Atlas›Domain XV · Nature, philosophy, social & rites of passage›Guide 077
Guide XV-077

Volunteering and the helper-therapy principle

Frank Riessman1965
A 29 · L 61 · M 1021 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: Frank Riessman's helper-therapy principle ("The 'Helper' Therapy Principle", Social Work 10(2), 1965, pp. 27–32), as its four helper benefits are summarised in peer-support training by Mark Salzer (citing Riessman 1965 and Skovholt 1974); formal volunteering as NCVO's Time Well Spent national survey (2019) describes it, including its eight features of a quality volunteer experience; behavioural-activation framing as in Domain II 040.

This is not a psychotherapy. It is a principle about helping plus a civic practice (volunteering) that a psychotherapist can assess, prepare a client for, integrate into treatment as valued activity, monitor, and help sustain or end. The core idea, as Riessman's principle is summarised: people who help others gain from the act of helping, through a stronger sense of interpersonal competence from making an impact on another person's life, a sense of equal footing in giving and receiving, new personally relevant learning, and social approval from the person helped and from others [source: Salzer, Peer Support presentation, citing Riessman 1965 and Skovholt 1974]. NCVO's survey covers formal volunteering through groups, clubs and organisations, and frames good volunteering as "time well spent": inclusive, flexible, impactful, connected, balanced, enjoyable, voluntary and meaningful [source: Summary of NCVO Time Well Spent 2019].

Evidence status in one line: a systematic review found that cohort studies showed favourable effects of volunteering on depression, life satisfaction and wellbeing, that these findings were not confirmed by experimental studies, that a meta-analysis of five cohort studies found lower mortality risk in volunteers (risk ratio 0.78), and that causal mechanisms remain unclear [source: Jenkinson et al. 2013, BMC Public Health 13:773]. A randomised study in people with elevated depression or anxiety symptoms found that acts of kindness, social activities and a brief cognitive-reappraisal intervention all reduced symptoms, with kindness producing greater gains in social connection [source: APA blog on Cregg and Cheavens 2022].

Cross-references: behavioural activation (II 040); social prescribing (V 155, pointer 081); twelve-step fellowships and other mutual aid and peer support (V 099–135, pointer 082); men's sheds, community organising and sport for development sit in the same family.

2. Framework

No founder or body publishes a phased clinical protocol for using volunteering in therapy; the phases below are a therapist-side structure built from the helper-therapy benefits, NCVO's quality features and behavioural-activation logic [synthesis]. No source gives a session count or duration; volunteering work is usually woven into an existing course of therapy rather than delivered as a separate programme [synthesis].

  • Phase A: Assessment and formulation. Goal: understand the client's helping history, motives, current capacity and risks, and what function helping would serve (connection, purpose, structure, skill, career, or escape from distress). Move on when the client has said in their own words what they hope to get and give, and no current risk makes a role unsafe for them or others [synthesis; motive functions from Clary et al. 1998 as reported by the Scottish Government literature review].
  • Phase B: Exploration and choice. Goal: match a role to the client's values, interests, access needs and available time, using NCVO's eight features as a checklist. Move on when one or two concrete options are identified and the client freely chooses to try one [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019 for the features; synthesis for the procedure].
  • Phase C: Preparation and activation. Goal: a small, scheduled first step (enquiry, visit, taster session), with barriers solved and disclosure decisions made. Move on when the first contact has happened [synthesis; BA framing per II 040].
  • Phase D: Participation and review. Goal: link the activity to mood, connection and meaning; track the helper-therapy benefits; consolidate relationships. Continue while the role is net-positive for the client [synthesis; benefits from Salzer citing Riessman].
  • Phase E: Sustaining, rebalancing or ending. Goal: protect against overburden, burnout and secondary traumatic stress; renegotiate, pause or leave well. NCVO identifies "too much time being taken up" as the commonest negative experience and recommends checking in on the most involved volunteers to avoid burnout [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019]. Return to Phase B if the role no longer fits; close the work when the client can manage the role independently [synthesis].

