This Volunteers Week (1-7 June 2026), our Housing Broker Ryan Barclay shares his experience of volunteering and the valuable stepping stone it provided for him.
“I began my volunteering journey with Housing Options Scotland in 2022 because I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the housing sector, particularly the challenges faced by disabled people seeking suitable housing. As a disabled person myself, I was especially interested in housing charities in Scotland that support disabled individuals, and I hoped that volunteering would give me both insight and experience.
Volunteering with Housing Options Scotland quickly became far more than a learning opportunity. One of my main responsibilities was designing the Your Area guides, which bring together essential information about local authority services across Scotland.
These guides help clients understand what support is available in their area, how to access it, and what to expect from different housing services. Creating them required careful research, attention to detail, and a genuine understanding of the needs of the people we support. Through this work, I developed a clearer picture of how housing policy, local authority processes, and disability support intersect – and how crucial clear information is for those navigating the housing system.
This experience proved a great asset to my future career prospects. It allowed me to build a strong foundation of knowledge about the housing sector, but it also helped me grow in confidence. I learned how to communicate complex information in an accessible way, how to collaborate with staff and volunteers, and how to contribute in a meaningful way to a team working towards a shared mission. Perhaps most importantly, volunteering helped me build a network of supportive colleagues and professionals who encouraged my development and recognised my potential.
All of this led to a milestone moment in April 2023, when I became a paid member of staff at Housing Options Scotland. Moving from volunteer to employee felt like a natural progression, but also a huge achievement. I now have the privilege of contributing to the organisation in a more permanent capacity, learning from my colleagues every day but also pursuing my own areas of specialist knowledge so they can learn from me too.
So if you’re considering volunteering — whether to explore a new career, build skills, or simply make a difference – I encourage you to take that step. You never know where it might lead, and the opportunities it opens may surprise you.
Find out more about Volunteers’ Week on their website: https://volunteersweek.org/
Find out more about volunteering opportunities near you on the Volunteer Scotland website: Home – Volunteer Scotland