We believe in engaging the local community with the people we care for and support. Our community objective is to engage the local community with the people we support by offering opportunities to volunteer and actively build links.

Through our 'Blossom' volunteer programme Mannawell will seek to encourage teenagers and young adults from the local community to volunteer with and meet the people we care for and support.

The people we support are encouraged to have a presence in their local community and are supported to develop relationships with people outside of their home setting and staff team. We believe it is very important to help people to access health, leisure and educational activities that give them fulfilling and joyful days. The service seeks to attend to people’s physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

Moreover, families and friends are encouraged to meet together regularly to help the person accomplish their goals in life. The involvement of families and friends is greatly valued. 

People with disabilities often have a unique and beautiful ability to touch the lives of people who meet and befriend them.

Part of Mannawell’s vision is a structured volunteering programme for teenagers and young adults called ‘Blossom’. Teenagers and young adults are to be given the opportunity to volunteer in the daily life of people with learning disabilities by helping them with their daily activities (with the appropriate consent, safeguards and supervision in place). Particularly, we have seen that teenagers vulnerable to feelings of sadness, depression, bullying, and loneliness benefit from volunteering with people with learning disabilities. Partnerships with local schools and relevant charities are being pursued.

The aim is to connect these teenagers and young adults with a community filled with compassionate care and to encourage them to reach out and befriend people with physical and learning disabilities whose vulnerability is more visible compared with their own emotional pain. It is often the teenagers and young adults’ first experience of engaging with disability and learning about the challenges that need to be overcome on a daily basis. This helps to change their perspective of situations they are in and give them the courage not to become victims emotionally to those difficult situations. 

Based on a sample of the British population from 1996 to 2008, a research study found that volunteering can play a protective role for individuals and increase their well-being in the face of otherwise unsatisfactory life conditions (Binder, 2014). Volunteering helps people feel more socially connected, thus reducing loneliness and depression (Brown, Hoye and Nicolson, 2012)

If you are interested in being part of the volunteer programme, or setting up a partnership, please contact us.