Ann Davis works for Wolverhampton PCT and volunteered for Words for Work. Read about her experiences below:
My name is Ann and I work as a Training Co-ordinator for Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust. I have recently been involved as a Business Volunteer in the Words for Work Programme in partnership with Heath Park Business & Enterprise College in Wolverhampton. Initially I was extremely nervous despite preparing well by reading the literature provided, attending the volunteer training, visiting the school and completing some general communication skill revision. The thought of trying to inspire young teenagers to communicate effectively was daunting.
Unfortunately I was unable to attend the first two volunteer sessions but was introduced to the groups at session 7 and given a recap of the missed sessions. The first activity I was involved in was producing communication flags. I took the role of “maker” while the group members thought about the words they wanted to use and wrote them on the flags. The group were very active and we used the flags at the end of the session to identify how they had all communicated, including me and the second volunteer in the group!
The lads in the group are very different. They are all very capable but the difference in their levels of communication skill is distinct, which surprised me. Due to this it was difficult at times to ensure everyone was involved and motivated. This was especially apparent when we were given the next task of deciding what our product was going to be. For sometime ideas were being thrown into the pot and yet no decisions were made. The lads did not want to do something conventional and were not interested in drama or writing. Eventually they decided they wanted to produce a board game that would demonstrate the theory behind how teams form and develop in an interactive manner. The group started to discuss the design for the game and everyone was allocated tasks to match their skills and interests. Goals were set for completion at the next session. The only real difficulty once it had been decided what the group product was to be was to keep them realistic and rein in the enthusiasm!
