to get involved in volunteering has changed my life in a big way, I feel like I have another purpose to life other than just being a parent and to me it is “going to work” even though I’m not getting paid for it. I have attended lots of courses for free and gained qualifications and valuable skills, I am also studying for my Health Trainer Qualification.

I love the fact there are lots of things to get involved with. I have been involved with an exercise class for older adults which was such great fun, I have signposted for events and seeing the result of signposting helps to see why it’s important. I have helped out with a practical cooking sessions at a college which I really enjoyed, I have shadowed health trainers on home visits and help out at Eat Wise to drop a size, this has enabled me a taste of what the job I want entails and in 6 short months have gained experience and became much more employable. The people I have met while volunteering have been amazing, from the people in the community to the friends/contacts I have made on courses, to the staff at the wellbeing for life hub. Everyone is so friendly and helpful.  My goal is to secure a job in the future as a health trainer and continue to promote health and wellbeing.

Meet Maria Freeman

Community Health Champion

Up until my Public Health university course I worked as a Catering Manager in an extremely busy call centre, for thirteen years. However, after being made redundant in 2011, and developing an interest in public health, I made a proactive decision to fulfil my ambition of becoming a qualified Public Health teacher/trainer and began to study Public Health at the University of Sunderland in 2013.

In order to gain some further experience and help out within the community, I decided to contact the Wellbeing for life service to see if it would be possible for me to do some volunteering.  After meeting up with Laura and Mariyeh and discussing the areas in which I could benefit the service and how I could gain further experience, I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to become a community health champion volunteer.

Laura and Mariyeh have been extremely helpful in the process and have made me feel very welcome.  They have explained the role and the different services that they provide in such a way that I am really looking forward to getting started and hopefully make a difference in the community.