‘It’s a classic win-win’: The ways volunteering does you good

At 22, Usha Makkena has been volunteering for almost half her life.

Her first volunteer role was as a library peer in year 7. Today, the medical student from western Sydney has multiple roles and spends much of her time volunteering as an emergency medical technician with St John Ambulance, where she’s worked since her late teens, with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and at mental health organisations like Beyond Blue, The Butterfly Foundation and Headspace.

Last year, she was named New South Wales’ Young Volunteer of the Year.

Medical student Usha Makkena devotes over 20 hours per week to volunteering.Credit: Wolter Peeters

In the early years of her degree, Makkena volunteered around 40 hours per week, but has recently dropped down to 20 hours per week as her studies become more demanding.

“I never stopped saying yes because the work really inspired me, and the people I’ve met, the relationships I’ve built, and the work I’ve contributed to, all of that has continued to inspire me and empowered me to keep going on,” she says.

One-quarter of Australians over 15 engage in some kind of volunteer work, with those aged 40 to 54 most likely to have offered their unpaid time to an organisation. Of this group, 34 per cent who volunteered in the previous 12 months had contributed 21 to 99 hours during that period, and 28 per cent contributed 100 or more hours.

Volunteering offers many benefits to the economy, and the people and communities it serves.

But Dr Tim Sharp, a clinical psychologist and founder of The Happiness Institute is a big proponent of volunteering says there is value beyond what it can do for others.

“One of many things I love about volunteering is that it’s a classic win-win,” he says.

Physically, it has been associated with lower blood pressure, reduced risk of heart attack and slower biological ageing.

Socially and mentally, it has been associated with lower signs of depression and greater life satisfaction. Children and teenagers who volunteer also report lower rates of anxiety and fewer behavioural problems.

“We are social animals. From an evolutionary perspective, for as long as we know, giving and contributing in that way enhances our standing in the social community and being part of a social community is necessary for our survival,” says Sharp.

“But again, it’s good for us as individuals because connection and community is one of, if not the most significant contributor to health and well-being.”

Selba-Gondoza Luka, founder of Afri-Aus Care, a mental health not-for-profit based in Melbourne.Credit: Justin McManus

In 2015, Selba-Gondoza Luka OAM founded Afri-Aus Care, a Melbourne-based community organisation dedicated to breaking down taboos and stigma around mental health, particularly within African and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities.

Luka migrated to Australia in 1998 from Malawi with her daughter Kwacha.

While studying nursing and later a master’s in clinical mental health, she suffered the loss of another child, leading to postpartum depression, and experienced family violence.

Her experience, coupled with what she saw in her work in hospitals and prisons, inspired her to start Afri-Aus Care.

“There was a pattern of young people or African people who were hospitalised or were in jail, simply because of the challenges that we’re finding in this beautiful country we now call home.”

“Starting the organisation as a volunteer helped me to heal because I could understand that even other people who had seen the worst were able to uplift each other,” she says.

Luka says Afri-Aus Care operates according to Ubuntu, an African tradition of thought that prioritises community and empathy.

“So, seeing yourself in another person. Healing has been seeing other people: we talk and support each other and where we cannot, we refer people to healthcare providers.”

“Volunteering is the way to alleviate issues, and it also builds character and confidence,” says Luka.

For Makkena – once a shy kid – volunteering has taught her valuable life lessons.

“I’ve learned as a volunteer that real leadership doesn’t always look like standing in front of a room. Sometimes, it looks like quiet listening: being there when it matters and helping someone else find their voice.”

Much of her work involves working with youth-based organisations – exposing her to the many challenges young people today face, but also fuelling a sense of optimism.

“Young people today are navigating an incredibly complex world between the mental health crisis, housing insecurity, climate anxiety and growing social pressures. It’s all very overwhelming and I see that firsthand,” she says.

“Oddly enough volunteering in these spaces has actually made me more hopeful. I’ve seen how deeply young people care, and I’ve seen they’re willing to do a lot for each other to lead change, even when they’re tired, when they’re busy, and to speak up about things that past generations might have stayed silent on.”

Lifeline 13 11 14; National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service 1800RESPECT; PANDA 1300 726 306

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