The Lived Experience, Health, and Wellbeing of Volunteers Supporting those Seeking Asylum in the UK: The Bibby Stockholm Barge

Abstract

There is limited research into the experiences and impact on wellbeing, of laypersons informally supporting people seeking asylum (PSA) within the United Kingdom. This study addresses this topic within the context of the Bibby Stockholm barge. An interpretivist philosophical paradigm and qualitative strategy were employed. A combination of purposive and snowball sampling was utilized in recruiting nine participants aged 50–80, six male and three female, and all of Caucasian ethnic origin. Data were collected using semi-structured one-to-one interviews and analyzed using Thematic Analysis. Three themes emerged. First, Participants situated their motivations to volunteer within the context of social justice, informed by previous life experiences, personal morals and a reaction to the sociopolitical context PSA are forced to navigate. Second, volunteers’ experiences reflected the interactions of community. To this end, community is considered as an ever-changing “machine” where processes such as welcoming, loss and belonging form the cogs, which drive its evolution. Finally, volunteers described the way their experience affected their wellbeing—the wellbeing equation. Overall, volunteers described an overwhelmingly positive experience and provide accounts of experiencing increased wellbeing. However, volunteers also faced challenges damaging to wellbeing, employing protective mechanisms to mitigate these. This relationship between volunteering with PSA and wellbeing is summarized in the development of a revised conceptual framework contextualizing the effects of volunteering on volunteer health and wellbeing. The future application of this framework across different voluntary fields may improve understanding of what it means to volunteer and thus universal volunteer retention and outcomes.