Join the Voluntary Army!
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For basic level volunteering, you may need few or even no qualifications at all. It may help if you explain that your motivation for volunteering is to gain entry to a particular healthcare profession.
Many membership-based volunteer organisations such as St. John Ambulance and the Red Cross have thriving youth sections, and if you volunteer to assist with this kind of activity you may need to gain accreditation yourself beforehand.
You will often have to undergo police checks or other screening processes before you volunteer. Sadly, many abusers use voluntary work as a way of reaching potential victims, and many voluntary organisations - including faith communities - now require volunteers to undergo an application process and to experience training before they are 'let loose' on the public. However, don't worry - if your reasons for volunteering are genuine you will have nothing to fear.
For some volunteer posts, especially those that involve the handling of fresh food or contact with particularly sick patients, you may also have to undergo some kind of health screening. Once again, don't worry - this is designed to protect you and the people you are volunteering to assist.
Most important is your attitude to the volunteer work itself. Expect to be successful if you are genuinely interested in the people you are helping or the cause you have allied yourself with. Many voluntary organisations are delighted to accept help from those destined for the medical professions - they may be very willing to show you life at the 'ground floor'.
