Celebrating Our Volunteers: Bethel Receives The King’s Award for Voluntary Service

Bethel Health & Healing Network is delighted to share that we have been awarded The King’s Award for Voluntary Service, the MBE for volunteer groups. This honour recognises the incredible dedication of our volunteers who stand alongside families, parents and individuals across Birmingham and the West Midlands every day.

At Bethel, volunteers are at the heart of everything we do. Through our Rapha Listening Service, trained volunteer listeners offer calm, confidential support to people experiencing low-level mental health challenges, loneliness or emotional distress. In our Doula Service, volunteer doulas walk with vulnerable pregnant women and new mothers through pregnancy, birth and early parenthood, providing practical help and a reassuring presence when it’s needed most.

Last year alone, our volunteers gave hundreds of hours to:

• provide one-to-one listening sessions by phone, online and face-to-face
• support vulnerable women through pregnancy and beyond
• run community activities and men’s health sessions
• help with events, admin and behind-the-scenes tasks that keep our services running

For many of the people we support, that one listening ear, friendly phone call or companion at a hospital appointment is life-changing.

One of our volunteer listeners shared, “I came to Bethel wanting to give something back. I never expected that volunteering would also change me, I’ve grown in confidence, skills and compassion.” That spirit of mutual care runs right through our organisation.

Receiving The King’s Award for Voluntary Service is a huge encouragement to our whole community – staff, trustees, partners and especially our volunteers. It shines a light on the quiet, consistent acts of kindness that rarely make headlines but make a real difference on the ground.

We’d like to thank BVSC and the wider voluntary sector in Birmingham for the support, partnership and shared learning that help organisations like ours to thrive. And to every Bethel volunteer, past, present and future, this award is for you.

If you're interested in volunteering with Bethel, find their latest opportunities on BVSC's Volunteering platform, Volunteer Brum.