Every year people from all walks of life around the UK take time to volunteer and make a huge difference to their communities. To learn more and get inspired, read Laura’s story below.
Laura attended a volunteer appointment with Tina Wragg – Volunteering Coordinator at The Newtown Centre in Nuneaton with her support worker. She had heard about Warwickshire & Solihull CAVA through undertaking an assessment at IAPT and had been referred to CAVA for volunteering, to help improve her self-confidence. Since the COVID pandemic, Laura has found it difficult to meet new people and re-engage back into her local community.
Laura suffered a horrific car accident in 2000, where she was a passenger in her friend’s car, which resulted in Laura being in a coma for a long period of time. Laura was only 16 at the time, and had left school just weeks earlier with dreams of pursuing a career in medicine.
When she woke up from the coma, Laura had been left with terrible injuries that meant she could not walk, talk or even recognise her family or remember who she was. Laura suffered a fractured skull, brain haemorrhage and partial paralysis to the left side that would change her life forever.
Laura spent 18 months in hospital and rehabilitation centres before she was well enough to return home. But that was just the start of her long battle to rebuild her life.
“The accident was hard but the hardest part was losing my friends,” she said.
Laura started to rebuild her life and had a passion for art she took a GCSE art course. This then led on to a BTEC in art at North Warwickshire College, where she began to make new friends her own age again, and even a fine arts degree at De Montfort University, Leicester, which Laura describes as the best three years of her life
In November 2009 she began volunteering two or three days a week at Sherbourne Fields School in Coventry, a school for physically disabled children, which she thoroughly enjoyed!.
Laura spent most of her time in the art department, sharing her arts passion with the students and would also sell her art and donate the profits to the school. When COVID pandemic hit the nation over 2 years ago, the school were restricted to take any volunteers back due to working with vulnerable children and high levels of infection rate.
Laura approached CAVA in the hope of finding another volunteer placement, as it was proving difficult, as she felt her health issues was even more of a barrier since the pandemic hit and it was making her feel unmotivated and worthless. With the help of the Volunteering Coordinator Tina, Laura was registered on the online Volunteer Connect portal, to identify volunteering roles in her local area and match her skills and abilities with the types of roles on the system.
Laura became excited about a role that was being advertised at Nuneaton and Bedworth Mencap as an Arts Facilitator, it was in the centre of Nuneaton so ideal for her to get there. Mencap is a UK charity, who support people with a learning disability and also support families and carers too. This was an ideal match for Laura, as it meant that she would be in a supportive organisation, who would be familiar with someone with disability needs and could support her better. Laura visited the organisation and was offered a trial day to assist with their arts and crafts sessions to see if she likes it, with a view to securing a placement to attend volunteering on a weekly basis.
Laura thanked CAVA for helping to give her the motivation to look for something else and re-engage her back in to the community. She now has that passion and drive back again continuing to help others in fine art.
