PANDA 2022 Volunteer Impact Report
PANDA is pleased to launch our 2022 Volunteer Impact Report, marking National Volunteer Week 2023.
Introduction
This Volunteer Impact Report covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2022.
This year’s National Volunteer Week theme is “The Change Makers”, which provides PANDA with an opportunity to recognise the impact volunteers have as Change Makers across the perinatal mental health sector.
PANDA places lived experience at the centre of everything we do, and volunteers are integral to this. From speaking to callers on our helpline supporting parents and families, through to raising awareness of perinatal mental health on TV, podcasts and online publications – volunteers always have been, and always will be an important part of PANDA.
In conjunction with the work of volunteers, in 2023, PANDA looks forward to launching our Community Engagement Framework and updated Volunteer Policy aligned to the new National Standards for Volunteer Involvement. The framework is a blueprint for recruiting, engaging, recognising, rewarding and supporting our volunteers and the broader community with whom we work.
We thank all PANDA volunteers for their significant contribution in 2022. This Report is our way of showing how important you are to PANDA’s work and how much we value you.
2022 Snapshot
537 volunteers
- Community Champions – 194
- Clinical Champions – 298
- Peer Support Volunteers – 33
- Administration Volunteers – 3
- Governance – Board and related Committees - 9
Community Champions
At the end of 2022, PANDA had 194 active Community Champions.
As with many volunteer programs, the pandemic impacted peoples time and priorities and some volunteers moved on from PANDA from the previous year.
An active and engaged volunteer community is important to us, and as a small but mighty organisation, we celebrate that every one of our 194 champions are active and engaged in PANDA’s vision.
In 2022, we saw an impressive increase of 252 activities being completed by 194 Champions, an average of 1.3 per person, compared to 2021 where we saw 332 Champions participate in 61 activities, an average of 0.18 per person.
Community Champion activities - 252
Throughout 2022, PANDA Community Champions contributed in the following ways:
- 90 Champions contributed their lived experience expertise at least once.
- There were 252 individual activities taken up by Champions.
- 213 activities were completed online/virtually.
- We had 62 awareness raising activities, including attendance at events, virtual networking and being PANDA speakers.
- There were 54 media opportunities, including 31 online articles, 3 printed articles 1 TV appearance and 15 stories published on our website.
- 133 opportunities were taken up in research and development, including external consultation and internal content development.
- 3 Champions held fundraising events for Perinatal Mental Health Week.
Community Education
Community Education Volunteers work closely with the PANDA Training & Education team to co-develop and deliver training and short courses to midwives, maternal and child health nurses, mental health clinicians, community health volunteers and other care providers.
In 2022:
- 602 health care providers took part in live PANDA training that included Community Education volunteers.
- More than 2,000 health care professionals undertook PANDA courses through PANDA Learning Hub that included Community Education and other lived experience volunteer stories.
- 114 new parents took part in 12 peer education sessions delivered in their local new parent groups.
“Best thing about being a champion: people hearing your story and wanting to connect and share their own experiences. In particular, those who may not have shared their experience before or didn’t previously realise they were struggling. So great to know we can have this impact and to reinforce the importance of our role in highlighting the great work of PANDA.”
The Change Maker
Meet Rachel
In addition to her Community Champion status, Rachel was appointed to the newly created Community Engagement Volunteer role in January 2022. After 7 months of volunteering in this new role, Rachel decided it was time to step away when she discovered she was expecting twins and chose to focus on her health and the health of her growing babies.
Rachel contributed to the team immensely in her 7 months as Community Engagement Volunteer:
60+ Facebook posts
201 emails to Champions about membership
78 inactive members removed from Facebook
28 hours of PANDA teams meetings
Appearance in Community Champions Induction video
Shared story on PANDA website
Interview for Baby Bunting campaign
Joseph and Lewis were born into our world in January 2023. They are much loved by mum, dad and big brother William. Even with her hands full, Rachel remains an active Community Champion.
The Change Maker
Meet Jo
Jo joined PANDA in November 2019. During 2022, Jo was one of our most active Community Champions.
Some of Jo’s achievements in 2022 included having her story shared in Women's Health online and the West Australian for Perinatal Mental Health Week, organising and attending the WA Community Champion face to face catch up and volunteering at the Pregnancy, Babies & Children's Expo in Perth.
Clinical Champions - 298
PANDA Clinical Champions are a network of clinicians and experts working in the perinatal space, who in some cases, also have a lived experience of perinatal mental health challenges.
PANDA Clinical Champions have a wide variety of clinical and mental health expertise. Of the 298 Clinical Champions, 135 specialise in birth trauma and 112 specialise in breastfeeding.
In mental health practice, 81.5% of Clinical Champions focus on postnatal anxiety and depression, 71.5% focus on antenatal anxiety and depression, while 59% work on birth trauma and the parent-child relationship. 54% of Clinical Champions work with parents who have experienced grief or loss.
Peer Support Volunteers - 33
- 1335 hours contributed in 2022.
- 794 calls made to expecting and new parents.
- 750 attempted calls to expecting and new parents. Calls that PANDA Peer Support Volunteers make can range from touching base to support that really helps people get through their day.
- 203 sent emails to expecting and new parents.
- 2066 SMS contacts. SMS contacts are made to let parents know they are about to receive a call, or if a call was not answered.
“I am so grateful for your ongoing support, you've helped me through some really tough times and things are really looking up now. I can't begin to tell you how much your support helped when I was in a dark place. I'm now feeling much better and really enjoying motherhood.”
The Change Maker
Meet Lucy
Lucy joined PANDA in May 2021 and has contributed 242 hours to the Peer Support team in that time.
Administration Volunteers - 3
PANDA created the Administration Volunteer role in 2020 in response to the huge uptick in demand for PANDA’s services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, we have expanded how we work with administration volunteers and now they support the Helpline team to deliver care to more families.
Some of the activities administration volunteers participated in during 2022 are:
- Attending training to became Mental Health First Aid certified
- Assisted with responding to email enquiries
- Provided Helpline callers with resources and factsheets via email
- Logged referrals from partner organisations and healthcare providers.
PANDA Board Members - 9
The volunteers on PANDA’s board and subcommittees are vital to our work. In 2022, out of the 9 board volunteers, 8 people have a lived experience.
We also have consumer and clinical volunteers on PANDA's Quality and Clinical Governance Committee.
- 250 hours (minimum) contributed at board and committee meetings in 2022.
- 23 hours contributed for special projects.
