Mike is loving his role as a volunteer Quality checker

Mike is part of our PSS Wellbeing service service and is one of our quality checkers, he gave us his take on being a quality checking volunteer.

As someone supported by PSS why is quality checking important?

Mike said: ‘Quality checking is important because we need to find out what is going right and what is going wrong. We need ideas from everywhere to help make PSS the best it can be. We need to keeping improving the support we provide and get that feedback from people who use the support.

As a quality checker and a supported person, I get to help PSS get the feedback that will help people like me who need support. The feedback is really important, so we can show funders and help get more resources for PSS to help more people.’

Connecting with other services - why does that feel good?

Mike said: ‘I enjoyed calling North Yorkshire Shared Lives carers to promote the annual survey this year. I was a bit nervous at first but jumped into it. It felt good and it was good to get their perception on what they are doing, how they are coping and what they may need support with from PSS as Shared Lives carers. Hopefully I can help in other areas of PSS. I have such a varied background and hope that what I have in my locker can help other people in any way it can.’

What do you get out of being a quality checker?

Mike said: ‘I get a lot out of volunteering as it is a chance to payback what I got from the service initially. I may not still be here if it wasn’t for PSS. For five years I was running around looking for help and eventually found PSS and it works. Gives me a bigger purpose in life with lots to get involved in. Almost too busy now a days.’