I volunteer with The British Dietetic Association (BDA). As a student dietitian, I understand the importance of being part of a professional body. The BDA is the professional association and trade union for UK dietitians. I believe volunteering within this organisation is essential to ensure its success and continuous development to improve and ensure the association meets its requirements.

I chose to volunteer as a student to ensure student voices are heard within the BDA, we are the future of the profession and I, therefore, feel it is important our input is heard. I wanted to volunteer to make sure students can learn as much as possible from the BDA and to try and make sure the association delivers what students will find beneficial as much as possible.  Volunteering also gives me the opportunity to develop new skills including improving teamwork, communication, time management, and events planning and allows me the opportunity to network and learn from experienced dietitians.

The BDA have specialist groups, my role is a student member of the Critical Care Specialist Group (CCSG) committee. I attend bi-monthly team meetings which discuss all roles within the committee, any projects or events and goals and aims going forward. I assist with the planning and development of social media posts, have contributed to Instagram lives for example during dietitian’s week, and write the student section of the bi-monthly newsletter. One of my main projects so far on the committee has been designing and distributing a survey for student dietitians to investigate what they would like from specialist groups and the BDA and what they think will benefit them during their studies. I was able to summarise these findings and send these to the BDA as well as present them to the committee. Following this, I am now working on developing a Critical Care webinar for students and a Crib sheet for placement.

Through volunteering I have learnt to be adaptable and flexible with my perceived ideas of a role or project. I have a greater understanding of how to present to a group/committee and ensure my voice is heard. I have learned how to take a lead on a role that is quite new and shape the role to what I would like it to be.

By volunteering I am enjoying the challenge of taking part in projects I never had, for example we recently had the critical care study day. I was able to have a small part on the day to introduce sponsor videos and was able to learn about the challenges and processes of running a study day. I also enjoy working as part of such a wider and varied team. All dietitians on the committee are experienced and have individual qualities that I can learn from.

Following graduating I aim to get my HCPC registration and get a job as a Band 5 dietitian.

If you are thinking of volunteering my advice would be Don’t be afraid to give new things a go! We learn the most from putting ourselves in new situations that challenge us. It can be nerve-wracking, but we can learn so much and the more we put ourselves in challenging situations the more we can improve.