Exceptional advocate for the volunteers

Sarah Armstrong is the Chair of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDFT) and by any measure an exceptional senior leader advocating for volunteers and volunteering. Sarah is passionate about the value of volunteering and the unique contribution volunteers can make within health and care settings and the impact of her work can be seen on a daily basis in her support for the Volunteer Team at #teamHDFT.

In her earlier career, Sarah was a senior manager for a national charity leading in volunteering policy and practice, a regional lead for a charity raising aspirations for young people with a disability, and was Chief Executive of York Centre for Voluntary Services. She consistently brings the benefit of this vast leadership experience as a champion for volunteering at HDFT in a multitude of amazing ways, conveyed with a contagious positivity.

Sarah is a wonderful advocate for volunteering, working alongside senior executives and managers to develop innovative strategy and policy, helping the service to develop and thrive. An excellent example is that #teamHDFT has recently divided its volunteering programme into three volunteer pathways that further broaden our appeal to volunteers and take advantage of ever-evolving trends in volunteering patterns.

In addition to our Standard Volunteering Pathway we now have a new Career Enhancement Pathway specifically aimed at people wishing to pursue educational and professional development goals through committing to one of our volunteering roles, allowing them to build and develop transferable skills to take into their future academic and professional careers.

The third pathway, the Enhanced Support Pathway, is for people with special educational needs and / or disabilities who benefit from a bespoke volunteering plan based on their unique needs. Sarah’s involvement in developing this initiative was inspirational and has helped ensure its success at this early stage.

Sarah is an exceptional advocate for the volunteers on a personal level, enthusiastically attending our regular thank you events at which we champion and celebrate our volunteers’ contributions. Sarah’s approachable, friendly and warm personality shines out during these events where she takes the time to speak with each volunteer on a personal one-to-one level to hear about their amazing stories and the many diverse ways in which they donate their time and skills. She also attended the celebration event for the ‘Harrogate Scrubbers’, a team of staff and volunteers who made thousands of extra sets of scrub, hats, uniforms and gowns during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

It inspires and motivates staff and volunteers that a health leader always attends these events to spend time with the team. The annual Volunteers Week in June is one of the high points of our volunteering calendar and provides yet another example of Sarah’s personal involvement with the Volunteer Team. She recorded a video to launch Volunteers Week which was sent to every volunteer on the team and published on our social media channels.

Enjoyed reading this story? Why not read all the Wall of Fame stories here.