Karen McGovern

“For a window in time, I get to help someone feel a little bit better.”

Karen began her volunteer journey when she was a child inspired by the brilliant work, her grandparents did. “They always did something; they were hugely into the volunteering side of things.” Karen remembers as a young girl helping at flag days for the ‘Lourdes Invalid Fund’ a cause her grandparents regularly supported. In her later teen years, she volunteered with an organisation called ‘Friedreich Ataxia’. She did this for 9 years and would support the members of the organisation to be able to go on holidays as well as social events they had.  

Karen registered with Louth Volunteer Centre in 2015. She applied for the role with ‘Childline’ through this. “Louth Volunteer Centre followed up with me to make sure I had heard back from the organisation and things were progressing. I quite liked that. I found it good.” Karen would recommend people register with Louth Volunteer Centre. “it’s a great place to look at all the volunteer roles available.”

When I spoke to Karen about her motivation to continue her volunteering, she told me about her current employment in the IT sector. “There is interaction, but you can end up sitting on your own all day. Volunteering somewhere like ‘Childline’ you’re getting to interact with people on a personal level.” She also felt that “if you are reasonably good at doing something and you enjoy it and you feel like you are contributing something, then you keep doing it.” Karen spoke about the pride she feels being able to support someone is a great motivation. “Even if you just help someone get some information or help them calm a little bit, haven’t you done something good for that person that day.”

Karen loves her role with ‘Childline’ due to the amount she has learned from it. “it's an interesting role as you are always learning.” Karen feels like she has gained a huge number of skills throughout her time volunteering particularly in her role with ‘Childline’. “I have learned a huge amount about how to interact with people and I have learned a huge number of listening skills.” Karen has also become more aware of the assumptions that she can make in her day-to-day life and has learned to recognise that and has learned the importance of not doing this. “You feel your skills improve and develop.” Karen has enjoyed being able to take the skills she has learned in her volunteer role and implement them in her personal and work life. “When I am building something for people now at work, I find I listen more rather than jumping in with my assumptions.”

I spoke to Karen about moments she was proud of during her volunteering journey, and she told me about how the team she is a part of in ‘Childline’ has won team of the year twice in the last few years. An amazing accomplishment that her and the rest of the team are very proud of. She also spoke about her feelings before she started with ‘Childline’. “You're thinking can I do this, am I the type of person that this work is for?” “When I started off, I was so nervous on the phones but after a while I started to become more comfortable. At that point I was thinking I can do this. When that clicks for you, the other awards don’t matter.” “You feel like you're contributing something and that’s a very good feeling.”

It was clear from talking to Karen the passion she has for her volunteer role with ‘Childline’. Karen has enjoyed her volunteer role so much that she has decided to go back to college to study psychology.

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