“People do want to do good. It’s just a matter of how we can harness that.”

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Photo from Leal Rodriguez

A.M. LEAL RODRIGUEZ, PhD moved to Wellington from Auckland in the middle of completing her PhD. Moving meant leaving her cohort and wellbeing support behind. Being a proactive person, she decided to seek one out. She found it at the Wellington Women’s Health Collective. It all started by her attending their wellbeing workshops and asking, “How do I help?”

This question led her to apply for their Volunteer Coordinator role. What began with Leal attending wellbeing workshops soon blossomed to her coordinating workshops. Leal recruited volunteers for the WWHC, and they were able to come up with a series of drop-in crafting workshops ranging from flower pressing to zine (magazine) crafting. Leal enjoyed promoting a safe space where those who identify as women can find a feminist community in the inner city.

One of the resources offered by the Wellington Women’s Health Collective is counselling on a sliding scale that people who identify as women or non-binary can access. That’s why Leal thinks keeping donations coming in for WWHC is so important to help with the overheads. The collective runs on less than 3 full FTEs and student counselors.

She points out, “You can’t do counselling if you can’t pay the person who’s managing the counsellors, the people who are answering the emails to get you scheduled in, or the support workers who are assessing the level of care you need, and who can refer you to other services.”

WWHC’s resources include a network of other organisations doing good, such as the Wellington Women’s House and other transitional housing groups, pre or perinatal services, and general services relating to women’s and non-binary people’s health. The need dictates the type of resources WWHC recommends.

Leal has now finished her volunteer role with WWHC and is now an evaluation analyst for a government agency. She credits volunteering with helping her feel more connected to Wellington and reignited her passion for doing good for others. Relating to her work: “There’s that little hope that what I’m doing will contribute to help keep people safe in their work.”

What she realized through volunteering is that “a lot of people might not have finances to donate, but a lot of people want to do good … I just want to try to do good … I’ve just always had the desire to be helpful … There’s so many ways of contributing and giving back to my community … but there are creative ways to problem solve around that because people do want to do good. It’s just a matter of how we can harness that desire to something that the organization you’re working for needs.”