A good day at the office for Elizabeth? Helping a range of people in difficulty.
A good day at the office for Citizens Advice volunteers can be busy but full of variety and always worthwhile.
For Volunteers Week Elizabeth talked to Jane Sheils about satisfying days in the life of a volunteer at Citizens Advice Epsom & Ewell.
Elizabeth has volunteered with us at CAEE since August 2012. Over the years she has helped many different people in many different ways.
Currently Elizabeth is an assessor, a key front-line role. Our assessors are responsible for initial interviews with clients to quickly assess their issues and decide the appropriate next stage.
One day recently our client drop-in session was particularly busy. Elizabeth saw nine clients, helped each individually and then wrote up the case notes for each that same day.
It was a tiring but also definitely a satisfying day in the life of a CAEE assessor!
Range of nationalities and issues
Of special note that day was the wide range of nationalities of those clients. Elizabeth saw Albanian, British, Iranian, Irish, Portuguese, Sri Lankan and Ugandan clients.
But just as various were the kinds of issues they needed help with. Elizabeth recorded eight: employment, benefits, DWP letters, family difficulties, HMRC queries, pension options, housing issues and energy debt.
Elizabeth assisted immediately where she could, made appointments with CAEE advisers or signposted to other organisations better able to help.
A good day at the office is always different at Citizens Advice. They are all interesting and worthwhile, but this one was indeed a satisfying day in the life!
If you enjoy meeting people, tackling a wide range of issues, solving problems and helping others, this might be the role for you. More here about CAEE volunteering opportunities.