3. Guiding principles

  • Voluntary means voluntary. NCVO defines volunteering at its best as freely chosen, on the volunteer's own terms [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019]. Practical meaning: the therapist suggests and explores; never prescribes, pressures or makes therapy contingent on volunteering [synthesis].
  • Helping benefits the helper, not automatically. The helper-therapy gains (competence, equality, personally relevant learning, social approval) are possibilities to be checked, not guaranteed [source: Salzer citing Riessman 1965]. Practical meaning: review whether each gain is actually happening for this client.
  • Evidence humility. Benefits are mainly observational and mechanisms are unclear [source: Jenkinson et al. 2013]. Practical meaning: present volunteering as worth trying for the client's own reasons, not as a treatment with proven effects.
  • Fit over virtue. NCVO's "meaningful" feature: the role resonates with the person's life, interests and priorities [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019]. Practical meaning: choose the role by values and interests, not by what seems most worthy.
  • Balance and flexibility. Roles should fit around circumstances and avoid unnecessary burden; frequent volunteers report more benefits but also more negatives [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019]. Practical meaning: start small and keep reviewing load.
  • Connection is a key active ingredient. Feeling connected, appreciated, and doing meaningful work are named as key volunteer-wellbeing factors [source: Stuart and Crawford 2022]. Practical meaning: favour roles with contact with other people and help the client turn contact into relationships.
  • Motives matter. The six motive functions (values, understanding, social, career, protective, enhancement) shape satisfaction [source: Clary et al. 1998 as reported by the Scottish Government literature review]. Practical meaning: name the client's motives and watch the "protective" one (escaping negative feelings) for avoidance [synthesis].
  • Reciprocity, not rescue. Riessman's equality benefit is a sense of equal give and take [source: Salzer]. Practical meaning: frame the client as a contributor with something to offer, not a patient sent to be fixed by helping.
  • Action before motivation. In behavioural activation, valued activity is scheduled rather than awaited [source: II 040; synthesis here]. Practical meaning: plan the next small step even when interest is low.
  • Inclusion and access. Disabled volunteers were slightly less likely than non-disabled volunteers to agree that there is a culture of respect and trust (86% against 88%, a gap NCVO calls relatively small) [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019]. Practical meaning: plan for access needs and validate poor experiences rather than attributing them to the client.
  • Watch the helper's load. Fatigue and burnout were reported especially in distressing and emotionally challenging roles [source: Stuart and Crawford 2022]. Practical meaning: screen helpers in demanding roles for burnout and secondary traumatic stress.
  • The therapist does not recruit or place. The therapist helps the client choose and prepare; the organisation recruits, vets, trains and supervises [synthesis]. Practical meaning: never broker a role for a client or vouch for them without explicit consent.
  • Boundaries and dual roles. Volunteering alongside a client, or recruiting clients to an organisation the therapist leads, creates multiple relationships; see APA Ethics Code Standard 3.05 (https://www.apa.org/ethics/code). Practical meaning: avoid shared roles with current clients; consult if overlap is unavoidable [synthesis].
  • Safeguarding first. Roles with children or adults at risk carry the organisation's own vetting and safeguarding duties [synthesis]. Practical meaning: never minimise a relevant risk history to help a client secure such a role.
  • Confidentiality outside the room. The client decides what the organisation knows about their mental health [synthesis]. Practical meaning: contact coordinators only with specific written consent.

4. Intervention inventory

The sources describe a principle, survey findings and quality features rather than clinical techniques, so most procedures below are therapist-side applications, each marked [synthesis]; the named content they draw on is attributed inline.

4.1 Helping-history and meaning interview

  • Purpose / when: Phase A, whenever volunteering, caregiving or helping comes up, or when a client is isolated, unemployed, retired or bereaved of a role [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Ask about past helping: formal (clubs, charities, faith groups) and informal (neighbours, family care). (2) For each, ask what it gave and what it cost. (3) Ask how helping was valued in the family and culture of origin, including religious duties of giving or service. (4) Ask whether helping has ever been a way of avoiding own needs. (5) Summarise the patterns back [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "When have you been useful to someone and felt good about it? And when did helping leave you drained?"
  • Watch for: pride and energy when describing particular roles (a lead for Phase B); exhaustion, resentment or compulsive caretaking (flag for 4.3 and 4.15). Working: the client can name at least one helping experience that felt nourishing [synthesis].

