5 Ways You Can Volunteer Your Time for Your Mental Health
December 5 has been deemed International Volunteer Day. We all know that volunteering has some great benefits to offer a community and those in need, but did you know that volunteering your time can boost your mental health, as well?
The Mental Health Benefits of Volunteering
Volunteering has a ton of benefits to offer your mental health and overall quality of life. There is something about realizing that you really can make a difference that leaves a person feeling happier and healthier than before. A few of these mental health benefits include:
- Many volunteer opportunities offer physical health benefits
- Volunteering can grant you a sense of purpose
- Volunteering is a great way to meet new and interesting people
- Volunteering can teach you valuable life skills
- Volunteering can combat stress
- Volunteering has been suggested to boost happiness
- Volunteering can improve your confidence
5 Ways to Volunteer Your Time for Mental Health Benefits
Consider Ways You Can Use Your Passion to Give Back to Your Community
You don’t want to spend your free time doing something that leaves you feeling drained and miserable. This will do little more than leave you unmotivated and burnt out. When considering ways to volunteer your time, think about your passions and consider ways you can use them to help your community. There are plenty of ways you can use your talents and passions to give back to your community. You just have to get creative!
Offer Food Services for Programs That Deliver to Those Who Are Hungry
Meals on Wheels, soup kitchens, and food pantries in your area can offer great volunteer opportunities that allow you to help feed the hungry. These opportunities can be great if you love being around other people or if you love preparing and sharing food with others.
Give Your Time and Social Skills to a Senior Center
Do you like hearing the stories other people have to share? Or perhaps you are great at keeping a conversation going. Senior centers and nursing homes can get lonely from time to time. Taking some time out of your day to play a board game with a senior citizen or just offer a listening ear for one of their thousands of awesome stories and memories can make more of a difference than you may know.
Volunteer Your Work Ethic Toward Building Houses for Those Who in Need of Shelter
Organizations like Habitat for Humanity offer those in need a place to call home. Not only will volunteering your time to building a home for someone else grant you a sense of accomplishment and importance, it will also teach you valuable life skills!
Take Some Time to Clean Up Your Favorite Beach, Park, or River
If you love the outdoors, volunteering to pick up trash in your favorite outdoor spot is a great way to enjoy nature. Putting in the effort to clean your community’s best outdoor spaces will help you and those around you enjoy the outdoors so much more.
If Your Mental Health is Struggling…
If you have found that your mental health is struggling, we are here to help. Contact us today and one of our highly skilled and compassionate therapists will work with you to get to the bottom of your mental health struggles. Sometimes, we can do everything we need to take care of our wellbeing and find that our mental health or social wellness still struggles. These moments are just what therapy is for. You don’t have to suffer alone.
References:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29132081/
https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/February-2022/How-Volunteering-Improves-Mental-Health
keywords: benefits of volunteering, mental health benefits, therapy, social wellness