Welcome Mhairi, Fast Forward’s New Volunteer Coordinator

I’m Mhairi, and this week I’ve taken over the lovely Chiara’s role of Volunteers Coordinator!

I’ve been a volunteer here at Fast Forward for the last year and have had the most incredible experience. I’m feeling very lucky to now be working for such a great organisation. Over my year as volunteer I managed to pack a ridiculous amount of wonderful experiences in, all thanks to Chiara and her encouragement and support. So following on in her footsteps, I hope to take the brilliant example she set as a Volunteers Coordinator and go onwards to make sure that all of the volunteers here have the best experience possible during their time at Fast Forward!

Some people may already know me; I’m the tiny red-haired excitable one. As a volunteer I’ve been involved in a few different projects over the last year including the No Knives Better Lives event in Glasgow, Fast Forward’s Tobacco Project, the Fixers film (which you can all laugh at my face appearing in soon!), Peer Education sessions with the lovely Edinburgh team, Peer Education training with an internet safety group from Aberdeen, and the Fast Forward Volunteers Consultation in April. I’m pretty sure quite a few people will probably have come across me jumping around at some point.

For the volunteers I haven’t met yet I’ll be very excited to meet you now in my new role and find out what volunteering here means to you. I hope to try and catch up with everyone individually so I can find out all the exciting things volunteers have been up to and what they hope to gain from the year ahead.

This experience is all very new for me. My background is in drama, specialising in community theatre and education. Don’t worry though – this doesn’t mean all training and sessions from now on will involve the classic “lets be a tree” drama game! I’ve been a keen volunteer for many years with other organisations before I came to FF last year so I have a good understanding of things from a volunteer’s point of view. I’m very keen to ensure that the volunteer experience here is personalised and tailored to each individual so everyone can develop the skills and interests that matter most to them.

I’m currently working part-time, but due to having a (probably embarrassing) role in the Commonwealth Opening Ceremony I will be out and about a lot but after the 23^rd July – I’m also throwing myself out of a plane soon to raise money for Meningitis Now, despite being terrified of flying. You can read about that here…

Looking forward to seeing you all!

Mhairi

Volunteer Coordinator

To volunteer with Fast Forward and become a peer educator specialising in drugs, alcohol and tobacco, get in touch at mhairi@fastforward.org.uk