4.2 Motive mapping with the six functions

  • Purpose / when: Phase A–B, to understand why the client wants to volunteer and what will sustain them. Draws on the six functions of the Volunteer Functions Inventory (values, understanding, social, career, protective, enhancement) [source: Clary et al. 1998 as reported by the Scottish Government literature review]. The inventory itself is a published instrument; use only the function names here, not its items.
  • Steps: (1) Explain the six functions in plain words: acting on what matters (values), learning or using skills (understanding), being with people (social), career or employability (career), easing bad feelings (protective), feeling better about oneself and growing (enhancement). (2) Ask the client to rank which apply. (3) Note which roles would feed the top two. (4) Record the ranking to revisit in Phase D [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "People volunteer for different reasons: to live their values, to learn, to meet people, for work experience, to feel less bad, or to feel more themselves. Which of those are loudest for you?"
  • Watch for: a single protective motive with no other (risk of using helping to escape; see 4.3); career motives in a client who will be disappointed if no job follows. Working: the chosen role visibly serves the client's top motives [synthesis].

4.3 Protective-motive and avoidance check

  • Purpose / when: Phase A and whenever helping appears to replace the client's own care, or when the client volunteers more as their distress rises [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Ask what the client would be feeling or doing if they were not helping. (2) Ask whether helping ever stops them attending to their own health, therapy or relationships. (3) Distinguish approach (towards a value) from escape (away from a feeling). (4) If escape dominates, agree that volunteering will sit alongside, not instead of, work on the avoided issue [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Helping can be a way towards something you care about, or a way away from something that hurts. Which is it for you right now, or is it both?"
  • Watch for: guilt when not helping; inability to say no; volunteering surges during low mood or after losses. Working: the client keeps their own appointments and self-care while volunteering [synthesis].

4.4 Readiness, risk and safeguarding screen

  • Purpose / when: Phase A, before any role is chosen [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Review current risk using your service's standard suicide and self-harm assessment; a crisis is a reason to postpone, not to add a role. (2) Note states that can make a role unsafe or overwhelming (acute psychosis, emerging hypomania with rapidly increasing commitments, intoxication on duty, a fresh bereavement in a bereavement-support role). (3) For roles with children or adults at risk, remind the client that the organisation will apply its own vetting and safeguarding, and do not help conceal relevant history. (4) Check physical demands with the client's physician where relevant; do not set activity levels yourself. (5) Document the decision and review date [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Before we look at roles, let's check that now is a good time, so the role adds to your life rather than adding pressure."
  • Watch for: pressure to start immediately to prove recovery; a role that mirrors the client's own unresolved trauma (for example, a crisis line soon after their own crisis). Working: the timing and role type are agreed with a review point. Crisis resources if needed: 988 (US); Samaritans 116 123 (UK and Ireland) [synthesis].

4.5 Values-to-role matching with NCVO's eight features

  • Purpose / when: Phase B, to choose among options.
  • Steps: (1) List two to four candidate roles. (2) For each, rate with the client against NCVO's features: inclusive, flexible, impactful, connected, balanced, enjoyable, voluntary, meaningful [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019]. (3) Add practicalities: travel, cost, access, time of day, contact with people. (4) Choose one to try first; keep a second in reserve [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's test each option: would it fit around your week, would you meet people, would it feel like it matters, and could you leave it without fuss?"
  • Watch for: choosing the most demanding or most 'worthy' role; an option failing on "voluntary" (family, faith community or employer pressure). Working: the client chooses with some enthusiasm and can name why [synthesis].

4.6 Behavioural-activation integration

  • Purpose / when: Phase C–D for clients with depression, withdrawal or loss of structure; follows the behavioural-activation logic in II 040.
  • Steps: (1) Place the volunteering step in the activity schedule as a valued activity, on a specific day, as the client chooses. (2) Rate predicted and actual mood, connection and sense of accomplishment before and after. (3) Review the ratings in the next session and adjust the step. (4) Do not set exercise or activity prescriptions; for physically active roles, route questions about safe levels to the client's physician or a qualified exercise professional [source: II 040 for BA; synthesis for application].
  • Example language (illustrative): "We won't wait until you feel like it. Let's pick one small piece and see how it actually feels compared with how you expect it to feel."
  • Watch for: predicted ratings consistently lower than actual (useful evidence against hopeless predictions); a role used only as distraction. Working: the client notices a link between helping and mood or connection [synthesis].

