News

Barnet Health Champions: Meet Daisy

9th January 2023

One of our youngest Health Champions: Daisy Bruck grew up in East Barnet and is now studying Politics and International Relations.

Back in 2020, Daisy was looking forward to completing her Politics A-Levels, when her studies were abruptly placed on hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic. With extra free-time suddenly available, Daisy decided to devote her energies to volunteering. Looking online for local opportunities, she came to the Volunteering Barnet website and discovered the opportunity that interested her: Barnet Health Champions.

Something that sounded interesting: something that because at the time I was doing politics A- Level: something that I thought could be useful that might help me understand it more.
I went to one of the meetings and I found it really interesting. So I was like: ‘Yeah – I say I should stick with this!’

Daisy was given the responsibility of disseminating health information (particularly Covid during that time) to people in her neighbourhood: a cross-section of people ranging from the elderly to young new parents. Daisy enjoyed the bonding experience with a diverse group of new and interesting people:

It also helped me connect with the people on my road: we were very different age groups… I was in school and some were retired. I guess it sounds kind of cliche, but it really helped me develop social skills in a way because I wasn’t a particularly sociable person…

Part of the rewarding challenge was communicating clear, official NHS information to people without access to the latest technology.

I think it also made people more willing to ask questions because it felt more accessible than emailing the council directly. Having people in the community who will happily take your questions, pass them on and get an answer back relatively quickly is very beneficial. It meant that I was able to get this information to some people who may otherwise struggle with technology or understanding. So I think it really, really helped with connections on a personal level as well as helping people.

Summing up the experience in three words: Daisy described being a Health Champion as Engaging, Insightful and Useful. Daisy now wishes to take the experience of interacting, communicating and helping communities into the future with her, as she is studying Politics and International Relations in Canterbury:

I think that doing this volunteering, especially because it was with Barnet Council, really helped me kind of solidify that I did want to go into politics.

If you would like to volunteer as a Barnet Health Champion, email us on: enquiry@volunteeringbarnet.org.uk, or you can search our database here to find other Barnet volunteering roles!