My Experience of Volunteering in Glasgow
- Written by: Celia Moreno — Volunteer Data Entry Officer, ALISS Programme and Dementia Carer Voices
- Published: 1st June 2017
Celia Moreno tells us about her experiences volunteering at the ALLIANCE.
I arrived in Scotland two years ago, not speaking English. I joined an ESOL class to improve my English and after 6 months I decided I wanted to volunteer to help others who come to this country and to help improve my English.
I contacted Volunteer Glasgow to help, I must say that the team there is amazing, I remember these times so well, and I loved it.
The first role I had was volunteering with refugees in Glasgow. At the same time, I started to volunteer in the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) with Dementia Carer Voices, where I have met incredible people. Laura, the Administrator from the team, especially has a lot of passion in supporting me with any questions that I have and I thank her.
The team are doing an excellent job with dementia issue in Scotland. Making this issue more known and making sure that people who deal with this big issue do their job with kindness and passion, and making sure they never forget that people with dementia are not numbers or beds. Quite the contrary, they are lovely people with a condition, but they are not the condition itself.
Also, now I am lucky to volunteer with the ALISS team, who are also based in the ALLIANCE, and as Doctor Who would say, all of them are simply “fantastic”. I really, really love it.
Here I am learning more than ever about Glasgow and Scotland. It is very interesting. I am working on the new ALISS website adding resources from all around Scotland. ALISS helps people find and share resources that support health and wellbeing. The new website will be one of the best tools to make their life better, and healthier, in the easiest way ever. The team helps me not just with my English, they help me to get the confidence to speak and include me. They invite me in on their meetings and in their work in general, making me feel happy, telling me what I am doing well and what I am not, and I feel really pleased.
The opportunity to be a volunteer has been amazing, not just to help with my English but also to meet people and collaborate with different organisations which are doing a really good job for society. During this time, I have met good organisations and not so good organisations, I have met good people (and some not so good people) but I must say that most of them have been amazing and from both experiences I have learnt a lot about Scotland and its people.
It has been one of the best experience of my life, and I was not born yesterday :(. For this thanks to all of you, team Dementia Carer Voices and team ALISS, especially to you Lorna, the ALISS Coordinator, who even when struggling with my English pronunciations you give me the chance to speak out without any kind of embarrassment, really, really thank you.
End of page.
You may also like:
In her latest TFN column, our Chief Officer Sara Redmond reflects on the current state of social care in Scotland.
Continue readingKicking off September for the ALLIANCE's 20 year anniversary, Grace reflects on the Self Management Programme
Continue readingSara Redmond, ALLIANCE Chief Officer, on the priorities for 2026's Programme for Government.
Continue readingSandra Auld reflects on the ALLIANCE's people focused impact, collaboration, lived experience, campaigns and lasting change in Scotland.
Continue readingMark shares his experience with gambling harms, and how this intersected with the launch of the ALLIANCE's ScotRGH programme in 2020.
Continue readingProfessor Anna Glasier celebrates 20 years of the ALLIANCE and it's vital role in shaping the Women's Health Plan for Scotland.
Continue readingSara Redmond, ALLIANCE Chief Officer, on the challenges faced by community-led health organisations in delivering prevention.
Continue readingAnnie shares her experience of youth politics, and how SAFE has helped her make connections and makes sense of the world of politics.
Continue readingChloe Craig reflects on how we have helped connect Scotland’s lived experience voice to conversations happening beyond our borders.
Continue readingDr Irene Oldfather reflects on two decades of growth, collaboration, and person centred impact across Scotland and beyond.
Continue readingDisabled people are some of those who suffer most in crises but are ignored in planning. Our 6-step model builds justice throughout.
Continue readingMaisie Peebles shares her experience working with Aberdeenshire Public Health Team on a ‘digital conversations’ project.
Continue readingSara Redmond, ALLIANCE Chief Officer, on why the Scottish Government and parties must seize the opportunity for change.
Continue readingDirector of the Links programme, Roseann, discusses why we need to focus on person centred care, and why the programme is central to this.
Continue readingReflections on the ALLIANCE Integration in Action: Inclusive Leadership event.
Continue readingWhat does The Scottish Report tell us about how we're supporting people with inflammatory mediated autoimmune conditions (IMIDs)?
Continue readingAvril McLean from Action from ME shares new resources designed to support professionals understand the impact of ME on people's lives.
Continue readingMandy Wright from Home Energy Scotland shares how partnerships positively impact their work.
Continue readingToo many young people are falling through the mental health support gap. How do we fix the "Missing Middle"?
Continue readingJoe McCready from Carers UK shares how important their annual survey is, and why it is invaluable for unpaid carers to have their say.
Continue readingColette reflects on the last 12 years of the Community Links Worker programme, as well as her own experience of being a CLW.
Continue readingWith the current World Cup, gambling presents an even higher risk. How can we prevent young people from getting tangled in this web?
Continue readingDr Anthony McMahon reflects on the importance of the Community Links Worker within his GP surgery - and why it makes all the difference.
Continue readingAs part of our 20 year anniversary, the Integration Team highlight the importance of our Connected Communities series.
Continue readingTo mark ‘What matters to you?’ Day, The ALLIANCE's Barbara Flynn considers the impact of Tommy Whitelaw’s talks for nurses and midwives.
Continue reading