4.7 Graded first step and barrier problem-solving

  • Purpose / when: Phase C, when the client hesitates or keeps postponing.
  • Steps: (1) Break entry into steps: read about the organisation, send an enquiry, attend an open day or taster, do one shift. (2) For each barrier (transport, cost, childcare, disability access, social anxiety, literacy, a criminal record), generate options and pick one. (3) Agree the next single step and when it will happen. (4) Review and repeat [synthesis]. NCVO found disabled volunteers slightly less likely to report a culture of respect and trust, so plan access questions early [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019].
  • Example language (illustrative): "What is the smallest step that would still count as moving towards this: an email, a phone call, looking at their website?"
  • Watch for: repeated postponement (return to 4.2 and 4.3 to check motive and fear); steps too big. Working: steps are taken between sessions [synthesis].

4.8 Small acts of kindness as a bridge

  • Purpose / when: Phase C, for clients not ready for a formal role, or between roles. Draws on the finding that acts of kindness improved social connection more than social activities or cognitive reappraisal in people with elevated depression or anxiety symptoms [source: APA blog on Cregg and Cheavens 2022]; the study's exact protocol is not given here [uncertain: not verified].
  • Steps: (1) Invite the client to choose a few small, low-cost kind acts that fit their life (a message, a favour for a neighbour, helping a colleague). (2) Schedule them. (3) Afterwards, note mood, how the other person responded, and any sense of connection. (4) Use the experience to judge readiness for a formal role [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Before signing up for anything, would you try a couple of small kind things this week, and notice what happens in you and between you and the other person?"
  • Watch for: kindness used to placate or appease someone who is harmful to the client; underestimating the value of small acts (the blog reports givers tend to underestimate their value) [source: APA blog]. Working: the client reports warmth, connection or a shift of attention away from rumination [source: APA blog for the attention shift; synthesis for monitoring].

4.9 Rehearsing first contact

  • Purpose / when: Phase C, for socially anxious or long-isolated clients [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Identify the feared moments (phoning, the first arrival, introducing oneself, being asked why one is volunteering). (2) Role-play each briefly in session, with the therapist as coordinator or fellow volunteer. (3) Prepare a short, true answer to "what brings you here?" that discloses only what the client chooses. (4) Plan arrival details and a coping step if anxiety peaks [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's practise the first five minutes. I'll be the coordinator; you tell me as much or as little as you want about why you're there."
  • Watch for: safety behaviours that would block connection (avoiding eye contact, leaving early); over-rehearsal replacing the real step. Working: the client attends and stays [synthesis].

4.10 Disclosure decision-making

  • Purpose / when: Phase C and whenever a role becomes more demanding. Concerns about personal disclosure are listed among barriers in peer-support roles [source: Salzer].
  • Steps: (1) List what the organisation might need to know (access needs, adjustments, times the client cannot do) versus what is private. (2) Weigh benefits (support, adjustments) and risks (stigma, being treated differently). (3) Draft the wording the client would use. (4) Decide who, when and how much; revisit as trust develops [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "You don't owe them your history. What would you want them to know so they can support you, and what stays with you?"
  • Watch for: pressure to overshare in peer roles where lived experience is the job; regret after disclosure. Working: the client feels in control of what is known [synthesis].

4.11 Reviewing the four helper-therapy gains

  • Purpose / when: Phase D, periodically, to check whether helping is helping the helper. Uses the four benefits attributed to Riessman's principle as review headings: interpersonal competence, equality of give and take, personally relevant learning, social approval [source: Salzer citing Riessman 1965 and Skovholt 1974; synthesis for use as a review].
  • Steps: (1) Ask for one recent example under each heading. (2) Note which gains are missing. (3) Consider adjustments that would supply a missing gain (a role with more direct contact for competence; a team with more appreciation for approval). (4) Link the gains to the client's therapy goals [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "When did you last feel you made a difference to someone there? Did anyone notice? Did you learn anything that matters for your own life?"
  • Watch for: approval becoming the only source of self-worth; gains present at the organisation but absent elsewhere. Working: the client reports more competence and a sense of being on equal footing, and carries this into other relationships [synthesis].

