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Sharing volunteering expertise

9 October 2009

Robbie Cooper
Theory can guide practical solutions in all walks of life. Robbie Cooper, a Research Associate in Experimental Psychology, volunteered for Mind, the mental health charity. His voluntary work has opened up all sorts of new avenues, from seeing how other professionals apply psychology in practice to thinking more widely about his own research agenda.

One of Mind’s ongoing projects in Bristol looks at how people in the community, prisons and secure units use psychiatrists and social workers. Robbie saw that his statistics background — a psychologist’s bread and butter — could be useful in this context.  “I provided some training related to data analysis, how to minimise repeated information and extract summary themes from questionnaires that will help Mind make better use of the information they are gathering,” he said.

I provided some training related to data analysis, how to minimise repeated information and extract summary themes from questionnaires that will help Mind make better use of the information they are gathering.

Robbie Cooper
Robbie teaches undergraduates and this experience helped prepare him for training the charity workers, although working with a non-specialist audience was an enjoyable challenge. Robbie recalled: “Even though we were looking at the same scenarios, the practitioners and I approached situations from different perspectives. Once we had settled on a common language and strategy, we began to make real progress.”

Volunteering can open up any number of possibilities, exploring new ideas and alternative ways of working. For Robbie, it has provided an insight into what it is like to either have, or work with, mental health problems and anxiety issues. It has helped his research to be more relevant, has benefited his teaching and has connected him to colleagues working in related research areas.

“I’m very interested in seeing how this progresses.” He added: “The synergy is great: when I do my own research or develop a theory, I now have real people in mind, who are also a group of willing participants. The prison service, Mind and the service users are absolutely happy with this. I started volunteering because I felt it was important, but the relevance to my work and the amount I get out of it increases all the time.”

 

Please contact The Public Engagement Officer for further information.

Further information:

Robbie Cooper can be contacted by email: robbie.cooper@bristol.ac.uk