By Sophie Almack, Volunteering and Enterprise Communications Officer

Hello! 

All of us here in Careers and Placements want to wish you a very warm welcome to the Summer Term. We hope you’ve had a restful vacation and are keeping safe and well. 

We’re currently living through some unique times and the most important thing is to look after your physical and mental health. Our earlier post about working from home and looking after your wellbeing has some useful tips on how to build a new routine.

This is a time to look after yourself, friends and family. Little things such as eating healthily, getting some fresh air (whilst complying with social distancing measures) and doing the things you enjoy can make a huge difference to how you feel. Even if you’re away from York, keeping up with friends and family is a great way to make yourself feel happier. Something as quick as checking in on a friend can make your day and theirs.

We know that many of you are looking for ways to help others too, and there’s ways you can do this safely. Over 750,000 people have registered to be NHS volunteers and over 2500 people have registered with the City of York Council scheme, which is wonderful. If you do choose to volunteer please only volunteer through recognised schemes such as these to keep yourself and others safe.

If you prefer to volunteer without leaving your house, then YUSU has some great remote volunteering opportunities available – why not contribute to vital conservation work through ZSL’s Instant Wild app!  

If you don’t want to volunteer right now, then that’s completely okay too. The most important thing at the moment is keeping yourself safe and healthy, taking on as much or as little as you feel able. 

Remember that the Volunteering Team is still very much here to support you. We’re still working with charities and the City of York Council to see how students can safely support the City at this time. We want to say a huge thank you to students who are already supporting virtual volunteering projects – you’re amazing! We’ll continue to share more of these opportunities as they arise, so be sure to keep up with our Twitter and Instagram accounts so you don’t miss out.

All the best,

The Volunteering team
Careers and Placements