4.12 Mood, connection and meaning monitoring

  • Purpose / when: Phase D, as continuing behavioural-activation review.
  • Steps: (1) Keep simple before-and-after ratings of mood and connection for volunteering days and comparison days. (2) Note meaning: whether the client felt they made a difference (NCVO reports 90% of volunteers feel they make a difference) [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019]. (3) Review patterns every few sessions and decide with the client whether to keep, adjust or change the role [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Looking at your notes, what happens to your mood on the days you go, compared with the days you don't?"
  • Watch for: no difference over several reviews (change role or approach; see section 5); rising strain on volunteering days (see 4.15–4.17). Working: a consistent positive pattern the client can see for themselves [synthesis].

4.13 Consolidating social connection

  • Purpose / when: Phase D, for lonely or isolated clients. NCVO reports that 89% of recent volunteers had met new people through volunteering and that 68% said it helped them feel less isolated [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019].
  • Steps: (1) Map the people met through the role. (2) Choose one or two to know better. (3) Plan a small step beyond the task (a coffee after the shift, joining a team social). (4) Problem-solve anxiety or rejection fears. (5) Review the client's wider network over time [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "You've mentioned the person you sort donations with a few times. What might a next small step towards knowing them be?"
  • Watch for: relationships remaining purely task-based; the organisation becoming the only social world. Working: at least one relationship extends beyond the role [synthesis].

4.14 Meaning-making and helper identity

  • Purpose / when: Phase D–E, when helping shifts the client's self-story (from patient to contributor), and around retirement, unemployment, illness or bereavement [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Invite the client to describe who they are when helping. (2) Explore how this sits with older identities and with family or cultural ideals of service, including religious duties of giving, without judging them. (3) Name strengths shown in the role. (4) Consider how these strengths can be used elsewhere [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "What does it say about you that people there rely on you on Thursdays?"
  • Watch for: an identity that depends entirely on being needed; shame at receiving help oneself. Working: the client can both give and receive help [synthesis; the equality benefit attributed to Riessman's principle per Salzer].

4.15 Balance check and burnout prevention

  • Purpose / when: Phase E, routinely for frequent volunteers and whenever load creeps up. NCVO found the commonest negative experience was "too much time being taken up", that 19% felt their volunteering was becoming "too much like paid work" (24% of weekly volunteers), and recommends checking in on the most involved volunteers to avoid burnout [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019].
  • Steps: (1) Ask how much time and energy the role now takes compared with the start. (2) Ask whether it still feels voluntary and enjoyable. (3) Identify creep (extra tasks, being the only one who can do something). (4) Agree a limit the client is willing to state to the organisation [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Is this still something you choose, or has it turned into something you can't get out of?"
  • Watch for: sleep loss, irritability, resentment, dread before shifts, neglect of family or own health. Working: the client restores a load that feels chosen [synthesis].

4.16 Screening helpers with the ProQOL

  • Purpose / when: Phase D–E for clients in emotionally demanding helping roles (crisis lines, hospice, refugee support, disaster response, peer-support work), and for the therapist's own self-monitoring. The ProQOL Version 5 (Stamm, 2009) is a 30-item self-report measure of positive and negative aspects of caring, with compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue (burnout; secondary traumatic stress) scales; it is described as a screening tool, not a medical or psychological test [source: OVC ProQOL training slides].
  • Steps: (1) Explain the three areas in plain words. (2) Administer the official version unaltered, with the author credited and not sold, as its free-use terms require [source: OVC ProQOL slides]. (3) Discuss scores as a conversation starter, not a diagnosis. (4) Repeat over time to track change [source: OVC slides note scores can track change; synthesis for timing].
  • Example language (illustrative): "This questionnaire looks at the good and the hard sides of helping. It's a check-in, not a diagnosis; we'll talk through what stands out."
  • Watch for: high secondary traumatic stress (intrusive images or avoidance linked to what the client hears in the role; consider trauma assessment); low compassion satisfaction with high burnout. Working: compassion satisfaction holds or rises while burnout falls [synthesis].

