Naomi has been volunteering with ChildLine since December 2003. She had been thinking about volunteering for a while, as she wanted to do something that was outside of her family and her work, and outside of her usual experiences.
'A friend recommended that I went along to a ChildLine open evening which I did. I wanted to do something to give back to society and ChildLine seemed ideal.'
Naomi received intensive training at the beginning to enable her to handle calls. She also had to do quite a lot of shifts to build up experience of different types of calls. She was volunteering one evening a week, but at the moment she is doing one evening every three weeks. This is because she is also undertaking training with the Nottingham Counselling Service to become a volunteer counsellor.
Naomi has found ChildLine really rewarding. She feels they make a real difference offering the opportunity for kids to speak to someone who doesn't know them and won't judge them. Often children call whose lives are held in the balance because they are so unhappy.
'It can be very sad, but I know that I'm doing something to help the kids that call us. ChildLine has been really fulfilling for me. It's opened up a lot of opportunities, like the new volunteer counselling training course. I work as a manager at a bank, and ChildLine has offered me the opportunity to do something completely different, and to develop and use different skills outside my work.'
Jawaid is a successful boxer, he is is the IBO Welterweight Champion and IBO Ring Holder, and was awarded an MBE in 2004. He lives in the Meadows in Nottingham and gives a lot back to his local community by voluntarily running a boxing gym at his local mosque.
Vicky is a student at Nottingham Trent University, and also volunteers at the Chinese Welfare Association.