‘It's a classic win-win': The ways volunteering does you good
Her first volunteer role was as a library peer in year 7. Today, the medical student from western Sydney has multiple roles and spends much of her time volunteering as an emergency medical technician with St John Ambulance, where she's worked since her late teens, with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and at mental health organisations like Beyond Blue, The Butterfly Foundation and Headspace.
Last year, she was named New South Wales' Young Volunteer of the Year.
In the early years of her degree, Makkena volunteered around 40 hours per week, but has recently dropped down to 20 hours per week as her studies become more demanding.
'I never stopped saying yes because the work really inspired me, and the people I've met, the relationships I've built, and the work I've contributed to, all of that has continued to inspire me and empowered me to keep going on,' she says.
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One-quarter of Australians over 15 engage in some kind of volunteer work, with those aged 40 to 54 most likely to have offered their unpaid time to an organisation. Of this group, 34 per cent who volunteered in the previous 12 months had contributed 21 to 99 hours during that period, and 28 per cent contributed 100 or more hours.
Volunteering offers many benefits to the economy, and the people and communities it serves.
But Dr Tim Sharp, a clinical psychologist and founder of The Happiness Institute is a big proponent of volunteering says there is value beyond what it can do for others.
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