4.17 Secondary-stress response plan

  • Purpose / when: Phase D–E for distressing roles; fatigue and burnout were reported especially in distressing and emotionally challenging volunteer roles [source: Stuart and Crawford 2022].
  • Steps: (1) Find out what support the organisation offers; the briefing reports peer support sessions, buddying, wellbeing plans and one-to-one sessions with staff [source: Stuart and Crawford 2022]. (2) Encourage the client to use them. (3) Build a personal routine for after difficult shifts: transition activity, contact with a supportive person, and limits on rumination. (4) Agree signs that mean a pause is needed. (5) Treat intrusive symptoms with standard trauma-focused assessment and care [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "After a hard call, what helps you leave it there instead of carrying it home?"
  • Watch for: the client taking callers' or service users' distress personally; avoidance of the role; numbing. Working: the client uses support and recovers between shifts [synthesis].

4.18 Renegotiating the role and saying no

  • Purpose / when: Phase E, when load, fit or conditions have drifted. Stuart and Crawford recommend that volunteer roles and commitments be regularly reviewed and co-designed with volunteers to reduce fatigue and burnout [source: Stuart and Crawford 2022]; NCVO's flexible, balanced and voluntary features give the standard to aim for [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019].
  • Steps: (1) Clarify what the client wants changed (hours, tasks, role type, a break). (2) Script the request in the client's words, starting with what they value about the role. (3) Role-play the coordinator's possible responses, including disappointment. (4) Plan for guilt afterwards. (5) Review the outcome [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's write it so it starts with what you want to keep doing, then what you need to change."
  • Watch for: the client apologising the request away; an organisation that responds with pressure (information about fit; see section 5). Working: the request is made and the role becomes sustainable, or the client leaves without self-blame [synthesis].

4.19 Supporting clients in peer-support roles

  • Purpose / when: When a client volunteers or works as a peer supporter drawing on lived experience (cross-refer V 099–135, pointer 082). Barriers listed for peer roles include inadequate supervision, dual-relationship concerns, concerns about job-induced relapse, concerns about personal disclosure and role modelling, limited networking with other peer specialists, and being treated as junior staff with inadequate resources [source: Salzer].
  • Steps: (1) Ask what supervision and peer networking the role provides. (2) Map dual relationships (for example, supporting people from the client's own service or community). (3) Build an early-warning plan for the client's own relapse signs with agreed actions. (4) Separate therapy time from supervision: the therapist is not the role supervisor [synthesis]. (5) Encourage links with other peer workers [source: Salzer lists limited networking as a barrier; synthesis for the step].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Your story is part of your work now. Where do you get supervision for that, and how will we know if the role is starting to cost your own recovery?"
  • Watch for: re-exposure to own triggers; a role that blurs into unpaid clinical work. Working: the client reports gains such as facilitating others' recovery, interpersonal competence and their own recovery, benefits peer supporters themselves described [source: Salzer, citing Salzer and Liptzin-Shear 2002].

4.20 Collaboration with a volunteer coordinator

  • Purpose / when: Only when the client asks for it, typically for access adjustments, a graded start, or a return after a break [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Obtain specific written consent naming what may be shared and with whom. (2) Agree the content with the client beforehand; the client may join the call. (3) Share only what is needed for the adjustment, not diagnosis or history. (4) Do not provide references or fitness-to-volunteer statements outside your competence or role. (5) Record the contact and tell the client what was said [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "I can tell them you'd like to start with shorter shifts and need a quiet space to take breaks. Is that all you'd like me to say?"
  • Watch for: the coordinator using the therapist as a supervisor or seeking risk information; the client feeling discussed behind their back. Working: adjustments happen and the client's autonomy is intact [synthesis].

4.21 Ending or pausing a role well

  • Purpose / when: Phase E, when circumstances change or a role no longer fits. NCVO reports that people mainly stop because of changing circumstances such as moving or a job change [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019].
  • Steps: (1) Normalise leaving as part of volunteering. (2) Help the client decide between pausing, changing role or leaving. (3) Plan how to tell the organisation and say goodbye to people they valued. (4) Review what the role gave (using 4.11) and what the client wants to carry forward. (5) Watch for grief if the role carried identity or friendship; plan to keep relationships that matter [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Leaving doesn't cancel what you gave or what you got. What do you want to take with you?"
  • Watch for: abrupt quitting after a conflict; shame; loss of the only social contact. Working: the client ends cleanly and keeps the gains [synthesis].

