‘YOUNG PEOPLE ARE STRUGGLING MENTALLY’

Sabrina Ellis, 32, from Wolverhampton, is one of the 750,000 people who volunteered to help the NHS in just four days when the scheme launched in April. A former mental health nurse, Sabrina is now director of wellbeing at an IT company.

I know how trauma can affect people, and there are many different types – from losing someone you love to being made redundant. When I first heard about coronavirus, I wanted to make a positive difference so I applied to be an NHS volunteer.

Because of my background as a mental health nurse, I’m part of the ‘check in and chat’ service. I thought I’d mainly be helping the elderly isolating alone in their homes – but this is not the case. Lots of older people have neighbours helping them out. Instead, most people I’ve spoken to are young and working. They’re lacking motivation since lockdown with no reason to get out of bed. They often don’t have anyone to talk to about their worries and feel cut off from the world. I’ve also spoken to pregnant women fearful about what it will be like when they go into labour; pregnancy can be an anxious period at the best of times.

At the start of lockdown, motivation was people’s biggest problem, but concerns have moved on to what the world will look like going forward. Initially, people were referred to us by GPS, but now they can self-refer. Volunteers then get an alert from an app saying so-and-so needs support.

I feel privileged to be part of this network. I do it full-time and my ‘normal’ job at the weekend – as well as looking after my three children. There are so many vulnerable people and the pandemic is going to affect people’s mental wellbeing for a long time.