5. Handling problems

The sources do not address clinical difficulties in using volunteering within therapy; the guidance below is therapist-side synthesis unless a source is named [synthesis].

  • Stuck or unmotivated client. Use behavioural-activation logic: schedule a smaller step rather than waiting for motivation (4.6–4.7); try a kindness bridge (4.8); revisit motives (4.2), since a role that serves none of the client's main motives rarely sticks [synthesis; II 040].
  • "I have nothing to offer." Treat as a hopeless prediction to test, not a fact; list skills from the helping history (4.1); start with a role that needs presence rather than expertise [synthesis]. The equality benefit of Riessman's principle (per Salzer) frames the client as a contributor.
  • Resistance to being 'sent' to volunteer. If the client hears the suggestion as a judgement or as being pushed out of therapy, name the rupture, apologise for any pressure, restate that volunteering is optional and that therapy continues regardless (NCVO's "voluntary" feature) [synthesis].
  • Mandated or obligatory 'volunteering'. Court-ordered community work, school or course requirements, benefit conditions, employer schemes or family and faith expectations can make helping feel compulsory. Explore what choice remains (which role, how much) and the client's feelings about the obligation; do not call it voluntary when it is not [synthesis].
  • Overwhelm and overcommitment. Return to the balance check (4.15) and renegotiation (4.18); prioritise sleep, own health care and close relationships. A sudden escalation in commitments with reduced sleep, elation or irritability warrants assessment for hypomania [synthesis].
  • Helping as avoidance or compulsive caretaking. Use 4.3; agree that the role sits alongside, not in place of, therapy on the avoided issue; reduce load if helping is used to escape painful feelings [synthesis].
  • Compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress. Screen (4.16), plan recovery and support (4.17), consider a less exposed role or a pause; assess and treat trauma symptoms by standard care [synthesis; ProQOL scales per OVC slides].
  • Bad organisation experiences. Over a third of volunteers agreed things "could be much better organised" and disabled volunteers were slightly less likely to report a culture of respect and trust [source: NCVO Time Well Spent 2019]. Validate; help the client decide whether to raise it, change role or leave; avoid attributing structural problems to the client [synthesis].
  • Rejected application or vetting barrier. For roles requiring checks, a past conviction or health history may block some roles. Process disappointment and shame, look for roles without such requirements, and never help conceal relevant history from safeguarding checks [synthesis].
  • Non-adherence to agreed steps. Treat as information: was the step too large, the role mismatched, or the fear unaddressed? Shrink the step, rehearse (4.9), or return to Phase B [synthesis].
  • Boundary and dual-role problems. If client and therapist turn out to volunteer at the same organisation, or the client meets other clients there, discuss confidentiality and how to handle meeting; consult a colleague and consider whether either should change role; see APA Ethics Code Standard 3.05 (https://www.apa.org/ethics/code) [synthesis].
  • Cultural and religious duty of service. Where giving or service is a religious or community duty, explore the meaning to the client, family pressure and any conflict with capacity; where the difficulty centres on faith or a tradition, the Cultural Formulation Interview with its supplementary module on spirituality, religion and moral traditions may help, and Religious or Spiritual Problem may be recorded under Z65.8 (ICD-10-CM Z65.8 (Unbound Medicine)) [synthesis; DSM-5-TR wording uncertain: not verified].
  • Risk emerges during a role. If suicidality, self-harm or a crisis arises, follow your service's standard risk protocol; a pause from a demanding role is often appropriate; give crisis resources (988 US; Samaritans 116 123 UK and Ireland). A client volunteering on a crisis line during their own crisis needs a supported pause [synthesis].
  • Grief after a role ends or a person helped dies. Treat as a real loss; allow mourning, and use organisational support where available (hospice and bereavement services often provide it) [synthesis; organisational support types per Stuart and Crawford 2022].
  • The therapist as helper. Therapists are helpers too; ProQOL self-monitoring and personal supervision apply to the clinician who notices their own fatigue while encouraging a client's helping [synthesis; ProQOL per OVC slides].

Sources

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